Visual Boarding Support for Transit Accessibility
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Individuals with intellectual disabilities or dementia may struggle to identify the correct bus for boarding or the correct bus stop for alighting, especially in busy environments, and may not be able to communicate their needs effectively.
Innovation Solution
A boarding and alighting support method that involves storing images of the person requiring support and their protector, and displaying these images on the vehicle's exterior and interior displays at designated bus stops to guide the person during boarding and alighting processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If guide voice is output to support persons with intellectual disabilities, then they can receive navigation information, but they may not correctly understand the content due to language ability limitations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the acoustic information transmission method (guide voice) with a visual information transmission method (display device showing images of the bus stop and route information). This substitution allows persons with intellectual disabilities to understand navigation information through visual recognition rather than language comprehension, directly resolving the contradiction between information transmission and comprehension ability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple buses stop at the same bus stop simultaneously, then transportation options increase, but persons with intellectual disabilities cannot identify the correct bus to board
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a display device as an intermediary between the multiple buses and the person with intellectual disabilities. The display device shows images and information that clearly identify which bus is the correct one to board, eliminating the confusion caused by multiple buses present simultaneously while maintaining transportation availability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If bus stop names are similar (e.g., ABC 1-Chome, ABC 3-Chome), then route coverage increases, but persons with intellectual disabilities confuse the names and cannot get off at the correct stop
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces text-based bus stop name information with visual images of the bus stop and surrounding environment. This allows persons with intellectual disabilities to identify the correct bus stop through visual recognition of landmarks and environment rather than relying on text name differentiation, maintaining route coverage while eliminating confusion.
Data Source
AI summary
A boarding and alighting support method supports a person requiring support who requires support of another person to get on a vehicle or get off a vehicle. The boarding and alighting support method includes: a storing step of storing at least one of a first image that is an image of the person requiring support and a second image that is an image of a protector of the person requiring support; a first display step in which the vehicle that the person requiring support is planned to get on displays the at least one of the first image and the second image; and a second display step in which the vehicle displays the at least one of the first image and the second image when the person requiring support is planned to get off the vehicle.