An innovative device for metro users with mental disabilities
Noise, crowds, lighted signs can appear aggressive in public transport. For fragile people, there are so many that taking the metro becomes a challenge. It is to remedy this that the device of the
“Blue line” was inaugurated on Friday 22 October, in the station of Brotteaux and part of the station of Perrache, in Lyon.
Produced with the operator Keolis and the SNCF, it is based on new signage made up of pictograms illustrating the directions of the lines. “I sometimes get lost in the network. When I come out of a station and see the monument represented, it reassures me ”, confirms Charles, an Asperger autistic who participated in the project, initiated two years ago by an“ exploratory walk ”with autists aged 16 to 56 years old in the metro.
Simplified indications and uses
Their adaptation difficulties inspired the redevelopment of the “Blue Line”, accompanied by a digital application that facilitates the use of the station by explaining how to buy a ticket or a franchisor a gate. A more calming blue is used on light panels, lighting floor markings and the direction of descent on the stairs. The exits are numbered, a “serenity” area allows you to take refuge in case of crowds and reserved seats on the quays.
Another innovation is a ticket holder that allows you to separate the one that has just composted from those that remain to be used or that must be discarded, and thus avoid the stress of confusion. Observations have shown that the device is also useful for blind people, pregnant women, children and the elderly.