The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires the removal of physical obstacles to those who are physically challenged. The stated objective of this legislation has increased public awareness and concern over the requirements of the physically challenged. Consequentially, there has been more emphasis in providing systems that assist such a person to access a vehicle, such as a bus, van, or train.
A common manner of providing the physically challenged with access to vehicles is a ramp. Various ramp operating systems for vehicles are known in the art. Some ramps slide out from underneath the floor of the vehicle and tilt down. Others, known as foldout ramps, stow horizontally within a recess in the vehicle floor and pivot upward and outward to a downward-sloping position. Further, others are stowed in a vertical position and are pivoted about a hinge, while still others are supported by boom and cable assemblies.
Fold out ramps on vehicles confront a variety of technical problems. Longer ramps are desirable because the resulting slope is more gradual and more accessible by wheelchair-bound passengers. Longer ramps are, however, heavier and require more torque about the pivot axis to be reciprocated between deployed and stowed positions. Also, the ramp length is typically limited by the space available in the vehicle. Further, as briefly described above, fold out ramps require a recess or well in the vehicle's vestibule floor in which to store the retracted/stowed ramp. The recess or well, as well as the location of the vehicle chassis can present installation challenges that can result in ramp operability problems.