App helps the blind to navigate public transit

Waymap conducted a successful two-week trial of its navigation app to assist blind individuals in navigating public transit, focusing on stops in Washington, D.C. With plans for a larger public trial at 25 metro stations and 1,000 bus stops by September, founder Tom Pey emphasized the app’s importance for providing independence and access to essential locations for the visually impaired. The technology aims to alleviate the challenge of memorizing routes and enhance safety during mobility, offering users unlimited routing options to explore freely.

Waymap just concluded a two-week trial of its navigation App, that will help guide persons who are blind navigate their surroundings. Starting with public transit , the trial covered three stops within Washington, D.C’s metro and hopes to begin a public trial  at 25 Metro stations and 1,000 bus stops by September. 

Tom Pey, CEO and Founder, said, ‘What we learned from our trial is that this is so important to blind people because when you lose your sight, you lose the freedom to explore. The regular blind person uses about 2.5 routes regularly. And that means they get to go to the grocery store and to the pharmacy. And the reason for that is the amount of information you have to remember when you lose your sight, and to pack all that into your head, is quite difficult as well as trying to keep yourself safe using your primary mobility. So what we do is we replace the human memory and give the person access to infinite memory in terms of routing, and that then allows them, with their mobility skills, to go anywhere’.