Transport for NSW releases app to help the blind navigate

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Wednesday, 19 August 2015 10:46am

Transport for NSW (TfNSW) has announced the release of an app, Stop Announcer, which will help blind or vision impaired people to find their way around the public transport system across NSW.

Stop Announcer (NSW) app icon

The app, which is currently only available on Android devices, is designed to work with the Android accessibility feature Talkback, and provides users with audio prompts on arrival at bus stops, train stations, ferry wharves and light rail stops. The app itself has also been designed to be accessible, with a clear, high contrast black-and -white display.

Stop Announcer, developed by Voon-Li Chung and his company picoSpace, was first released in Perth in January 2014. Chung was inspired to create it by the example of the former Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, who took RailCorp in NSW to court in 2013 for failing to provide audible announcements of train stops. TfNSW worked with picoSpace to develop the NSW version of the app, and provided funding to ensure that it will be available for free.

Stop announcer is available from the Google Play store, and TfNSW has created information sheets for using it on trains, and on buses, ferries and light rail. The app is currently in a beta version, and TfNSW is asking for feedback from customers who have used it. This can be submitted by calling 131 500, or online at transportnsw.info.


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