By Joseph Morales

              Since October 2020, the MTA and the Transit Innovation Partnership have been running a pilot program for the NaviLens App. The app allows people who are visually impaired to find bus stops and receive information as well as bus arrival times.  The app is available for Android and IOS devices.

              At M23-SBS stops, there are colorful QR-style codes at the stop pole. The app uses a complex algorithm in order to translate the visual signage into audio and can determine the rider’s location and proximity to the bus stop as well as when the next bus will arrive. The app can even detect how many riders are on the bus if the bus has the necessary sensor technology.  Unlike most apps that utilize QR codes, the app can detect those from up to 40 feet away and at an angle of 160 degrees. Thus, the app does not need to be in focus to be used and can direct the rider to the bus stop through audio directional cues. These directional cues come in the form of explicit statements such as “25 feet away, straight” and “right.” This is especially important for those who are visually impaired, as most apps do not lead to a place’s exact location by a few yards or so. It can even detect the bus stop while a rider is exiting a subway station. While this is no problem for most riders, this can leave those who are visually impaired having little knowledge of their location, making traveling much more difficult. In addition to being the eighth busiest bus route in Manhattan, the bus serves many key destinations for the visually impaired such as the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library, the Selis Manor Residence for the Blind and VISIONS Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

               In addition to NaviLens being used on the M23-SBS, the NaviLens App can also be used at the Jay St-MetroTech subway station in Downtown Brooklyn for navigation purposes.  The NaviLens app is also used in other mass transit systems across the world such as the TMB in Barcelona as well as  Transportes De Murcoa and the Murcia Tram in Murcia, Spain. The app  can even be used in non-transportation settings such as the Archaeological Museum of Murcia also in Murcia. NaviLens even offers free codes for schools to place in their building, so that they can help visually impaired students to navigate their school buildings as has been done at the Wisconsin School For The Blind and Visually Impaired in Janesville, Wisconsin.

              The work that NaviLens has done to support navigation for the visually impaired throughout the world has changed the lives of many. Their technologies have made it possible for the blind and visually impaired to be able to navigate public transportation and other public spaces much more seamlessly and be able to get around easier. We should be curious as to when the MTA will make the NaviLens pilot permanent, and when the NaviLens app technology will be expanded throughout the New York City Transit System and other spaces throughout the world.

NaviLens Enabled Bus Stop at E 23rd St and Broadway

Information on bus arrival times found by scanning NaviLens code

Directions to the M23-SBS stop at E 23rd St/Broadway from inside of 23rd St R W subway station

  Acknowledgements          

“Check out NaviLens at M23-SBS bus stops!” MTA, 27 April 2022, https://new.mta.info/article/help-us-test-navilens-app. Accessed 13 June 2022.

Lawrence, Isabel. “Accessibility project advances local school in national competition.” NBC15, 5 December 2019, https://www.nbc15.com/content/news/Accessibility-project-advances-local-school-in-national-competition-565838211.html. Accessed 13 June 2022.

NaviLens EMPOWERING the visually impaired, https://www.navilens.com/en/. Accessed 13 June 2022.