Toyota to update taxis for improved wheelchair access

NAGOYA (Jiji Press) — Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it will make improvements on its taxi model that can load wheelchair passengers to simplify the boarding process, including the ramp setup.

The improvements to vehicles that have been sold, including parts exchanges, will shorten the boarding process from the current time of about 10 minutes to three to four minutes.

Toyota will start the parts exchanges and related services, including attaching explanation labels to make the setup process easier to understand, later this month. Related costs will be covered by the Japanese automaker.

The JPN Taxi model was released in October 2017. Production has totaled some 11,000 units so far.

The company had received calls for a revamp of the model from wheelchair users and others, as the setup operation is complicated and some drivers refused to accept such passengers.

Toyota said that it “lacked the views of drivers when developing the model


Source: http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0005523646