Waiting at a bus stop and wondering if your bus is on time, whether it’s the next one coming, or how many minutes away it is can cause many of us to be anxious. For people with sight loss this can cause not only apprehension but can lead to a lack of confidence in using public transport and an increase in loneliness.
To help combat this, in March 2023 the UK Department for Transport (DfT) launched a Tackling Loneliness Fund, to improve transport accessibility for the visually impaired. Vista, a sight loss charity based in the English city of Leicester, took part in the programme but wanted to focus on infrastructure rather than solely visual awareness training.
“We wanted to take it a little bit further than that,” explains Steve Payne, Director of Care and Services & Designated Safeguarding Lead at Vista. “Once we incorporated training into the project, we also incorporated the infrastructure: talking bus stops.”