On select Toronto bus routes, the TTC will begin testing out a new system aimed at helping passengers with visual impairments use public transit.
In a news release issued Monday, the TTC says it will be launching a trial run of the External Route Announcement system on select vehicles operating on the 11 Bayview and 7 Bathurst routes.
An external speaker near the bus's front door will play an announcement which tells people waiting at the stop exactly where the vehicle is headed.
“(The announcements) are designed to assist customers with visual impairments to more clearly determine whether or not to board the bus that has just arrived at their stop,” the TTC said in the news release.
Under the Ontarians with Disabilities Act, all of the province’s transit services will be required by 2017 to retrofit buses with electronic systems that provide external pre-boarding announcements about the vehicle’s route, direction and destination.
The TTC says the city’s new streetcars already provide external announcements to riders waiting at stops and the new subway trains will be equipped with external speakers by the second quarter of 2016.
The External Route Announcement trial will run until the end of 2015 and the TTC is asking anyone who rides one of the trial buses to provide feedback online at ttc.ca or by calling the TTC’s customer service line at 416-393-3030.
