Escalator Foot Entrapment

Tender description

Transport for London (TfL) is undertaking an early market engagement exercise, by inviting potential suppliers to complete a Market Sounding Questionnaire (MSQ) for an upcoming escalator foot entrapment trial in which TfL is looking for innovative, scalable solutions that can: • Reduce and/or eliminate the risk of escalator foot entrapments (Entrapments) on our network, mainly for children. • Reduce the severity of an Entrapment, should it occur. This MSQ is issued by Transport for London (TfL) and is seeking market feedback to: • Understand what solutions exist and ready for implementation • Understand what technologies exist in other industries that might be applicable to this problem area • Gauge suppliers' interest, capabilities, and capacity to engage in a trial. If you have any questions regarding this PIN please contact: v_chrismargarido@tfl.gov.uk TfL have recently switched to a new sourcing system, SAP Ariba, meaning that TfL's processes are now different to those that suppliers may be familiar with. The following instructions explain this new system and provide guidance on how interested parties will be able to communicate with TfL and access the MSQ through the new system. For help on registering on the SAP Ariba system and for checking if your organisation already has an account please refer to https://content.tfl.gov.uk/supplier-registration.pdf In case of registration problems please contact Ariba_Supplier_Enablement@tfl.gov.uk Upon completion of registration, interested parties must inform the TfL lead via email (v_chrismargarido@tfl.gov.uk), in order that they can be invited to the event in Ariba. They will then have unrestricted and full access to the MSQ, free of charge through their dashboard when they login to Ariba at https://service.ariba.com/Supplier.aw. Any subsequent competitions shall also be run through SAP Ariba. Please can you express your interest by emailing v_chrismargarido@tfl.gov.uk by close of play 17th November 2023 to be gain access to the MSQ event. The last date that MSQ submissions shall be accepted is 20th November 2023. Lot 1: TfL is committed to keeping its customers safe on their journey. However, with over 500 escalators on the TfL network there is a risk of customer entrapment. Whilst the risk of this entrapment is very low (roughly 0.04 times per million passengers since the start of 2022), the potential harm to customers can be serious. TfL customers most at risk are children who account for 76% of Entrapments. TfL is looking to procure a supplier to run a trial to test innovative solutions to mitigate and where possible eliminate the entrapment problem. Entrapments can be described as: • When a shoe/foot enters the space between the escalator skirt and the moving steps and becomes wedged (Step-Skirt) • When a shoe/foot goes into the comb plate at the end of an escalator (Comb plate) • When a shoe gets caught between two steps as they form from inclined to flat (Step-Step) The issue of escalator foot entrapment has been historically difficult to solve because: Our understanding of the problem is limited as: • Entrapments are a very rare occurrence • Escalators were designed predominately for use by adults and not Children who have different needs and face higher entrapment rates, • TfL's escalators vary in age and design which makes it difficult to retroactively fit a cost-effective, one size fits all solution. TfL is currently addressing Entrapments with several trials which include: • Painting the escalator step-edges, • Extending the step-edge brushes and making them stiffer • inserting raised and plastic edges, • Using trip-switches, • Using Tactile skirting, • Reducing escalator speeds. As such TfL is looking within this procurement for alternative innovative solutions to escalator entrapment. An appointed supplier would be expected to not just communicate their solution but also have the capability to run a trial of their solution, potentially on the TfL network.