Lift Fault With a Waiting Wheelchair Customer and One Already Onboard
At 8:05 a.m. you are operating a crosstown route with 38 passengers aboard, running 9 minutes behind. A customer in a manual wheelchair is waiting at a flag stop on a two-way avenue with no curb cut on the near side. You kneel the bus and press the lift enable switch; the lift door begins to open, then stops about 6 inches out and the amber fault light flashes. You cycle the interlock and retry twice with the same result. There is already one wheelchair user secured in the forward bay, traveling another 15 stops. Headways are 12 minutes, but according to your paddle the next two scheduled buses on this route today are not lift-equipped. The waiting customer says he has a 9:00 appointment and refuses to be left behind. Traffic is passing close on the left, and a passenger behind you is already asking why you are stopped.
1. What do you do in the next two minutes - keep troubleshooting, force the lift, or something else - and why?
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Stop the reset cycle. Two clean retries after an interlock cycle plus a flashing fault light point to a mechanical or limit-switch fault, not something an operator clears by repetition. Forcing the lift or manually hoisting a customer is prohibited: it risks a fall, a back injury, and a serious liability exposure, and it is not a substitute for an accessible vehicle.
What you can control is the safety of the stop. Keep the bus kneeled with hazards on, position so the waiting customer is not exposed to moving traffic, and speak to him directly: the lift is out of service, you are not able to board him on this bus, and you are requesting an accessible bus now. Give him the realistic option of waiting in a safe place (behind the curb, not in the roadway) or making other arrangements. Do not depart while he is standing in the travel lane. Then get on the radio to control with the fault, your location, and the number of wheelchair customers involved, and ask for the nearest available lift-equipped bus or a change-off.
2. What are your obligations to the wheelchair user already secured onboard, and to the waiting customer, if control tells you to continue in service?
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The onboard customer's trip is the first constraint. His securement is unaffected by the lift fault, so he can stay aboard, but only if he can actually get off at his destination. Confirm his stop: if it is a lift-required exit, continuing puts him in the same position as the waiting customer, and control needs to hear that before answering. If his stop is level and he can exit without the lift, continuing is workable and he should be told what has happened so he is not surprised.
The waiting customer's obligation does not end when you drive away. "Next bus" is only an answer if that bus is lift-equipped; your paddle says it is not. Report that specifically so control does not give him false information. Under no circumstances pass him without acknowledgment, and never suggest he be carried on. If control directs you to continue, ask for a documented instruction and a commitment on the accessible relief, then log it.
3. What do you record and report before the end of the run, and why does each item matter?
Read the worked answer
Record the time and location of the failure, the exact symptom (door stopping about 6 inches out, amber fault light flashing), how many times you cycled the interlock, and the fact that you did not force the lift. Note the onboard wheelchair customer and his destination, the waiting customer and what he was told, and the specific instruction you received from control, including the time. Log the bus and run number.
Each item protects someone. The fault description gets a mechanic to the right component and shows the lift was not operable before you touched it. The customer entries show you did not strand anyone and that you gave accurate information about the following buses. The control instruction entry fixes responsibility for the decision to continue. Complete the defect card or incident report per depot procedure at the first safe opportunity, and report the fault at the end of the run even if the lift appears to work later - an intermittent lift fault is still a defect.