Design for Retractable Staircase for Buses
401
bus, accessibility of buses by all sections of society needs to be improved to provide
freedom and mobility to all. To improve accessibility in high floor buses, lift and
ramp designs and mechanisms to enhance passenger experience have been developed
but the time delay and high installation cost associated with them have negatively
impacted their development [7]. These developed systems faced technical problems
during operation, and bus crew often refused to use the apparatus to avoid dwell time
associated with them. Also, maintenance cost associated with such system increases
over the course of their service life [11].
To provide comfortable and safe access to the vehicle, John D Abbott suggested the
use of retractable stairs with the help of a hydraulic pneumatic actuating system and
parallelogram linkage which extended stairs to provide easy boarding and deboarding
[12]. Providing retracting steps in a bus required little investment, and operation was
easy and could be operated by anyone. Maintenance involved would be negligible,
and minimal dwell time would be associated with such systems. Stairs help to achieve
high height in limited width compared to a ramp. Stair mechanisms utilize less space
compared to lift systems providing sufficient ground clearance for optimal function
of vehicle. Stairs, however, restrain the movement of wheelchairs, but reducing step
height will increase the reach of bus.
The designs discussed aims at providing a cost-effective retractable staircase
system which can be mechanically or electronically driven and will significantly
lessen the hardships faced by the children, elderly, and the differently abled people
as they board and deboard the bus. The design will smoothen the experience for most
commuters and be a small quality of life improvement.
2 Product Development Procedure
Product development refers to the collection of all processes required to bring a
product to market, from its concept development to making the design as robust as
possible. Each industry has its own product development procedure; however, all of
them can be characterized by the following three step procedure:
1. Identification of problem/opportunity
2. Generating a concept/solution
3. Implementing the concept/solution.
Identification of the problem or opportunity is done via market analysis, understanding customer needs, and studying competitive products present in the market. A
concept is developed by product architecture development and functional modeling
of the product. Each concept is implemented by robust designing, physical and analytical modeling. These three phases are possible to run in concurrent manner depending
upon the product [13].
401
bus, accessibility of buses by all sections of society needs to be improved to provide
freedom and mobility to all. To improve accessibility in high floor buses, lift and
ramp designs and mechanisms to enhance passenger experience have been developed
but the time delay and high installation cost associated with them have negatively
impacted their development [7]. These developed systems faced technical problems
during operation, and bus crew often refused to use the apparatus to avoid dwell time
associated with them. Also, maintenance cost associated with such system increases
over the course of their service life [11].
To provide comfortable and safe access to the vehicle, John D Abbott suggested the
use of retractable stairs with the help of a hydraulic pneumatic actuating system and
parallelogram linkage which extended stairs to provide easy boarding and deboarding
[12]. Providing retracting steps in a bus required little investment, and operation was
easy and could be operated by anyone. Maintenance involved would be negligible,
and minimal dwell time would be associated with such systems. Stairs help to achieve
high height in limited width compared to a ramp. Stair mechanisms utilize less space
compared to lift systems providing sufficient ground clearance for optimal function
of vehicle. Stairs, however, restrain the movement of wheelchairs, but reducing step
height will increase the reach of bus.
The designs discussed aims at providing a cost-effective retractable staircase
system which can be mechanically or electronically driven and will significantly
lessen the hardships faced by the children, elderly, and the differently abled people
as they board and deboard the bus. The design will smoothen the experience for most
commuters and be a small quality of life improvement.
2 Product Development Procedure
Product development refers to the collection of all processes required to bring a
product to market, from its concept development to making the design as robust as
possible. Each industry has its own product development procedure; however, all of
them can be characterized by the following three step procedure:
1. Identification of problem/opportunity
2. Generating a concept/solution
3. Implementing the concept/solution.
Identification of the problem or opportunity is done via market analysis, understanding customer needs, and studying competitive products present in the market. A
concept is developed by product architecture development and functional modeling
of the product. Each concept is implemented by robust designing, physical and analytical modeling. These three phases are possible to run in concurrent manner depending
upon the product [13].