Which way is up : towards accessible wayfinding in transit stations

Abstract

Passengers' most frequent interaction with a rail transit system is at its stations, which represent the beginning, the end and sometimes the middle of transit trips. The design of these stations can greatly affect a user's travel experience by creating friendly, efficient, attractive environments that are inherently usable as transit stations. Many types of devices are necessary in these stations to help people navigate from one point to another within a transit system. Wayfinding devices are the elements, whether architectural or graphic, that provide information not only on how to navigate a station, but also how to use the services provided there. Because they provide such important information, these elements must be accessible to all potential passengers. This thesis used the structure of Systems Engineering to give a clear focus to the problem of design accessible wayfinding systems in transit stations. In order to create a comprehensive listing of design requirements for these systems, a detailed inventory of all potential user groups was developed. Following directly from this, a framework was developed that allows for easy cataloging of the design requirements for each of these groups.

(cont.) Three technical areas that are developed in this thesis cover all of the issues inherent in wayfinding design include content, deployment and formatting. Case studies of both the MBTA and the CTA were analyzed for their ability to address the above requirements. In each of the cases several historical design guidelines were introduced and compared with the most recent set of design guidelines. The cases also looked in detail at the existing conditions and how they differ from both the official design guidelines and the accessibility recommendations developed in this thesis. Three final products came from this work, including the detailed recommendations that were developed for each of the case studies. In addition, specific design requirements were compiled that can be used as a checklist for wayfinding designers at any transit agency. The framework that was used to create these requirements can be used to develop wayfinding design criteria in any type of complex environment.