Bus may get lift

Press, 1 April 1980, Page 6

Bus may get lift

; A Ibcal engineering firm may yet build a hydraulic lift attachment for a Christchurch bus, so that disabled persons may have access. The general manager of the Christchurch Transport Board (Mr M. G. Taylor) said at a board meeting yesterday that he had received a detailed proposal from a Christchurch firm that had been investigating the lift. “They are now .saying they are very keen-to-g 6 ahead,” he said.

The idea of lift-equipped dial-a-bus service for the disabled in Christchurch began with the Christchurch branch of the National : Council of Women in 1977, though similar ideas had been aired as

early as 1974. More than $lO,OOO was raised by the council, but efforts to build the' lift were frustrated through the unwillingness of local engineering firms and the unavailability of design' specifications. z . - A report by Mr Taylor explained, earlier steps taken to find a suitable lift model. In it, he pointed put that a long time had passed without any measure ' of' success. However, he -felt the idea of a lift on a bus, as opposed to a special vehicle' for the handicapped should not be abandoned until all possible avenues had been explored. The lift now- proposed by the Christchurch company , is of-a type that .may be. used as steps by able-bodied

people when the bus is in normal service. “We have the cash, and so the whole drawn-out busiries may at last be coming right,” Mr’ Taylor said: The chairman of the board (Mr D. J. Kelleher) said the proposed bus service would be co-ordinated by Handiscope. . “It is standing by, ready and waiting,’ ’he said. “We already have volunteer drivers who are prepared to man the vehicle.”

Progress on the lift will be reported at a combined meeting of the board, the National Council of Women, and the Co-ordinating Council for the Handicapped, on April 10.