TOKYO, Japan – Toyota Motor Corporation, an Olympic and Paralympic games partner, has developed a special minibus specifically for the games event in Japan in 2010.
It’s called the Accessible People Mover.
The intention is to use the vehicle for the ”last kilometer” – the difficult routes that physically challenged people must navigate at the Games once external public transport has exhausted. Toyota says:
”The intention throughout the games is to provide everybody – staff, athletes, visitors – with the freedom to move…”
What the automaker calls ‘Mobility for All’ – 200 of them.
TO ALL VENUES
”The APM takes this challenge to the maximum degree,,” Toyota says, ”with a ‘last one-mile’ solution that helps to transport as many people as possible to events and venues as all types of visitors with accessibility needs – the elderly, people with impairments, pregnant women, and families with small children, among others.”
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It’s also anticipated that part of the fleet of APMs will be used to support relief activities at events/venues during the northern summer. During the Games, Toyota will employ about 200 APMs to and from support various facilities, among them places where events or competitions will be held and non-event official sites such as the Olympic Village.
PRIMARY FEATURES
The ‘Basic’ model is intended to encourage greater numbers of spectators as ‘last mile’ transport.
- A low-speed, short-distance, electric vehicle suitable for visitors and staff within large event/venue grounds.
- Used by all types of attendees to the Games, including staff and athletes, and visitors, especially the elderly, people with impairments, pregnant women, and families with small children.
- The APMs have three-row seating. The first row will be for the driver only, the second seats for three, the third for two. The configuration can be modified to accommodate wheelchairs by folding the seats to allow the wheelchair into the second row.
- The driver’s seat has been elevated and is central so the driver can see passengers and support their individual needs as they enter/leave the vehicle. Seats can configure to carry an emergency stretcher.
- Seats are accessible from each side and the overall design considers various customers’ needs. A safety bar on each side will help passengers to board or alight and are fitted with wheelchair anchor plates and ramps.
