Hi,
Great hearing From you. I will keep folks in the loop. Looking Bus has
reached out to us to help test. So, these opportunities will come up, again.
Do you use Route 3? I am trying to get them to include it in the testing. Let
me know if you have other ideas about ways to improve their test program.
Warmest Regards,
Fred
From: msb-alumni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:msb-alumni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] ;
On Behalf Of Lucy Edmonds
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2019 6:01 AM
To: msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [msb-alumni] Re: CATA Test of Accessibility System
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
<mailto: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
