“We built this feature to make life easier for people who use wheelchairs, but accessible routes are also helpful if you’re on crutches or pushing a stroller. With the help of transit agencies around the globe and people like you who contribute local knowledge, we’re making progress toward a more accessible world for everyone” As we talk about it, Google has already made the “wheelchair accessible” transit feature available in cities like London, Tokyo, Mexico city, Boston, and Sydney. The company is expected to add a bunch of other metropolitan cities across the world in due course of time. Apart from the wheelchair accessible feature, Google has also updated the Street view imagery of transit stations and city centers so that users can sample the location before actually heading out to the same. This will help the commuters get a hindsight of the location and plan their transit accordingly.
In order to access the new “wheelchair accessible” feature on the Google Maps, one needs to enter the desired destination. After tapping on directions, select the public transportation icon and then tap Options. It is in this section that the accessible stops, platforms, entrances and exits will be mentioned. It is worth mentioning that last year Google had received a petition started by one Belinda Bradley. With nearly 125,000 signatures, this petition requested Google to improve their wheelchair-accessibility information on Google Maps. The feature was earlier hidden within the menus and not many of the guides knew that this tool actually existed. On a related note, the wheelchair accessible feature is also helpful for parents with babies on prams or others with challenged mobility needs.
