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Advancing accessibility of digital transport services report
- 1. Advancing accessibility of digital transport services
- 2. Digitalization enables novel service concepts for transport: Mobility as a Service 2
- 3. MaaS brings new transport operators to market 3
- 4. Digitalization also modifies traditional transport services and their customer interfaces 4
- 5. Digital transport services need to be targeted to all user groups 5 • New digital transport services are being develop as we speak • Companies developing the new services need to be informed about accessibility requirements and accessibility data as soon as possible.
- 6. Accessible digital transport services benefit wide range of users 6 • Blind, severely visually impaired, deaf-blind • Partially sighted and color-blind • People with learning and reading disabilities • Elderly • Hard-of-hearing people • People with dexterity • Users of mobile devices and old computers with slow network connectivity (text only) • Wheelchair users and others with physical disability
- 7. User groups for accessible digital transport services 7
- 8. Holistic accessibility is needed in digital transport services 8
- 9. 9 • Initial incentives and support are needed in order to encourage disabled people to widely use MaaS, • Good usability for all enables MaaS to be used as a solution for the social transportations provided by government in Finland. Development of Mobility as a Service should focus on the users • Accessibility of MaaS is best guaranteed by including different user groups into the different phases of the development. • Digitalization also enables the user to take part in producing accessibility data on the travel routes.
- 10. 10 1. Accessibility data of vehicles and infrastructure for digital transport services
- 11. Accessibility data needs to be part of MaaS To provide accessible travel routes: • Key decisions are: what is the accuracy of the accessibility data in the transport routes and how is the data described. • Data on the special needs of the passenger needs to be delivered from MaaS-service to the producers of transport services. • It s vital to clarify the responsibilities regarding the accessibility of the service: what is the responsibility of the MaaS- operator; accessibility of vehicles, accuracy of the data, malfunctions and disruptions? 11 • Accessibility data on the vehicles and infrastructure needs to transfer as an integral part of the data package provided by the transport operators to MaaS operators and eventually to customers. • Existing accessibility data needs to be taken into use rapidly. Accessibility data needs to be part of the data available though open interfaces
- 12. Example of accessibility data needed in travel routes 12
- 13. What accessibility data is needed? 13
- 14. 14 2. Designing accessible user interface for digital transport services
- 15. • Additional services, e.g., call centers and alternative sales channels, are needed for those who cannot use digital services. • Responsibilities in organizing such additional services need to be thoroughly analyzed. 15 • The sales and information on the MaaS and traditional transport services will be offered in digital form. • Then, there is a threat that customers that cannot use mobile devices due to age, disability, language skills, or other reasons, are marginalized • Accessibility should be the target for the user interfaces of digital transport services from the very start. Then, widest possible customer group can use the service and the additional costs are minimal. Digital transport services to be accessible and usable for all
- 16. Users’ accessibility needs for digital services 16
- 17. WCAG 2.0: guideline for developing accessible digital services • WCAG 2.0: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. • Broad set of guidelines and best practices intended for improving the accessibility of web content • Applicable for other digital contents and services as well • Target is to have the content and service accessible for broad group of people with different disabilities • Following the guidelines often improves the overall usability f the web content 17
- 18. Developing accessible mobile applications • Two main approaches for developing mobile applications: native apps and web- based apps • Native apps developed for Apple iOS operating system typically end up having good level of accessibility • Android and Windows offer less automatic accessibility features • The developers using Web-technologies often lack skills to design highly accessible apps 18
- 19. I do not use a smart phone. What then? 19 Support centers Call centers Digital audioservices
- 20. 20 3. Summary
- 21. • In Finland more than 19 % are disabled and 1,2 Million people are over 65 years old.Barriers in using transport services cause barriers in contributing and participating equally into society. • More and more transport services are purchased online. Simultaneously, personal customer service is reduced in terminals, service centers and call centers. Then, there is a threat that customers that cannot use mobile devices due to age, disability, language skills, or other reasons, are marginalized • The accessibility of MaaS-service includes the complete travel route from the purchase of the ticket until the last form of transportation. Accessibility has not been considered in the first MaaS-pilots launched in Finland. 21 Transport services are intended for all
- 22. • To provide accessible travel routes accessibility data on the vehicles and infrastructure needs to transfer as an integral part of the data package provided by the transport operators to MaaS operators and eventually to customers. • Existing accessibility data needs to be taken into use rapidly. Accessibility data needs to be part of the data available though open interfaces • Data on the special needs of the passenger needs to be delivered from MaaS- service to the producers of transport services. • Accessibility should be the target for the user interfaces of digital transport services from the very start. Then, widest possible customer group can use the service and the additional costs are minimal. • Additional services, e.g., call centers and alternative sales channels, are needed for those who cannot use digital services. Responsibilities in organizing such additional services need to be thoroughly analyzed. 22 Principles of accessible MaaS
- 23. Main actions for producing accessible transport services 23
- 24. Further information 24 Sakari Somerpalo sakari.somerpalo@linea.fi Terhi Tamminen terhi.tamminen@avaava.fi Petteri Alinikula petteri.alinikula@allikko.com
Editor's Notes
- Large changes happening in transport area driven by digitalization In Finland new smart and diruptive transport services are being developed led by Ministry of transportation and communication has been leading In the development of new transport services it is important that they are intended for all people including disabled people.
