Insertion of Vehicles into Buenos Aires City Public Transportation System Specifically Adapted for the Access and use by the Disabled

The City of Buenos Aires and its surrounding suburban area constitute what is known as Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area or RMBA (from the Spanish: Region Metropolitan de Buenos Aires). This situation forces people to resort to trains, subways, and buses to commute to and from the city. The Public buses alone meet the needs of 1,400 million individuals a year. This service is rendered by 140 companies, which rely on 9,756 buses. These buses get to cover 757 million kilometers a year. Within this context, from 1997 onwards, a schedule has been established for the renewal of the bus fleet with the progressive inclusion of low-floor and semi-low floor buses adapted so that they could be used by individuals with motor and communication dysfunctions. So far, there are 936 buses of this type circulating throughout the city. This makes the region known as the RMBA the leading city in South America regarding the integration of individuals with motor and sensitive problems to the public transport system. This study discloses the experience we gathered during these three years which, to the best of our knowledge and belief could be very useful as the basis for a study aimed at the insertion of this type of vehicles in other cities from different developing countries. The details of the issues dealt with are the following: Historical background giving rise to the establishment of a schedule aimed at including units adapted for the access and use by individuals with reduced mobility in the Argentine Republic. Institutional steps and legal framework that compulsorily imposes the inclusion of low-floor buses. Description, typology and technical features of the vehicles adopted for urban public transport. Accessory and supplementary systems aimed at facilitating access and use by individuals with reduced mobility in general and, particularly, by all those individuals in wheelchairs (ramps and lifts). Results obtained so far from the application of the low-floor and semi-low-floor vehicles inclusion schedule. Theoretical and practical analysis on the operation of said units. Problems encountered. Summary of the authors’ views on the development of this schedule and proposal of an update to the legal framework in force which would allow a better harmonization of the interests of both the disabled and the potential reality of the RMBA Urban Public Transport Companies to comply with this commitment. Establishment of the guidelines aimed at attaining technical solutions that could be applied to the Long Distance Public Transport System in the future, which have not been duly developed so far.