Last night, I rode 5438 on the J5 heading towards Silver Spring and while at Grosvenor I noticed that this bus has the same "Doors Opening/Closing" announcement and chimes that the 60-BRT's have. Only kicker is that the chimes are only at the back door and not at the front.
I know that WMATA tested a similar chime in one of the (REX?) O7's out of FMR, but why put a chime only at the back door on a bus that doesn't need it? On the 60-BRT's, the one-piece plug front door at least is some reason to have a chime. Is this chime a WMATA thing or might New Flyer be doing it on the other 62LFA's?
What about the way the doors close dictates whether they need an audible warning or not? If you need chimes saying the doors are closing, you need them on all buses with doors that can close...right? Realize, that all this stuff is for the disabled crowd. You might be able to see and hear but not everyone can.
Quote from: Tristan on December 04, 2009, 06:09:00 PM
What about the way the doors close dictates whether they need an audible warning or not? If you need chimes saying the doors are closing, you need them on all buses with doors that can close...right? Realize, that all this stuff is for the disabled crowd. You might be able to see and hear but not everyone can.
I hate to necropost, but an additional observation: The 62LFA chimes only go off when the back door is opened. Even on the MBTA (which has chimes on all buses), they only go off when the rear doors are open.
If this was a true ADA thing, wouldn't chimes be standard on all buses and would go off at all times?
I'm sorry, but I thought the 60-BRTs only had the chime at the back door as well. I don't recall any of this noise coming from the front door being opened or closed.
Honestly, in my somewhat limited experience, I find that those who can't see (blind) tend to sit near the front of the bus, rather than go all the way to the back door. I believe that the "chime" at the rear door is for those that are standing near the back door so they don't fall out when the doors open. If the doors are driver operated, he (or she) should be competent enough to close the door when it is clear of exiting people...it's not like a railcar that has multiple doors to monitor for one person.