Talking Signs® Research

Talking Signs® Research Talking Signs®, Inc.

NewMap
The National Empowerment for Wayfinding
Model Accessibility Project

1 - BACKGROUND - In 2005 the Transportation Equity Act, SAFETEALU, Title III, Section 3046 included funding for an evaluation of the impact on the lives of people with vision loss, or who cannot otherwise read print signs, of making a regional intermodal transit system accessible through use of remote infrared audible signage (RIAS).

The legislation required reporting on the effect of the Remote Infrared Audible Signage Model Accessibility project (RIAS MAP) on work, education, community integration and general quality of life for the targeted populations. Importantly, it was to measure the impact on paratransit use of making a transit system orientation and information accessible.

Remote infrared audible signage (RIAS) is a directional, wireless communication system that employs permanently installed transmitters and hand-held receivers. Voice messages that identify buses, trains and paratransit vehicles, tell the user when and in what direction to proceed in crossing the street and provide access to ever-changing passenger information signs within buses and on train platforms are heard through a receiver carried by the traveler. People who are visually impaired, or are otherwise print disabled, simply scan with the one button receiver for directional transmissions to locate and identify transit vehicles and signal-controlled cross walks and have real-time access to ever-changing passenger information signs - without asking for help.

Of the estimated $25 million cost of RIAS MAP, only $2 million was funded by SAFETEALU. These funds were used to install RIAS in six stations of the Seattle Sound Transit System. The evaluation performed by the Department of Transportation's Volpe Center and the Federal Transit Administration Office of Mobility Innovation was very positive, but incomplete, as only one modality of those called for in the legislation was installed.

2 - ISSUES - During the past 35 years, barriers to mobility for people with physical disabilities have been greatly reduced. Comparable improvements to communication for individuals with hearing disabilities have also been made. However, people who cannot see or read signs that provide critical orientation and changing information have not enjoyed similar benefits from the type of accessible signage that is needed for safe and independent travel.

NewMap will demonstrate this new paradigm in accessibility. It will introduce a regional, intermodal, dynamic implementation of RIAS technology, coupled with human factors outcome studies designed to evaluate the impact of RIAS on paratransit costs and on the shift in opportunities in employment, education and community integration of people with differing disabilities.

3 - PROPOSAL - It is proposed that $25 million be funded over three years to achieve the objectives of the SAFETEALU RIAS MAP through the National Empowerment for Wayfinding Model Accessibility Project (NewMap). This regional, intermodal project would involve the installation of RIAS in bus and train destination signs and passenger information systems, on paratransit vehicles, and within pedestrian cross-walk signals at key intersections.

Several hundred subjects will be issued RIAS receivers for their long-term use. These would include people who have vision loss, cognitive, or intellectual disabilities, and those who can't read print signs for other reasons. Their participation would be designed and managed by research professionals and organizations whose mission it is to assist the members of these various disability groups.

Representative Eleanor Homes Norton has written a letter of support to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman, James Oberstar, supporting the project and requesting that NewMap be funded. The Chairmen of the Human Services Committee and the Transportation Committee of the Council of the District of Columbia, Tommy Wells and Jim Graham, have written letters to Chairman Oberstar supporting DC as the site of NewMap. The latter, Jim Graham, is the immediate past Chairman of the Board of the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority.

Washington has, perhaps, the country's largest per capita population of employed people who are blind. If the Washington region is chosen by the Federal Transit Administration to be the location of NewMap, 1,500 buses, 1,200 trains, 550 paratransit vehicles, 600 passenger information systems and 100 intersections will be fitted with RIAS systems.

4 - RESULTS - Quantitative and qualitative evaluations designed and executed by disabilities and research professionals will determine the efficacy of the RIAS system in reducing paratransit costs and demonstrate its impact in a regional, multi-modal transit system on education, work, community integration and general quality of life of the approximately 35 million people nationwide who cannot read standard signs due to visual or cognitive disabilities.

NewMap will demonstrate a new paradigm in accessibility that has the potential of removing a previously impenetrable barrier to public transportation use by tens of millions of Americans. CONTACT C. Ward Bond President Talking Signs, Inc. 812 North Blvd. Baton Rouge, LA 70802 225-344-2812 ward@talkingsigns.com

Revised:Monday, 09-Aug-2010 20:12:58 EDT

It's 06:19 PM EDT, Thursday, May 17

NewMap The National Empowerment for Wayfinding Model Accessibility Project

NewMap
The National Empowerment for Wayfinding
Model Accessibility Project