By: Lui Greco
Around the world, city streets and sidewalks are changing. While pedestrians once had exclusive ownership of sidewalks, that’s no longer the case with electric kick scooters and delivery robots competing for sidewalk space. And while cycling infrastructure promotes active transportation and reduces pollution and physical inactivity, it can also impact public transit users.
Floating bus stops
With this infrastructure design, buses no longer pull up to the curb to load and unload. Instead, “floating bus stops” are placed in the centre of a road on a raised island, often requiring transit riders to cross a cycling lane to access a bus stop. For people who are blind or low vision, this can be not only frightening but also dangerous.
To date, there hasn’t been much research to investigate people’s perceived level of safety while navigating across cycling lanes to access floating bus stops. How do people with sight loss feel about this issue? With funding from Infrastructure Canada’s Active Transportation Fund, CNIB will try to answer this question! This summer, we’ll be surveying the sight loss community to understand what makes them feel unsafe when they encounter cycling lanes while trying to access transit stops.
This research will be conducted in May, and final recommendations will be made available by September 2023 at www.clearingourpath.ca. CNIB will also share findings with municipalities across Canada.