TransLink Accessible Navigation Project — Six-Month NaviLens Pilot With Blind and Low-Vision Riders in Metro Vancouver

In January 2023 TransLink launched the Accessible Navigation Project, a six-month pilot of the NaviLens app, which reads large colour-coded tags from a distance and speaks directions and information. Sixteen codes were installed at three locations: ten at New Westminster SkyTrain station, four near the CNIB office and two near Vancouver Community College.
According to reporting in Next City and The Tyee, 18 people tested the app and the codes were scanned 2,792 times, mostly at New Westminster station. Tester Richard Marion, who sits on TransLink's advisory committee, said it would shine in complex indoor environments such as large metro stations but was a nice-to-have for him rather than a core accessibility feature.
Cautions: users need a smartphone and must be willing to rely on it, unlike braille signage and tactile paving; the pilot cost was not disclosed (it sat within a wider $7 million accessibility initiative); and TransLink's spokesperson said there were no plans to expand the pilot permanently. No independent outcome evaluation was found.

Read the full analysis: https://thetyee.ca/News/2024/05/15/TransLink-App-Low-Vision-Riders/