The same technology that drivers use to find their destinations could help people with learning or cognitive disabilities to exit a bus at the right stop.
For people with developmental disabilities like Down syndrome and Asperger’s syndrome, learning when to get off the bus can be one of the most challenging parts of using mass transit. Researchers in Florida are working on a technological innovation to try to ease the process using cell phone location technology similar to Global Positioning Systems (GPS) that provide directions to automobile drivers.
A software-enabled cell phone known as the Travel Assistant Device, or TAD, would vibrate or make an announcement depending on the traveler’s disability, telling them when to request a stop and exit a bus or above-ground train. The software uses GPS capabilities and Java software that are already in many commercial cell phones. This is intended to keep the cost down and maximize the use of the device.
The software can also be programmed to work with Automatic Vehicle Location Monitoring Systems (AVLM) that some transit systems use to track the locations of buses. The phone could then tell the traveler how far away their bus is before they board.
In case a traveler becomes lost, the phone sends an alert to a third party such as a family member.
“By far, out of all the projects I’ve worked on, this has the greatest potential to impact people's lives,” said Sean Barbeau, a research associate at the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) in Tampa who is overseeing the TAD’s development. “When you really look at some of the people that are going to use this and tell you how it can potentially change their lives and provide greater independence, that is the most rewarding part.”
The invention also has applications beyond the disability community. Tourists or people who are learning to travel in a new place could also use the device.
Development of the Travel Assistant Device
The Travel Assistant Device is now entering its third development stage. Patents have been filed, and Barbeau, a computer scientist, said he hopes that TAD software will be available to the public within the next year.
The first development phase, to prove that the TAD concept was viable, began in 2006 with a $127,000 grant from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT).
The second phase, which examined use of the device with AVLM technology, was paid for with a federal grant from the Transportation Research Board for $78,000. This phase included testing the device on six people with cognitive disabilities between the ages of 18 and 22, using the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit system in Tampa. Mark Sheppard, who provides individual lessons about traveling on the Hillsborough system, followed the trainees during the tests, which he said were successful. Barbeau said the trainees were promised confidentiality and could not be interviewed for this story.
“Having something you can rely upon to know when to get off public transportation when you’re going somewhere you’ve never been before is a huge step forward,” said Sheppard, whose voice prompts riders who use the TAD with the phrases “Get ready!” and “Pull the cord now.”
Sheppard said the device could reduce the time needed for the final phase of travel training, which teaches trainees one of 30 skills needed for travel.
“Of the skills they must learn, the most difficult one that I’ve experienced with developmentally disabled clients is the timing of when to pull or press the cord” to alert a driver to stop the bus, Sheppard said. That lesson usually adds several days to the training program, which targets one particular trip such as home to school. Landmarks are the most common tools Sheppard uses for that lesson, but often there are few around.
The third development phase, the TAD Deployment Project, will expand testing of the device to other transit systems that have yet to be determined. This phase started in April with a grant from the FDOT for nearly $100,000. The expected completion date is October 2010.
Sheppard and Nevine Georggi, a research associate at CUTR, will present the software at an annual conference of the Association of Travel Instruction this Saturday, August 1, in St. Louis. The association supports travel instruction for seniors and people with disabilities. The TAD presentation will take place from 11 a.m. to noon.
Terry Moakley, a longtime transportation advocate and the association’s outgoing president, said the TAD has the potential to bring more people with developmental disabilities into the workforce by helping them to travel independently using public transit.
“It’s not going to be for every family who has a person with a developmental disability, but I truly believe that there are a lot of people with all kinds of disabilities who have yet to be introduced to accessible mass transportation,” Moakley said. “I see the travel assistance device being one that can just get a lot more people with developmental disabilities out there using public transportation. And to me, transportation is something you have to have if you’re going to work.”
Karen Wolf-Branigin, Director of Training and Technical Assistance for a national travel training organization called Easter Seals Project ACTION (Accessible Community Transportation in Our Nation), said the device has the potential to alleviate family fears that a traveler might get on the wrong bus, exit at the wrong time or become lost in transit. Those fears, she said, often lead families to turn down travel training for a family member who has a developmental disability.
“Typically when families have those fears they decline any type of training that their kid or their brother or sister might benefit from regarding independent travel,” said Wolf-Branigin, who saw a demonstration of the device on a laptop computer. “I think it’s just one more piece of information that will give families comfort and then allowing their child or their loved one to be independent when it comes to travel.”
Wolf-Branigin also said innovations in travel training that target people with developmental disabilities are unique. “There’s a lot going on related to improving accessible transportation. So much of it is focused on path of travel and accessible vehicles, and again, that’s really important, but it seems that so often people with cognitive limitations kind of get left out of the mix,” Wolf-Branigin said.
Potential Risks
The Travel Assistant Device offers a number of benefits to travelers and their families, but it does not come without risk. The TAD depends on a web of technology with a number of drop-off points where a communication signal could get lost. The software could experience technological glitches from disruptions in Google Maps – which some transit systems rely on for directions – or their own AVLM software. Cell phones can lose power or service, or simply be lost.
Travel trainers could also use the device to reduce their time with trainees, even though that is not its intention. Barbeau said the researchers do not want the device to replace travel instruction, but to provide an additional tool to help trainers and riders master one of the most difficult travel skills. However, once the software is released, over-booked trainers could use it to substitute instruction, generating dependence on the device in lieu of complete training.
Moakley said the TAD could actually make up for some of the limitations on travel training that already exist. “My point is there’s just not enough qualified travel trainers in this country, and won’t be maybe ever, to train the people who could benefit from this. So I think the device is not a be-all and end-all, but it’s a piece of equipment that can be helpful.”
What do you think of the Travel Assistant Device? You can leave your comments below or contact Sean Barbeau at barbeau@cutr.usf.edu.
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Posted by: Loans | 03/22/2010 at 11:25 AM