App Gets Transit Stop Displays Talking For Riders Who Are Blind Or Low Vision

March 28, 2023 by Dave Haynes

This is an interesting application that pairs a smart phone app with a color e-paper transit information display, enabling people with vision issues to hear key transit route and arrivals information.

A UK company called React Accessibility is a supplier and manufacturer of technology intended to help people who are blind or have limited vision. The React Access Trigger App makes the transit display, from Papercast, talk and announce its visually-presented information.

I was curious how this works, given navigating an app is for most people a visual exercise. Keith Willis, of React, says the app’s UX conforms to UK accessibility guidelines and uses things like big icons, distinct colors and screen-reading to help people use the app and get message read out at the transit stops.

The React Access Trigger App is a component to the RNIB REACT system. This page does a nice job of explaining the journey and how the app and screens are used by a partially blind person.