Solid: A Model to Analyse the Accessibility of Transport Systems for Visually Impaired People

Abstract

A model has been developed to analyse the basic requirements and tasks involved to ensure that optimum solutions to guarantee accessibility to public spaces are possible for all types of user in any situation. This model, called SOLID, adopts a systematic approach which was developed originally for applications for the blind and visually impaired persons (VIPs) in public transport, but can also be applied to analyse accessibility in many other situations. In the context of transportation systems it enables us to identify the essential tasks, requirements, and information needed at each stage of the chain of displacements. SOLID is an acronym for the initial letters of the five essential elements of the model, which are Safety , Orientation , Localisation , Information and Displacement . Ensuring maximum safety and security for all users in all circumstances and all phases of the journey is of course the primary function of the transport operator. The efficiency of the design of the infrastructure and systems put in place to provide a safe environment and satisfactory accessibility for all depends on the success of optimising the principles of inclusion and removing barriers at all stages of the journey including, the man machine interfaces and the modes of communication and guidance to cater to the physical and cognitive capacities of all users. Orientation, localisation and access to information are particularly important for the visually impaired to enable them to complete their journey safely. A perfect solution is, of course, difficult to achieve when redesigning transport systems that may have been originally designed more than a hundred years ago and which are often affected by an unfavourable local environment and multiple technical constraints, due to historical, structural, functional and economic factors, particularly in the case of metro or underground systems. In circumstances where older existing transport systems are being updated to comply with the new European regulations on accessibility coming into force, it is sometimes easier to propose alternative transport solutions, but much can still be done to improve accessibility in existing systems. The advantages of using this model are illustrated by the analysis of real problems and solutions applied in metro and train stations for blind and visually impaired users.