Joy Carpenter stood at Salt Lake Central Station. Her hearing was muffled and her vision so hazy that she could barely make out shapes and colors. The lack of sensory input combined with the 90-degree midday heat was making her woozy and disoriented, and she relied on her travel companions to lead her to a shady bench where she could rest.
She’s not a typical rider – Carpenter is a FrontRunner personnel supervisor trying to learn more about how people with visual and hearing impairments use public transportation. On this recent afternoon, she stuffed her ears with cotton to simulate a hearing impairment and wore special vision-blocking goggles. Escorted by fellow FrontRunner personnel supervisor Cesar Rivera and Ramona Rice, a UTA rider and advocate for the deaf and blind, Carpenter attempted to navigate the UTA system.
“I want to find out what I’m missing compared to passengers who experience the world differently than I do,” Carpenter said.
Together, the trio catalogued every barrier Carpenter encountered on her journey. With her vision-blocking glasses, she couldn’t read the overhead signs at the FrontRunner platform. There were no station announcements to alert her to the approaching train. The wheelchair icon on the platform to indicate the level boarding area was flat and difficult for a person with vision impairment to find.1
Carpenter plans to share these and other suggestions with the FrontRunner team as they seek to enhance service. UTA has a department dedicated to ensuring transportation services are accessible to all riders and compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements. Employees meet regularly with UTA’s Committee on Accessible Transportation (CAT), a citizens’ advisory group, to discuss ways UTA can better serve riders with disabilities. Even with these existing measures in place, UTA is continually looking for ways to improve.
“We want to make this a fully accessible system for all those who ride,” Carpenter said. “If it’s not [a great experience], it’s unfortunate for everyone involved.”
Carpenter’s initiative is part of UTA’s culture of employee-led improvement. Employees are encouraged to search for ways to better serve customers and make the system more efficient. Management reviews every suggestion and improvements are implemented wherever possible.
Carpenter said she was inspired by traveling companion Ramona Rice’s experience using UTA. The two met when Rice served on UTA’s CAT advisory group. Rice’s vision is limited to five degrees and she has lost all but 20 percent of her hearing due to a progressive illness. She rides UTA from her home in Davis County to the Utah State Division of Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired and the Sanderson Community Center of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Salt Lake City to engage in advocacy work.
People with visual and hearing impairments face many hidden challenges as they ride public transportation, Rice said. Unfortunately, just one or two negative experiences may deter them from using the system again.
“It's easy for people to become scared and isolated, and that’s the last thing that we want,” she said.
Even small improvements can help a person with a visual or hearing disability retain something that many people take for granted – independence. “For most people, it’s just a word,” Rice said. “For us, it is really precious.”
If you’d like to suggest a way UTA can improve, please leave feedback here.
- The flat wheelchair icons on FrontRunner platforms are scheduled to be replaced with raised tactile icons that can be located by sight or touch.