A Ride with the Transportation Innovation Lab

On Thursday August 31, Kirby Hough and I attended a Public Transportation and Innovation Lab at KCI airport. It was an event to brainstorm ideas on how to provide transportation for the FIFA World Cup in 2026, while also keeping it the way it is for those who live in Kansas City. We went to share our perspectives on public transportation as visually impaired individuals. There were members from the city council and KCATA, which are both great connections for us.

It was pretty much like a school day. They handed out a lot of print paperwork and there was a lot of drawing involved which isn’t accessible to us at all, but we got to work in teams so someone else filled out the paperwork and did the drawing. Our big assignment was to create the perfect transportation, and our group centered it around a person with low vision. We had to create a scenario where she had to take public transportation downtown from the airport to three different stops. It was definitely an eye opener for our group, and everyone else who listened to our presentation when we shared it with the group. They did provide a bus route to take to the meeting, but Kirby and I got our own transportation. When everyone who took the bus that morning was discussing, they said the bus was full and some people had to stand. If those were people coming for the world cup and they had to take a bus, there would be nowhere to put their luggage. We brainstormed putting overhead bins like on an airplane on a bus, so people have a spot to put their bags and other items.

Overall, it was a great experience to help sighted people view public transportation as a person with a visual impairment. I hope there will be changes to public transportation to help more people in general and be more accessible for people with disabilities.