Wheelchair ramp stops bus.

[unlevel42]

Stagecoach in Sheffield use hybrid buses on their 52 bus route.
Today the driver kept having to lift and close the wheelchair ramp.
It appeared the a warning whine came on followed by an engine cut out.

I have been using buses for many years and on many that have 'conked out' but never before was the cause a wheel chair ramp. To disable a bus on a tram route in rush hour seems to be a fail-safe too far.

 

[mbonwick]

Engine cutout is nothing to do with the wheelchair ramp, it's part of the hybrid system that turns off the engine when not needed to reduce CO2 emissions.

But yes, there is an interlock that sounds an alarm if the bus is moving with the wheelchair ramp not fully stowed.

 

[plymothian]

The ramp won't cut the engine, but it will apply the brakes. And IMO it is a fail safe too far, especially if there is a faulty sensor and it activates whilst the bus is moving!

 

[mbonwick]

The ramp/brake interlock is an optional extra, and not something Stagecoach go for, due to the awkwardness of a dodgy sensor. TfL specification vehicles are fitted with the interlock however.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

Some of First Glasgow's Gemini's won't even move unless the driver has sorted the ramp out, and I've seen a few of the drivers having a good jump on the ramp to try and get it sorted out.

 

[Shrimper]

There is a ramp/brake interlock on Stagecoach E400s although it won't put the brakes on whilst the vehicle is moving. I recall a morning at SH where my bus wouldn't move as it thought the ramp was deployed - and ended up blocking about 12 vehicles in as even the engineers couldn't get it to move. The router was tearing their hair out!