[NFBSF] CCB Discussion about Fixed-Route Transit Accessibility

[Tim Elder]

I'd like to take an informal survey.  What has the history been with connecting RTC discount cards to the iPhone wallet feature that everyone is using now?  I'm noticing that the card readers and fair machines are not being maintained well.  I worry that adding funds to a physical card will be obsolete sooner than I expected.

Also, a couple of points that folks might overlook regarding recent transit advocacy:
Comments about the proposed cuts to AC Transit can be easily emailed to planning at actransit.org.  You don't need to file in a portal or appear in person, though physical presence matters too.
The BART Aira pilot appears to apply pretty broadly from door to door, not just in the BART station.



-----Original Message-----
From: NFBSF <nfbsf-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Daveed Mandell via NFBSF
Sent: Wednesday, October 7, 2026 6:42 PM
To: sfcl at ccblists.groups.io; pattynash8 at yahoo.com; nfbsf at nfbnet.org; maureenscafe at gmail.com; kridgeway at actransit.org; sllamas at actransit.org; oda at sfgov.org; deborah.kaplan at sfgov.org; erin.mcauliff at sfmta.com; maddy.ruvolo at sfmta.com; matthew.west at sfmta.com; virginia.rathke at sfmta.com; rgrene at bart.gov; kevin.mcdonald at bart.gov; ccbl at ccblists.groups.io; trans-eac at acblists.org; dshelton at bayareametro.gov; kmiller at bayareametro.gov; afremier at bayareametro.gov
Cc: Daveed Mandell <daveedmandell at gmail.com>
Subject: [NFBSF] CCB Discussion about Fixed-Route Transit Accessibility

Hello, everyone:

I am extremely proud to have convinced BART to adopt and test visual interpretation for blind and low vision individuals. We have waited for decades, while MTC and other transit agencies have done absolutely nothing to provide accessible wayfinding for our community. BART's Aira pilot, launched on Monday, October 6, promises to offer greater accessibility to fixed-route transit than we have ever had before in the Bay Area. 
  
Some four years ago,  several of us in the California Council of the Blind participated in a very interesting discussion about the accessibility, or lack thereof, of fixed-route transit, especially bus stops. 

One of our Board members has a
son who is a business major. He was asked to write an essay tackling a problem and targeting ways in which it might be solved. His mother suggested the problem that blind people have locating and identifying bus stops. So we discussed this problem in detail, and she took copious notes. 

Here, then is our very unscientific, though, very revealing, results of our discussion. I think that MTC should take note, as well as other metropolitan planning organizations throughout Caliernia. 

It is time to act now. This problem is serious and becoming worse. There are no standards, and nothing is being done to solve it at this point. This would also apply to light rail and subway stations. 

Most blind people prefer to ride paratransit, even though they don't like the current ADA paratransit model. Many of us feel that it is time to adopt a transportation network company, such as Uzurv, rather than Uber or Lyft, because Uzurv is specifically designed to provide paratransit on demand. 

During our discussion, everyone agreed that it is time for public transit agencies to provide what riders want, instead of what planners think we should have. Ableism must be abolished, once and for all!

All the best,

Daveed Mandell


----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Christy Crespin <blind.lcsw at gmail.com>
Date: Saturday, May 20, 2023 06:16 PM
To: Michael Crespin <mike.d.crespin at gmail.com>
Subject: Transit Input

I asked three questions and Got these answers:
 
