Can tech startups improve accessible transport? Cathy Holloway (original) (raw)

Of the 11.6 million people with disabilities in the UK, a fifth report having difficulty accessing transport. Many avoid travelling altogether, leading to isolation and depression. Making all transport accessible to everyone may seem a challenge but there are two beacons of hope: technology and people.

Door-to-door transport services, for example, are a lifeline for many but are often costly and clunky, with journeys sometimes difficult to book and vehicles late or cancelled. A recent report (pdf) from the London Assembly highlights the failures. The aim would be a service where people make one phone call to arrange a journey and it seems bizarre that this is such a difficult thing to do.Things are very different in the world of tech startups, so perhaps, rather than trying to change existing systems, we should look to them.

Whatever your view of controversial firm Uber, it does offer a range of accessibility features for people with vision impairments, mobility issues or who are deaf or hard of hearing. These include the UberWAV app for wheelchair users, which appears straightforward to use and involves, on average, a wait of about 15 minutes. UberASSIST helps to train drivers on how to accommodate assistive technology, such as wheelchairs and scooters.

Wayfindr, meanwhile, is working to help people with vision impairments navigate stations using audio technology. Testing at London’s Euston station in 2015 proved a success, and the first open standard for audio wayfinding launched in May 2016.

Collaboration has played an important role in the growth of Wayfindr, with the Royal Society for Blind Children and ustwo, a digital product studio, working together on the project. Wayfindr chief executive Umesh Pandya believes in creating “inclusive, trustworthy and delightful products” that work in everyday life and Wayfindr has an interesting business model. It has not licensed the intellectual property, or developed technology, instead choosing to work with industry partners and visually impaired people – of whom there are more than 2 million in the UK – to develop an open standard.

In doing this it is part of a growing movement of people trying to change the accessibility industry, which is increasingly seen as a global ambition.

This can be seen by initiatives such as the Global Disability Innovation hub (GDI hub), of which I am founder. Formed as a permanent legacy to the London 2012 Paralympics, its mission is to make a positive difference to the world’s 1 billion disabled people. Like Wayfindr, the GDI hub is doing this through collaborations and our first international project has been to connect wheelchairs in India to the Internet of Things and automatically create wheelchair accessible maps.

In July, the GDI hub will host a disability innovation summit alongside the World Para Athletics Championships in London, to bring together academics, disabled people, corporates and charities.

Accessibility is enshrined in the UN convention of the rights of persons with disabilities. As a signing member, the UK must ensure equal access to transportation for disabled people. It is a question of how we achieve it.

Cathy Holloway is a senior lecturer at UCL’s Interaction Centre and academic director of the Global Disability Innovation hub.

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