Challenges and Opportunities for Accessible Seoul Metropolitan Buses: An Interview Study of People with Visual Impairments

Abstract

Nowadays, a number of people with visual impairments (PVI) access public buses in the Seoul metropolitan area. Existing studies reported the challenges PVI faced when they use buses in multiple cities. Nevertheless, little is known about the accessibility issues of Seoul metropolitan buses (SMB). To reduce the gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with nine PVI to investigate the challenges and opportunities for accessible SMB. We discovered ten challenges PVI faced when they use SMB. Based on the identified challenges, we propose three opportunities for improving accessibility of the SMB system.