[Nfb-kzoo] Proposed Letter to Metro Transit

[J.J. Meddaugh]

Yes, I would hope for this to be a part of the system. The system in Chicago 
is from Clever Devices I believe. They had a demo at the last Atlanta 
convention.
Going to call them to see if I can get them on board. They've said before 
they would help with grants, etc.

J.J. Meddaugh - ATGuys.com
A premier licensed Code Factory distributor

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Wurtzel" <f.wurtzel at comcast.net>
To: "'NFB of Kalamazoo Michigan List'" <nfb-kzoo at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 28, 2009 8:53 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-kzoo] Proposed Letter to Metro Transit


> Hi,
>
> Excellent.  Does this include exterior speakers for people who are waiting
> outside the bus?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfb-kzoo-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-kzoo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of J.J. Meddaugh
> Sent: Saturday, March 28, 2009 11:05 AM
> To: NFB of Kalamazoo Michigan List
> Subject: [Nfb-kzoo] Proposed Letter to Metro Transit
>
> 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
>
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