Reimagining Transport for an Inclusive Society
By This Age Thing •
With London Design Festival approaching, we turn our eye to designers making London a more transport-inclusive city. Working with Design Age Institute, four transport companies received up to 120k in funding from UKRI and Innovate UK to redesign transport in the UK to make it more safe, affordable, sustainable and desirable for older people. Let’s meet them now:
Briteyellow
With the support of the funding, Fredi Nonyelu, Founder/CEO of Briteyellow, and Michael Davies, Insight and Innovation Manager from Transport for Wales, will further develop BriteWay-XR – a connected guidance app and web portal that enables safer, and more accessible journeys for all.
BriteWay-XR allows older people and those with reduced mobility, to plan their journeys more effectively, and travel independently with confidence. Using virtual reality and augmented reality navigation with indoor position tracking, BriteWay-XR provides individuals with the assurance of real-time support from staff or family and friends. Real-time accessibility information and intelligent routing is used to reassure and route people in a way that avoids overcrowding and provides guidance through complex interchanges.
Applied Information Group Ltd
Applied Information, the global multidisciplinary wayfinding consultancy who worked with Transport for London to develop ‘Legible London’ – the international standard for city wayfinding – have secured support to develop a prototype for a new Inclusive Wayfinding Toolkit.
The Toolkit will propose an improved system of wayfinding for walking and cycling throughout the UK that specifically addresses the needs and aspirations of a diverse ageing marketplace. The Toolkit seeks to improve mobility, socialisation, and access to local services, while also generating connection, safety and confidence in the public who use it.
The team will work with local authorities to develop the prototype, which they’ll co-create and test with members of the public from a range of backgrounds, ages, genders, ethnicities, and disabilities, with an expected completion date of January 2024.
Waymap
Waymap aims to ‘make every city in the world accessible to anyone, anywhere’ through their accessible navigation tools. Their design process includes intense research and consultation with blind and low-vision people to ensure users’ needs and wants are reflected alongside comprehensive accessibility.
Waymap has been awarded support to develop Waymap Newcastle – an accessible navigation app specifically for the northeastern city, that works outside, inside and underground to within 1 metre of the desired location, regardless of your GPS signal. The user follows audio instructions to find their way, helping to increase confidence to travel independently.
Hangar19
Hangar19 is an engineering solutions company enabling the development and delivery of electric vehicle services, equipment and associated energy infrastructure. After noticing that some users of their Park and Recharge electric vehicle charging service were experiencing challenges in connecting the cable to the car, they decided they needed to develop a solution.
Hangar19 will receive support to develop Innovative Cable Improving Charging Limitations Excluding Seniors from EVs (ICICLES-EV) – a new electric vehicle charging cable and gun targeted at those with mobility impairments.
Through a new innovative design that reduces the amount of force required to successfully plug in a vehicle, ICICLES-EV aims to simplify the process of moving and connecting the cable.