VOICES
The Bus Station and Beyond
A bus station is like a university. At first glance it is familiar, laid out in a predictable way, designed to provide a service, and then get you on the road to your choice of destination. Like a university it is an easily negotiable location given that the lay of the land can be familiar and comfortable for you. But what if you couldn't see the signs or make sense of the rules, or make it through the front door without fear or difficulty?
These thoughts came to me as I waited to speak with Jim Marston at the downtown Santa Barbara MTD bus terminal. Jim, a graduate student in the UCSB Geography Department, has studied the needs of vision impaired people so they can better access systems of transportation. When we met, Jim introduced me to the lack of independence and choice many of these travelers face. "The visually impaired are a captive market for public transportation," he noted. "Without the benefit of the driver's license a person becomes dependent on others for mobility. Since many of these people are on limited incomes the public transit system is their only viable option if they wish to participate in the world."
Those who go through Orientation and Mobility Training at institutions like the Braille Institute are assisted in learning to negotiate through their environment safely and to orient themselves within immediate space. The challenge is to improve and increase the range of orientation through improved delivery systems. Without this increased range, life for the blind and visually impaired is a series of well-known point A to point B travel choices, sometimes cued by other senses (the smell of a frequented bakery) or the counting of steps. Shortcuts are difficult to construct. Travel is possible but extremely limited and an important aspect of independence, spontaneity, is missing. Part of what makes spontaneous travel possible for much of the populace is a knowledge of the "environmental grammar," how streets are laid out, where bus stands are or even from whom to seek travel advice. The visually impaired negotiates safe mobility within a narrow and cluttered aural environment (the sound of traffic, buses, and people around the terminal frequently interrupted our conversations and made concentration difficult), which adds extra stress to travel.
This brought us to the topic of the Talking Signs™ which have been installed at the bus terminal as part of the funded project that UCSB Geography Professor Reginald Golledge and Marston are involved. There are ten of these transmitters arrayed about the terminal. A small handheld scanner gives an auditory message or label only when pointed towards a transmitter so by scanning around a person receives a directional beam that leads directly to that point. This system allows the user to access the ten orientating messages, leading to locations like the information/token booth, the telephone, the water fountain, or the door to the buses. Separate directions to the major street exit also point the listener to express bus service. These messages provide the user options from which to choose. Jim tested me on the system and demonstrated to me how transmitters on buses can lead people directly to the proper bus without having to ask for help. This addition would open a real possibility of spontaneous travel for those with visual difficulties. These messages provide a kind of easily heard and usable label or sign that is missing without vision.
Jim noted that this current project is also of use to a broader population of "captive travelers." Those with reading difficulties for any reason, who also frequently use transportation in a point A to point B method would also benefit from a bus station or a city with Talking Signs™.
Those 40 individuals who have tested the system have commented on the feeling of independence it offered and often joked about not giving up the receiver. Jim is pleased by the results and reminds me that it is a team effort, which is making this study possible. Grants were received from Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH), a joint venture of the University of California, the California Department of transportation, and private industry. Professor Golledge and Marston have also received immense assistance from the Santa Barbara MTD, the Braille Institute, and Marston notes the efforts of Bill Crandall of the Smith-Kettlewell Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center in San Francisco. He also commended the Geography Department for encouraging him to pursue graduate research that benefits scholarship, the UCSB community, and the city of Santa Barbara. Behavioral Geography looks at how people use space, such as their travel patterns and the extent of their activity space and Golledge and Marston are interested in the effects and restrictions that disabilities have on a person's use and understanding of space. They are both members of the UCSB Americans with Disabilities Advisory Committee and the Access sub-committee of ADAC.
As I got in my car and guided my way back to UCSB, I started to daydream. When I "came to" I remembered a comment from a test subject. "I finally can daydream and still know which block I am approaching…" I though of that as the most spontaneous act of an independent mind, whether in transportation or in higher education.
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