Sunday, 27 May 2012

Scorcher of a Heritage Tour

Saturday saw Bolton 66 and Boat 600 in use on the heritage service
This weekend saw temperatures soaring into the mid-twenties in Blackpool, providing a great opportunity to make the most of the open-toppers. It's a great pity therefore that the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 seems to be being used an excuse to prevent these trams from being used in normal service, and potential passengers are continuing to be turned away at stops, which is a waste of much needed potential revenue. The open-top trams used to be a real crowd puller on hot weekends such as this, but because the disability access legislation appears to be being invoked seven years early (the act only comes into force in 2019), these good times are now just a thing of the past for the general public, who would simply just like to be able to use the trams as a means of getting around from A to B.

Boat car 600 southbound past the Metropole on Saturday 26th May
Sunday saw an all open-top service on the Heritage Tour provided by 706 and 600
Boat 600 northbound at Gynn Square on the Sunday
Northbound 706 passing Flexity 012 at the Gynn heading for Starr Gate
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4 comments:

  1. Matt29 May 2012 at 13:53

    What does legislation prevent?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alan Robson29 May 2012 at 14:20

    It prevents these trams from being used in normal service because they aren't disabled access compliant.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hertsman8 June 2012 at 19:53

    I wonder how far that Legislation has been taken as an excuse. In practice, RM's still operate in daily service in London on Route 9H which 'supplements' the normal fully accessible Route 9 buses.

    As I understand it, there are several years before the full legislation comes into force anyway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alan Robson8 June 2012 at 20:17

      I suspect that they can't be used in normal service because the tram bodies are too narrow to pick up passengers at the platforms. It was the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 that required that all public transport must be accessible by 2019. There's no reason that I can see (apart from the platform problem) that these trams can't be used in normal service for the next seven years until the act comes into force.

      Delete

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