From: "Friends of Transit" To: Subject: PHOENIX DEDICATES HISTORIC VEHICLE FIRST ACCESSIBLE BUS Date: Friday, July 12, 2002 10:57 AM City of Phoenix Contact: Marie Chapple Camacho 602-261-8254 Public Transit Department (beeper) 602-673-7334 Media Advisory - July 12, 2002 PHOENIX DEDICATES HISTORIC VEHICLE FIRST ACCESSIBLE BUS In 1981, city bus #4401 was Phoenix's first accessible bus. The GMC RTS Model 04 boasted a hydraulic wheelchair lift and a then state-of-the art mechanical securement system. The Public Transit Department has now retired the bus, repainted it with its original Phoenix Transit System design, and will put it on permanent display at 8 a.m., Tuesday, July 16 at Central Station, First Avenue and Van Buren. Before the city of Phoenix received its first order of 15 accessible buses those twenty-one years ago, many elderly and disabled Valley citizens couldn't take a city bus because to get in one meant using the high steps. By 1998, the city and all other agencies in the Valley Metro transit system had 100% accessible bus fleets. Buses are now designed with ramps and other accessible features such as low floors and the capability to "kneel" - lowering and tilting by decompressing air shocks - to get closer to curbside for easier boarding. At the dedication will be several notable speakers: Gary Corcoran, chair of the Mayor's Commission on Disability Issues and member of the Citizens Transit Commission; Bill Stokes, disabled community advocate; Councilwoman Peggy Bilsten, chair of the Transportation, Aviation, Transit and Technology subcommittee; and Ed Zuercher, director of Phoenix's Public Transit Department.