BANGKOK, 30 January 2014 The state-run operator of buses in Bangkok on Wednesday found an obvious fault with the low floor bus model it was considering to purchase to replace its aging fleet of vehicles, when the floor of one such bus kept scraping the road during the test-run.
A low floor bus was tested by the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) on Wednesday as part of its effort to provide increased convenience for handicapped members of the public. Press members, the handicapped and other members of the public participated in the test-run, which saw the bus travel on real Bangkok roads.
According to Naret Bunpium, acting director of the BMTA, the problem of the bus floor scraping the road predominantly occurred at bridges or slopes on the secondary roads. The BMTA would deliberate data collected from the test-run at a meeting to consider the details of the 3,183 new buses it planned to buy. He said he expected the BMTA to propose the purchase of 1,524 low floor buses. The remaining buses will be of normal height, but will be equipped with a wheelchair lift to allow the handicapped to avail themselves to the BMTA’s service.
