[Nfb-kzoo] Proposed Letter to Metro Transit

[J.J. Meddaugh]

I would like to send the following to the director of Metro Transit, as they are set up to receive over 3 million in federal stimulus money for capital improvements. This is a rough draft, so probably needs some work. Thoughts?

Dear Mr. Schomisch:

My name is J.J. Meddaugh, and I a member of the Kalamazoo chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Michigan. I am writing to thank you for your willingness to improve accessibility of the Metro Transit system and ask for your consideration on some proposed improvements.

I read with interest the probable allocation of roughly 3.1 million dollars of Federal stimulus funds to be spent on capital improvements. I would like to recommend that a portion of this money be used to outfit the entire bus fleet with a modern positioning and audible stop announcement system which would help to increase access to blind and visually impaired passengers.

Unfortunately, the current system used to announce stops is unpredictable and inadequate. Only major stops are announced, and the driver must manually activate the announcement. This often leads to inconsistency and confusion. If an automatic system were to announce every stop on each route, this would allow the driver to more effectively concentrate on the roads while providing a better experience for passengers. In addition, GPS technology could be used to offer realtime bus information to all passengers in multiple forms.

I have experienced audible systems announcing every stop in systems large and small, and the audio announcements are not seen as cumbersome or an annoyance. This funding provides for an excellent time to implement such a system.

The Kalamazoo chapter of the National Federation of the Blind would be happy to work with you and your organization to implement this system, secure additional matching funds, and determine the most reliable and usable technology for this project. In addition, we would be happy to answer any questions you may have. I urge you to consider this request, and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,
J.J. Meddaugh