The Irish Times gets it wrong on wheelchairs on buses

Last week The Irish Times did a

series of articles highlighting the barriers faced by disabled people in Ireland to realising their rights to participate fully in eduction, employment, housing, transport and society.

In Friday’s article Kitty Holland wrote:

"The number 130 bus, being an older model, has only a front door, which Ms Smith has to awkwardly enter along with other passengers, and then manoeuvre her chair to the designated wheelchair spot, rather than through double doors located at the centre of the bus, as with more modern vehicles."

One must wonder when Ms Holland was last on a bus in Dublin. What research was done for the piece?

All double deck buses in the country have facility for wheelchairs. It involves the lowering of a ramp to allow a person to enter the bus in a wheelchair. This facility is always at the front door of the bus. It is explicitly stated on all buses that the ramp facility is at the front door. There is no facility on any bus anywhere in Ireland for such a facility at the middle double doors.

The vast majority of buses, all Dublin Bus vehicles, those with the letters SG, GT, PA, EW, AH have double doors. There is a number of older buses that do not have  double doors in the middle but that has nothing to do with wheelchair facility as that is always operated from the front door.

Also, GT registered buses work  the 130 route and these buses have middle double doors. But again, whether the bus has middle double doors or not, has little implication for those using wheelchairs.

All vehicles operated by Go Ahead have wheelchair facility and again this operates via the front door.

Ms Holland’s information is incorrect, indeed, most misleading, and certainly not fair to Dublin Bus.

Has The Irish Times corrected the error? Has Dublin Bus commented on the poor research?