ABSTRACT
The built environment plays a very important role in the accessibility of public transportation systems. The built environment includes pedestrian paths to stops and stations, local stops, and stations and terminals. There is practice-based information highlighting the importance of the pedestrian environment. Key sources of information in transportation environments are public address announcements, message boards, and video/computer monitors that display arrival and departure information as it becomes available. These systems often create barriers for people with sensory impairments. People movers and carts that share space with pedestrians complicate the terminal environment, increase the noise level, and often create safety hazards. Traditional tactile maps and three-dimensional models can be used effectively as well, but applications are limited, at the present time, to features in the environment that are permanent. New technologies are being introduced that combine three-dimensional models with digital information.
