On August 20, the MTA led groups of NYC residents through the subway system demonstrating how to use an app that the MTA is currently testing in one of the oldest subway systems. The app, called NaviLens, is designed to help travelers navigate the complex city subway systems more easily – and is especially helpful for passengers with disabilities.
The MTA has been testing the wayfinding app for six years, starting in 2019 at the Jay Street MetroTech subway station in Brooklyn, New York, and now the 6 train, which has some of the oldest train cars in the system, and BX12 bus route in the Bronx, MTA Accessibility Senior Innovation Strategist Mira Philipson said.
“We selected the sixth line because we wanted to test on a subway route that we knew is lacking in accessibility,” she said. “We wanted to make sure that we were including another borough that doesn’t often get exciting, interesting things to check out as often as other boroughs might, and it’s been extremely successful.”
NaviLens contextualizes information for blind and low vision people at subway stations and bus stops across the city, which can be accessed by scanning colorful QR codes displayed on the subway station walls, subway cars, and signage. The codes can be found in nearly every 6-line station, select 1-line and A/C line stations, on the M23, M66, and Bx12 buses, and inside 6-line train cars and Bx12 buses.
Using a separate NaviLens GO app, which focuses on providing audio information, users can also scan the codes to get the real-time status of buses serving that stop, which Jose Castejon, project manager for NaviLens, said is useful since this information is not displayed at the vast majority of bus stops.
“For blind and low-vision people, [NaviLens is] the tool that enables them to independently carry out daily tasks that would otherwise be impossible, such as taking public transport, doing their shopping, or moving around inside a building, a metro station, or a university,” said Castejon. He added that the app benefits all users, especially since it translates the content of the codes into the language configured on the user’s phone, effectively removing language barriers.
Sharada Veerubhotla, a teacher of the visually impaired at the Lavelle School for the Blind in the Bronx, joined Philipson on August 20 for a journey on the 6 line from the Brooklyn Bridge City Hall subway station to Bleeker Street, all while utilizing the NaviLens app. As a person with a visual impairment herself, she used to struggle to find the subway stairs or entrance, which she said the app helped locate.
“I stood there on the top of the stairs right when we entered and I knew which train was coming, which train I could catch, and what I could do,” she shared.
Veerubhotla noted that there were some challenges to be aware of, such as how it’s hard to hear the navigation when using airpods due to the noise in the stations and how actively engaging with the app can be challenging in such crowded or fast-moving environments.
But she sees a major benefit to the app given how much information is available on it, and she could see the potential of using it on a daily basis. She emphasized that the app is best used among multiple navigation strategies, rather than as a standalone tool.
“It is a tool that you have amongst many other tools,” she said. “You cannot depend on that as a single thing. And I think it’s more as a person with disabilities that you realize no one single thing is a silver bullet. You have to have a bunch of tools in your box, and you use them.”