- Intelligent Transportation Services (ITS),includes many types of concepts ranging from intelligent control systems for cities upto autonomous vehicles One form of intelligent transport is driven by digitalization: Mobility as a Service (MaaS). Mobility-as-a-Service means that different modalities of transportation are combined into services packages offered for consumers MaaS can be offered by new MaaS operators or, alternative, existing producers of transport services, transport operators, e.g.,the regiaonal public transportation officials
- 2016 the first MaaS-piots were launched in Finland. No disruptive new technologies are needed in the pilots; the core innovation is the business model. In its simplest form MaaS can be considered as a a new sales channel for transport services, a.k.a web store. Using a MaaS-service, the traveler makes a single purchase for a combined travel route that consists of different parts offered by different transport operators In future, we are likely to see more advanced services. For example, service packages that include access to different transport forms with montly fixed price. The transport forms can be anything ranging from public transportation, taxi and parking rights up to city bikes and rental cars. Add-on services can be combined with MaaS similarily as in traditional travel agency services. User interface for MaaS typically a mobile app The success of these new business models depend on the capability to find new customer segments by combining routes and offering add-on services or by having higher sales margins for the services. Key technical eanabler is the open traffic data available in cloud services. MaaS operators use that data to form new travel routes.
- Digitalization also modifies the customer interface of traditional transport services so that mobile app can be used for planning the routes and buying tickets. Application also servces as the visible ticket. Important target for the accessibility of the digital transport services is not only to offer accessible routes but also have the user interface of the app accessible
- Digitalization in transport services creates new user-friendly opportunities But it introduces also challenges that are important to take into account when developing traditional or new transport services. Key challenge: services are purchased online and personal service is reduced in terminals, service centers and call centers. This impacts disabled people (more than 19% of Finns) and elderly people (more than 1,2 Million Finns over 65 year old). Key target: how to guarantee that the services based on new technology are equally available and accessible for all including people with disabilities and elderly people. In MaaS-services different modalities of transport are combined into new travel routes offered to customers in digital form. It. It is vital to have the complete service from the purchase of the ticket until the last form of transportation accessible. Barriers in using transport services cause barriers in contributing and participating equally into society. It is about respecting diversity in developing new services to customers.
- In order to increase the usage of public transportation among disabled people it is vital to develop the services keeping in mind those people that have the most difficult access to the services. The key challenge is with those customers who cannot use mobile devices due to age, disability, language skills, or other reasons, are marginalized; thus, they cannot use MaaS-services that are predominantly offered in a digital form. Improving accessibility improves the experience of the disabled and elderly customers but eventually also all customers.
- Seven personas, kind of customer profiles, were used in analayzing the needed accessibility data in generic MaaS travel routes. The personas included different kind of skills and abilities related to vision, hearing, cognition, motorical skills and language skills. While analyzing the results it was found tht in minimum we can categorize the accessibility requirements for MaaS into three categories: Visually impaired Physically disabled Easy users. This category combines people with cognitive challenges, and elderly people and foregners. In transport services many times accessibility is understood in a very limited way as access for wheelchair users. It is important to include also visually impired and the so-called easy users.
- Digital transport services should address accessibility holistically First of all, the user interface and the mobile app should be accessible for all users. Special attention is needed for those customer who cannot use mobile devices due to age, disability, language skills, or other reasons. Secondly, data about the accessibility of the transportation, vehilcles and infrastructure, has to be available for the MaaS operators in order to be able to offer accessible travel routes. Defining responsibilities is critical: who is responsible when something goes wrong? When accessible vehicleis suddenly replacwed by an unaccessible one? Who informs the customer Digitalization also enables the user to take part in producing accessibility data on the travel routes.
- The needed accessibility were defined by analyzing generic MaaS travel routes including the transitions between different phases. These transitions, e.g. from the train to the taxi can be the most critical parts from accessibility perspective. Accessibility is broken if there is even a one short part of the route with barriers. The generic travel route was analyzed for different user groups. Here is an example travel route consisting of a bus and train parts. And the needed accessibility data for a visually impaired customer.
- The analyzed accessibility data can be categorized into vital accessibility data and data enabling advanced services. The vital accessibility data includes static data about the accessibility of terminals, vehicles and stops. The vital accessibility data also includes dynamic digital data. In particular, the real-time location information and information about those changes and disruptions on the travel route that impact the accessibility. about Transport operator’s vital support services include accessible user interface and data to the service provider on the customer with special needs. Based on the vital accessibility data, the transport operators can then tailor more advanced added-value services for special customer groups.
- Knowledge about how different customer groups use computer and mobile apps is mandatory for providing accessible digital services. Hence, their needs can be taken into account in the development. Here the key accessibility features have been summarized for the seven user profiles used in the study phase.
- The accessibility requirements for web content and digital services are defined in Web Content Accessibility Guideline, WCAG 2.0. It is a set of guidelines defined and tested by a large community of experts during the last 15 years. T is the best and practically the only existing set of requirements.. Originally it is developed for web content but the requirements are applicable for other digital services as well.
- Arranging digital transport services for those customers who cannot use mobile devices due to age, disability, language skills, or other reasons can be challenging. The easiest, but also very expensive, solution is to arrange personal service in service centers and call centers. Innovations in this area are in the very early phase. In the US there are only couple of examples. Go-go—grandparent is an example of an app that provides automatized ordering of uber-services through an audio user interface accessible by any simple phone.