After completion of the field experiment, all 30 subjects were asked to rate their opinion on the usefulness and their desire to have Remote Infrared Audible Signage installed. The scale ranged from strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (5)
Table 5. 2 Perceived Usefulness and Locational
Suggestions for RIAS
“Please rate if you agree or disagree with the following statements
(5-point scale) 1=Strongly Agree, 2=Agree, 3=Neutral, 4=Disagree, 5=Strongly
Disagree”
| Talking Signs(R) Installations | Rating |
| TS are helpful and should be installed at transit platforms | 1.1 |
| TS are helpful and should be installed at street intersections | 1.1 |
| TS are helpful and should be installed at terminals | 1.2 |
| TS are helpful and should be installed at bus stops | 1.2 |
| TS give vital spatial information at intersections, should be installed | 1.2 |
| TS are helpful and should be installed in buildings | 1.3 |
| TS are helpful and should be installed where printed signs are located | 1.3 |
| A city-wide TS system would allow me to travel to more places | 1.4 |
| From what I experienced in this test, I feel that the TS system helped me use unfamiliar transit and make transfers | 1.4 |
| TS makes transit transfers easier and safer | 1.4 |
| TS at intersection crosswalks make crossings safer | 1.6 |
| TS are helpful and should be installed at transit vehicle boarding doors vehicle boarding doorsdddoorsaaaareadoors | 1.8 |
| A city-wide TS system would help me financially | 1.9 |
The results were highly skewed toward the “strongly agree” category, and even the lowest rated question returned a rating higher than “agree.” The above results were very similar to the strong endorsements obtained from the previous experiment at the downtown Santa Barbara, CA, MTD bus terminal (Golledge & Marston, 1999; Marston & Golledge, 1998b ; see Table 2.5 for those user evaluations).
Not much discussion is called for here. The subjects overwhelmingly supported the additional environmental cues provided by RIAS and its benefit to their daily lives. Previous research (Golledge & Marston, 1999; Marston & Golledge, 1998b) investigated certain daily navigation tasks that were stressful and difficult. The perceived stress and difficulty reported with normal blind navigation almost completely disappeared after subjects experienced RIAS. Little research has been done on the effect of stress and fear on travel by this group, but it certainly must negatively affect travel success, access, and the overall quality of life available to an independent traveler.
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