Mobility Challenges | Siemens Low-Floor Cars

STAR members are hearing from mobility-challenged patrons the same issues raised again-and-again related to the Siemens low-floor light rail cars.  The overall silence from SacRT implies either a lack of action related to the observations or a lack of effective communication with those who are raising the concerns.

The issues can be divided generally into two categories:

  • Challenges that reduce accessibility and independence (equity issues).
  • Challenges that pose a dangerous condition to users.

We won’t dig into deep specifics of the issues here.  Examples of the dangerous situations are:

  • The steepness of the accessibility ramp.
  • The need to get out of the way of the ramp on the outside after invoking the deployment of the ramp.

For more information, please see these prior STAR posts:

It is unclear how much has been done to even begin to address the shared concerns, if at all.  STAR exhorts staff to at the very least:

  • Communicate when intending to dive deeper into each challenge, and, if possible, provide a roadmap with milestone dates as to expected action for each challenge item that has been already brought to their attention.
  • Indicate transparently and in a timely manner if staff plans to not actually address an issue at all.

It is also unclear whether SacRT engineering and Siemens engineering have a knack for out-of-box thinking to solve the challenges.  Below are a couple of feasible and actionable ideas.  Full brainstorming among all the engineering teams would no doubt yield both enthusiasm for finding solutions, as well as designating actual paths to closure.

  • IDEA: Always open the middle door and deploy the ramp at every station.
  • IDEA: Leverage technology:  Use some voice-activated protocols with smart phone communications.

Whatever SacRT and Siemens plan to engage in, let’s know timeline plans so that there is clear and trackable oversight potential.  Let’s also work together to compel prioritization to tilt in favor of taking care of these challenges, and to ensure that we are ready together to bear relatively small inconveniences that may arise as a result of solving these mobility problems for our challenged citizens.

2 thoughts on “Mobility Challenges | Siemens Low-Floor Cars”

  1. The buttons to open the doors and to deploy ramps are often hard to push. On my last trip, I saw a man in a wheelchair repeatedly try to push the button to open door and deploy ramp, but he was not able to and missed his stop. I was sitting too far away to help in time. When my stop can, I had to whack the button a couple of times to get the door (no ramp) to open. I could not find any place to complain to RT about this. Need work!

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  2. Thanks for the comment, M Riley!

    That is a good point about where to log complaints.

    • Standard ‘Contact Us’:

      https://www.sacrt.com/contactus/

      • Directly e-mail board or staff members.

      Board E-Mail:

      https://www.sacrt.com/aboutrt/rtboard/

      Staff E-Mail:

      Format is generally <first initial><lastname>@sacrt.com.

      • Log comment for board meeting and/or speak at board meeting.
      • Log comment for Mobility Advisory Council (MAC) members to consider.
      • Go nuclear and contact local journals.

      Frankly, given how much time it is taking to get meaningful attention and action on some of the basic issues, such as the one you point out: The more of our voices pushing on these things over-and-over, the better traction we will get. Basically, the agency needs to be made nervous that we will make a loud stink.

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