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In public transportation, low-floor is a term describing vehicles such as Bus es, Trolleybus es, and Tram s whose passenger compartment has a floor which is considerably lower than that of traditional models. A recent development in the Transport industry, vehicles of this type have a stepless entry and usually have an area without seating next to at least one of the doors where Wheelchair s and Perambulator s can be parked. In addition to improving accessibility, low floors also allow fully-mobile passengers to board more quickly, and in some cases can produce improvements in overall speeds. The low floor may extend over the complete length of the vehicle, or some parts may be higher with ramps or steps inside the passenger compartment to allow for under-floor components. If the vehicle is entirely low-floor, there is no place for Bogie s or even Axle s connecting corresponding left and right wheels (they would be at a higher level than the floor). This is solved with single-wheel drives, motors integrated into the wheels, and (in case of trams) short carbody sections, as the axleless design constrains Bogie movement. Enthusiasts frequently see these designs as a step "backwards." LOW FLOOR TRAM CONFIGURATIONS Trams traditionally had high floors. From that model the tram with a low floor centre section has arisen. Examples of this are from Amsterdam 11g/12g-trams and the Kusttram s in Belguim. The most common construction on 100% low floor vehicles is one where is shorter carbody sections for the wheels and longer suspended sections. Examples of this are the Citadis and Combino . A similar, but somewhat older technique is one that has been developed by MAN and was in 1990, the first 100% low floor Tram . These trams are found in ten German cities (such as Bremen and Munich) and in the Swedish city Norrköping. In many other German cities there are trams with low floor between the outer bogies and single axle bogies under the centre section. "Light rail" type frequently vehicles have a simlar configuration but with the centre bogie which is designed to acommadate a low floor situated under a short centre section. LOW FLOOR (TROLLEY)BUS SUSPENSION In Bus es and Trolleybus es, low floors can be complemented by a Hydraulic 'kneeling device', which can be used when the bus is not in motion, tilting it to one side and thus lowering it even further towards the surface level of the road. This technology enables less-mobile passengers to board and leave the vehicle without help from others. ALTERNATIVES Although Low-floor trams and buses are currently being further developed and are already in use in various parts of the world, generally in urban areas, some systems, such as Manchester 's Metrolink , chose to use high-floor trams with level boarding platforms to achieve the same results as low-floor trams; this simplifies the design of the vehicles, but makes stations larger and more expensive, and is not well-suited for street-side stops. Curitiba in Brazil uses High Floor Bus ses stopping at "tube station" bus stops. TYPICAL FLOOR HEIGHTS To put things into perspective, here are some typical floor height for public transport vehicles, old and new:
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