RERC-APT 2013-2018

Accomplishments

• Continued to develop, update, and deploy the award-winning Tiramisu, an accessible transit app based on UD concepts that has been downloaded by over 24 thousand users since 2011, accessed well over a million times, and has received mainstream industry (ITSA, 2011), academic (Steinfeld et al., 2011; Zimmerman et al., 2011), and accessibility awards (FCC, 2012).
• Identified safety and usability problems in low floor buses, implementing solutions on Gillig buses currently operating in Buffalo, and evaluated these new bus designs in service.
• Conducted usability testing on an independent wheelchair securement system, installed on a full-scale bus simulator. This led to a new Field Initiated Research Project for field-testing, which is currently underway.
• Developed a prototype software using Python that integrates boarding and alighting times of those with and without mobility impairments to estimate bus dwell-times for different passenger conditions and bus configurations.
• Published peer-reviewed papers describing the methods and results of our research. Multiple papers have received awards and recognition for technical merit.
• Trained students and post docs who then assumed tenure track positions (Yale, Syracuse, Singapore Management University, Information Technology University of Lahore, and two at University of Michigan), leading to capacity building at additional schools.
• Trained others who have entered industry and government career paths (e.g., Apple, Google, Ford, NYC Transit), thereby increasing disability awareness within these organizations.
• Contributed to Federal rulemaking on ramp slope standards based on our research (NPR, 2012) and the industry-standard GTFS-Realtime (2017) transit information specification.
• Established an Inclusive Transportation Consulting relationship with Stantec’s Transit Advisory Division.
• Published the book, Accessible Public Transportation: Designing Service for Riders with Disabilities (Steinfeld et al., 2017), the first comprehensive professional book on this topic.

R1: Transit Communities

This project will focus on using the Tiramisu Transit app as a testbed to evaluate real-time trip information and community dialog. The former will provide a rich data-base for studying the use of transit systems by people with disabilities. The latter will evaluate methods for enabling and empowering transit riders with disabilities and others to increase situation awareness and assume a more active role in the local transit community.

R2: Vehicle Access Simulation

This project will focus on human factors research studies on key accessibility and usability Robotics Institute / RERC on Physical Access and Transportation 14 issues in vehicles that have not yet been studied empirically. This will fill gaps in knowledge identified during the 2008-13 RERC-APT cycle, address new priorities that emerged recently and provide information to develop user-oriented guidelines for product design, selection criteria in vehicle procurement, and input to federal rule making activities.

R3: Physical Access to the Last Mile

This project will complete a series of interviews and surveys with paratransit operators and users to study how vehicle design and operation practices, and usability problems with access to stops (e.g., sidewalks, crosswalks, bus stop and station design) impact mobility decisions and depend-ence on paratransit service. This data will be used to develop more effective paratransit operating practices, standards, and automated data collection tools.

DV1: Multi-Modal Systems

This project will design and develop software systems to help riders with disabilities during trips that require use of more than one mode of transportation, e.g. pedestrian paths to bus stops, transfers between paratransit and bus, etc. These are focused on addressing real-time information needs and increasing travel independence and system efficiency during pedestrian, paratransit, and station/terminal modes through low-cost approaches and crowdsourcing.

In subproject DV1.1, TechBridgeWorld will extend the NavPal Android app to support more independent pedestrian travel by people who are blind or low vision. In DV1.2, the Intelligent Coordination and Logistics Laboratory will adapt REVAMP to optimize hybrid paratransit-mainline transit trips. Finally, the DV1.3 project will extend Jeffrey Bigham’s expertise on mobile, real-time crowdsourcing to enable riders to obtain timely help while using public transit.

DV2: Next Generation Vehicle Design

This project will continue existing partnerships with bus manufacturers and product manufacturers and form a new partnership with a consortium that has developed an innovative low floor small bus. The project will continue to introduce UD into the development of new prototypes, as well as re-search findings from R1-R3, in order to address high priority needs of transit riders.

