Campbelltown busboy wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 6:53 am
The low entry bus was brought in to make the limited mobility crowd happy here's a ACA story from the mid 90s on why low entry buses should of been a thing back then
https://youtu.be/TEySVw51c8M
Thanks for finding that video. That was a great outcome at the time, but the move started in Australia with the 1992 DDA, though it was not until regulations came later that design specifics were defined and mandated. But this legal case was significant.
The laughable moment in that video is when he pointed to the examples of over-engineered (implying best-practice) early efforts in English-speaking jurisdictions when, by the end of the 1980s, the Europeans were already producing walk-on low floor bus and trams (via platform or ramp).
On bus life, with the advent of battery-electrics (specifically), that's going to be determined by the life of the battery pack, which is presently estimated about 8 years and I understand that they presently cost about $150,000 to replace. So there'll be one replacement at 8 years, then questions will be asked about whether it's cost-effective to justify another one at 16 years. If the packs eventually manage to last 10 years, there'll definitely be questions at 20 years.