Maps are an integral aspect of daily life in our society, conveying essential information about the world we live in. Having access to that information is necessary to participate in society and gives people the ability to do what they couldn’t do before.
If someone is newly blind or learning a neighborhood from scratch, having access to maps is a real asset. But for blind people, obtaining maps has been difficult and expensive.
The LightHouse is making significant change in this area by developing accessible transit maps to enhance the ability of blind and visually impaired individuals to effectively use public transit in the Bay Area.
We are developing, and will distribute, “strip maps,” which will present concise information about selected transit routes in Braille and large print. The strip maps will be developed for BART, Muni, SamTrans and Caltrain routes.
We need your help to select additional transit routes for which we may produce strip maps in the future. Currently, our highest priority will be to make strip maps for additional Muni and Samtrans routes, particularly routes serving the Market Street corridor or routes linking to BART or Caltrain, but your recommendations about routes throughout the Bay Area are welcome.
For more information about this project please call Frank Welte at 415-694-7363 or send email to fwelte@lighthouse-sf.org.
