App
MBTA Piloting Bus App for Blind Riders Developed by Perkins School, Raizlabs
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The following information was provided by Perkins School for the Blind:
Perkins School for the Blind has enhanced its groundbreaking micronavigation app, designed to help commuters with visual impairment find their bus stops, by bolstering it with new technology that makes traveling even easier. Still free to use, BlindWays 2.0 now alerts riders along select MBTA bus routes when they’ve found their outdoor stop via signals from bluetooth beacons, installed in bus stop signs, that trigger iPhone vibration. “Perkins continues to foster innovation by working collaboratively, as we are with the MBTA and developer Raizlabs on this initiative, to solve challenges for people who are visually impaired,” said Luiza Aguiar, executive director of Perkins Solutions. “We’re motivated to help create a transportation infrastructure that is equally accessible to all riders. Augmenting BlindWays to leverage beacons speeds us along that path.”
The first iteration of BlindWays was released in fall of 2016, providing users with crowdsourced landmark clues to help them navigate the last 30 feet of frustration standard GPS models leave between users and their exact destinations.