[Nfb-kzoo] Partnership?

[Timothy Paulding]

Hey, 
I forwarded the transportation letter on to Michele McGowan, Advocacy and
Education person at Disability network. Thought it might be good if The
Transportation Advocacy group could sign on to this as well. She is very
resourceful. Please read her response below and tell me what you think,
chapter. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Michele McGowen [mailto:mmcgowen at dnswm.org] 
Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 9:25 AM
To: Timothy J. Paulding
Subject: RE: [Nfb-kzoo] Proposed Letter to Metro Transit

I think we (TAG) could collaborate!  I would suggest we need to send it
to the Metro Transit Authority Board and the Kalamazoo County Transit
Authority and cc Mr. Schomisch and Dale Hein.  I can get names and
addresses for you if you think it is a good idea.  That way it goes to
the Boards & the Staff responsible for the transit system.  Not a bad
idea to copy the City of Kalamazoo Manager Ken Collard as well.

-----Original Message-----
From: Timothy J. Paulding [mailto:tjpaulding at gmail.com] 
Sent: Saturday, March 28, 2009 5:15 PM
To: Michele McGowen
Subject: Fwd: [Nfb-kzoo] Proposed Letter to Metro Transit

Remember JJ? Read this note we are putting  together to send to
Shomish. collaborate?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "J.J. Meddaugh" <jj at bestmidi.com>
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:04:33 -0400
Subject: [Nfb-kzoo] Proposed Letter to Metro Transit
To: NFB of Kalamazoo Michigan List <nfb-kzoo at nfbnet.org>

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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