Partners In this Cycle:

RERC-APT 2008-2013

Accomplishments:

• Developing and deploying the award winning Tiramisu, a new accessible transit app based on social computing concepts that has now been downloaded by over 24 thousand users, ac-cessed over a million times, and has received mainstream industry (ITSA, 2011), academic (Steinfeld et al., 2010; Zimmerman et al., 2011), and accessibility awards (FCC, 2012).
• The identification of safety and usability problems in low floor buses and initial implementation of solutions on Gillig buses currently operating in Buffalo. We will evaluate these new bus designs in regular daily service prior to completion of the funding cycle.
• Over 20 peer-reviewed publications describing the methods and results of our research. Multiple papers have received awards and recognition for technical merit.
• Robotics Institute / RERC on Physical Access and Transportation 12
• A fact sheet on Universal Design & Accessible Transit Systems: Facts to Consider When Updating or Expanding Your Transit System for Easter Seals Project ACTION that was dis-tributed to over 10,000 transportation practitioners and disability advocates. 
• Input on Federal rulemaking on ramp slope standards based on our research (NPRM, 2012).
• The development of two transportation evaluation methods: real-time documentation using smartphones and systematic evaluations using guided tours (Steinfeld et al., 2012).

R1 - Empowering the User to Improve the Travel Chain 

Project leads: Aaron Steinfeld, PhD & John Zimmerman, MDes

This research will identify effective "citizen science" methods to engage riders with disabilities and others in improving public transportation accessibility by documenting and assessing problems and good solutions throughout the system. The goal is to empower riders, resulting in a greater understanding of the transportation system, and improve the feedback loop between rider and provider. These benefits of the citizen science model have been demonstrated in other contexts. The long-range goal of this project is to apply emerging information technology to establish self-sustaining communities of practice that engage in the continuous improvement of transportation technologies and related transit operations. The laboratory experiments (R1.1) and initial community field test (R1.2) within this project will evaluate a demonstration deployment of an accessible prototype system (DV1.1).

R2 - Human Factors of Boarding and Disembarking Vehicles

Project leads: Victor Paquet, PhD, James Lenker, PhD, & Edward Steinfeld, ArchD

This project will organize and develop a comprehensive evidence base on boarding and disembarking public transit vehicles, complete research to address key policy and design issues, and identify new research needs. A multi-method approach will be implemented including a systematic review, focused laboratory experiments, and targeted usability studies. The data collected in this project will be used to develop user requirements for design and evaluation of vehicle features, boarding technologies and products, and design of stops and stations. It will also establish a model for evidence-based practice in this field for the development of policies and standards, design tools, and a demonstration application in Project DV2.

DV1 - Open Information System Tools

Project leads: Anthony Tomasic, PhD & Aaron Steinfeld, PhD

This project will develop software that can be adopted by regional agencies to help people reach their destinations more easily and harness their experiences to improve the system. It will focus on two key functions in accessible transportation: a citizen science public website where riders can share information about where they are having problems and track solutions to problems as they are implemented (DV1.1) and mobile, real-time information access to assist riders in navigating the system (DV1.2). DV1.1 will be deployed and evaluated in parallel with the R1.2 Community Research subproject. Since the functions will utilize common data elements (e.g., routes, vehicles, location, etc), the components will use a common software base and conceptual model to minimize costs related to deployment.

DV2 - Improved Vehicle Interiors, An Industry Partnership Project

Project lead: Edward Steinfeld, ArchD

The Improved Vehicle Interiors Project will develop and test a computer aided design tool that can be used to increase the accessibility of transportation vehicles. The value of the design tool will be tested through development of multimedia reference designs and a Demonstration Bus project with an industry partner, Gillig Corporation. The design tool will be submitted to the Society of Automotive Engineers and the American Public Transportation Association as a consensus "Recommended Practice" for use in design of accessible vehicles. The reference design will serve as a guide for companies seeking to incorporate universal design principles in their vehicles. The redesigned bus will be evaluated in use.