TMB's NaviLens Labels — Barcelona's Network-Wide 'Talking Signs' for Blind and Low-Vision Bus and Metro Riders

NaviLens is a high-contrast coloured tag system that a smartphone camera can read at distance and while moving, announcing location and service information by voice. Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) piloted it in February 2018 (including Fira and Espanya metro stations) and, according to TMB, was the first transport operator in the world to implement it.
As reported in August 2025, the network carries 9,800 labels — 4,600 on buses and 5,200 in the metro — readable from roughly 15–20 metres and while the user is moving. Through the NaviLens or NaviLens Go apps, or the reader built into the TMB app, riders get walking guidance to stops and through stations, real-time service information, train occupancy, lift status and incident alerts. TMB's accessibility manager describes it as a 'talking sign'. Usage is about 40,000 reads per month across bus and metro.
Evidence caveats: the available sources are the operator's own pages and press coverage; they report usage volumes, not user outcomes, satisfaction or independence gains, and we found no independent evaluation. Monthly reads also include tourists and sighted users. The case is included as a documented large-scale deployment of a vendor technology by a public operator, with the evidence gap stated rather than assumed away.

Read the full analysis: https://www.tmb.cat/en/about-tmb/network-improvements/other-improvements/guidance-devices-blind-metro-and-bus