Trams have superior ride quality to buses and can also accelerate and decelerate at a quicker rate. This and the frequent need for braking due to traffic interference has been one of the many causal factors said to have generated increasing rates of passenger falls within trams. This a major concern with an aging population and increased use of trams.
This project seeks to better understand the extent, conditions and causal influences of incidence of passenger falls in trams by older passengers. Its central aim is to identify and test mitigation strategies to reduce the rates of these incidents and their impact including specific redesign concepts for the interior of trams.
This project is paired with the Future Bus – a Multi-Purpose Bus for Changing Needs and Roles project (which also concerns aspects of design for an aging population); and researchers on these projects will work together to identify mitigation strategies for trams.
This project is part of the Sustainable and Effective Public Transport – Graduate Research Industry Partnership (SEPT-GRIP) and was supervised by Associate Professor Judith Charlton. The project was undertaken by Luke Valenza and sponsored by Yarra Trams and Monash University.
The thesis is available online here.