1. Do you travel via fixed route? 
a. Frank lives in the Bay area and travels by fixed route, primarily by BART. He uses buses much less because he walks where he needs to go. He also uses ride sharing services because of its convenience. He finds locating bus stops problematic unless it is already a stop he is familiar with. He has to rely on asking people and even though they see the bus stop they cannot tell him the information because they do not understand it.
b. Jeff lives in Sacramento and does not use fixed route as much as he did when he was working. He does not use light rail because it is far from where he lives. When the bus routes take over 90 minutes and involve several buses he would rather take paratransit. If he needs to locate a bus stop he will call the bus information, get some idea of what he is looking for and then call AIRA to get human direction.
c. Larry uses Uber or Lyft and lives in Fullerton. He lives a half mile from his nearest bus stop. He needs to get to places quickly.
d. Nancy lives in Riverside and takes paratransit and ride shares because she is deaf and blind. She used to travel in L.A. because everything was based on a grid and easier to understand.
e. Daveed lives in the Bay area and is on the AC Transit accessibility committee. Bus stops are on hubs and keep changing. There is no announcement or direction when bus stops are moved or change. They also have different types of poles and are not recognizable. Buses have indirect routes and it is harder because they drop off at dangerous areas such as in the middle of streets, at dead-ends, literal drop-offs, and serve fewer local residential or light business locations. Sometimes bus stops are located in the middle of streets and are difficult to catch safely. He takes the BART. Fixed route travel is harder to use. He primarily takes paratransit or share ride services. He noted that the ACB's Environmental Access Committee (EAC) has indicated that fixed route accessibility is much more difficult for people who are blind or have low vision.
f. Regina lives in Sacramento. Her comment is that she feels unsafe and she noted that buses are being moved away from residential areas. The business community also does not want buses in their area because of the "riff raff" which includes people with disabilities.
g. Maureen lives in the Bay area. She finds bus stops to be insecure, unsafe, and though she uses buses at known stops on main streets during the day, she feels uncomfortable in the early morning and at dusk.
h. Vivian lives in the Downey area of L.A. County. She has her own vehicle and hires drivers. She has multiple disabilities so she cannot ride the fixed rout system. A ride service where she works in San Jose, Reach Your Destination, contracts and takes one passenger at a time so there is no ride sharing that occurs with regular paratransit service.
i. Ed lives in Highland and takes the fixed route transit to work and other places. If he is familiar with the route and stops he does well.
However, he finds it very difficult to locate the bus stops and determine what routes they serve. He is frustrated that bus stops are located mid block and believes the stops need to be more observable and located near corners.
j. Allen lives in Ontario and now only takes paratransit, though he used to take the fixed route buses. He finds it very difficult to locate the stops and determine their information.
k. John lives in Bakersfield and is now using fixed route transit to a lesser degree because it is difficult to stay current with the bus stops and the routes they travel.
2. What would you consider an accessible bus stop to look like?
a. Button to press for access to all of the bus information.
b. Have the bus announced as it is approaching as they do in BART or other stations.
c. In Australia and some cities here there are directional bars with signage in speech, braille and large print adjacent to the directional bars.
d. We need national and international public agency transportation standards and training.
e. Every bus sign needs to be standardized and have signage in large, raised print and in braille indicating "bus stop" at the very least.
f. Have truncated domes around the pole with signage in braille, large print and a button to push for audible information output.
g. While we might be able to look up information on an app it would need to be quick and give all updated and pertinent information.
h. The pole would need to be tamper-proof. Buses already utilize pulling up to the bus pole to activate their notice that they stopped at a particular stop. The drivers  are already told to pull up to the poles now to activate something.
3. Would you be more inclined to travel via fixed route transit  if you had accessible bus stops?
a. There was a basic answer of "yes" unanimously. While some people have limited ability to walk, they would most likely take the opportunity to travel simple routes more frequently.
b. If people had to get off at a certain stop they could contact a share ride service and give the location of the street, bus line number, direction, and bus stop location, which would make taking a fixed route bus to access points to get to other locations.
c. There is much more discussion about how transit agencies have cut out and done away with local service, creating huge gaps in service, but this is a conversation for another day.
d. Since we have services such as pilots of third party applications and projects, contracted services such as Uzurv, WayMaps, Way-Around, GoodMaps, and Navi-Lens agencies are shirking their responsibilities to serve all of its public constituents.

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