earticle

영어

The purpose of this study is to design and test a new way of public transportation route guidance system for persons with disabilities, including wheelchair users. The guidance system is smartphone app-based, using, routes that involve disabled-friendly facilities in the vicinity can be searched. A database that contains publicly available data on low-floor bus services, location and extent of disabled-friendly facilities, and suitable subways and stations, was developed for this purpose. The app uses the database to access and query the required information. A pilot study was conducted to test the effectiveness of the guidance system. It was found that the system was able to convey information about the disabled-friendly routes and related guidance information even inside subway stations, effectively. The performance of the system was compared with route guidance services that do not explicitly use data on disabled-friendly services. A notable difference was observed in the travel time estimated by this program and other guidance services. The difference was around 4 to 15 minutes. This is significant savings for persons with disabilities if they use the app and service. The study thus shows that exclusive use of disabled-friendly data in route guidance will bring more benefits for persons with disabilities.