Development of assistive technology for public transport based on user perception.

Abstract

Public passenger transport is directly linked to the quality of life of its users, providing access to basic services such as health, education, leisure, etc. Considering the problems of the public transport system in urban centers, it is observed the need to improve accessibility for visually impaired users. Among the possible solutions to the accessibility problem, the use of assistive technologies is a viable solution due to its low implementation costs and, in general, little adaptation to the existing infrastructure. The aim of this study is to study accessibility applications of visually impaired passengers to the public road transport system in order to reduce the level of dependence of this part of the population and facilitate their displacement and providing access to several existing services in the cities. In order to do this, attribute extraction modeling is applied to identify the various requirements perceived by users of the general capabilities of an application and system in a particular domain. A survey of the type survey was carried out by taking a sample of 30 passengers with visual impairment from answers to a questionnaire to extract the mandatory attributes of the system. From the identified attributes, it was determined the existence of possible solution providers in the market, and among them, only one system would be able to meet the needs raised, CittaMobi. Thus, the study was carried out in this system, applying the attribute extraction model to identify system failures against users' needs and to adapt the system according their specific needs.