Hey Fred, thank you so much for telling us about this. I am very interested to
find out more, but I will not be able to attend the meeting this afternoon. I
am going to be on my way to Port Huron this morning. Anyway, please keep us
informed, or even write me off list if you can. Thank you so much.
Lucy edmonds
On Oct 23, 2019, at 12:33 PM, Fred Wurtzel <f.wurtzel@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Hello,
CATA has a grant from the 8 million dollar challenge from the Michigan
Department of Transportation to test emerging accessibility technology for
access to CATA line haul service. They have contracted with a company called
Looking Bus out of Ann Arbor. This service utilizes a cell phone to help
identify the correct bus and alerts the driver that a blind person is
attempting to board their bus. The idea is that the driver will not leave
the stop until the blind person boards.
This is very new technology. For some reason, they started with an Android
app. They are working on their IOS app and hope to have it finished within 2
weeks.
They are eager to meet blind bus users who would like to help them test the
system. They are presently prepared to test on routes 1, 23 and all the
routes with 30 and above. Clearly they are focusing on MSU students. We
have suggested that they at least add route 3 and 13 to cover the west side
and northeast side of Lansing where there are malls. The LCC campus also has
a very busy group of bus stops with a large number of routes meeting there,
including 3 and 13.
There will be an semi-formal meeting on Thursday evening (tomorrow) at 4:00
at the Sparrow professional Building lobby. There is a route 1 stop just
outside the door there and there is room to congregate in their lobby.
I encourage anyone interested in being in on the ground floor of new
accessibility transportation systems to come out and find out what is
happening. We always hate it when companies roll out technology to help
blind persons without talking to blind persons. This company doesn’t seem to
know that most blind folks use Apple phones, so, clearly, they need our help.
The promising thing is that they are reaching out to blind folks in the
formative part of the development process. This is our chance to make a
difference in the development of a system which may or may not end up working
and we may be able to help decide.
Warmest Regards,
Fred
