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The ONCE Foundation & Moovit Team Up to Make Public Transport More Accessible and Inclusive

Published: July 4, 2019

We are excited to announce that Moovit and the ONCE Foundation have reached a collaboration agreement, with the goal of making public transportation usage by blind and visually impaired people easier and safer than ever.

In this context, Fundación ONCE was formed from the Organización Nacional de Ciegos de España ONCE (the Spanish National Organisation for the Blind), which was set up in 1938 to provide support for blind people in Spain. In 1988, ONCE decided to set up a foundation which was publicly presented as an instrument for cooperation and social responsibility, by which blind people pledged their support for other groups of people with disabilities, with the aim of improving their quality of life. Today, it is the largest acting body in Spain and has received royal recognition for their efforts in the field.

The ONCE Foundation accredited the optimizations Moovit has implemented to its VoiceOver and TalkBack capabilities, available in iOS and Android devices. Among the most significant improvements, Moovit implemented an audio notification system that ensures that users with visual impairment have enough time to get off the bus at their destination stop, significantly increasing their level of confidence while riding transit.

During the collaboration agreement signature event in Madrid with the Foundation’s CTI Director, Guillermo Hermida, Moovit Chief Growth & Marketing Officer, Yovav Meydad said: “Making Moovit more accessible to blind and visually impaired users makes a significant impact on their lives as it opens opportunities for them to travel more freely and independently. In the past years, we have taken many steps to ensure the Moovit app is accessible for everyone, and we are delighted to work with a leading organization such as the ONCE Foundation to continue and create a seamless experience for these riders and fulfill that important mission.”

Guillermo Hermida, the Director of CTI of the ONCE Foundation said, “It is very important for the blind and visually impaired community that a leading company such as Moovit demonstrates in actions that accessibility is possible and, especially, in this case, for a service as important for blind people as mobility. We are happy to collaborate with Moovit and assist in the research and development of new improvements for users who need complementary assistance.”

At the time of writing, Moovit now boasts over 23 million users throughout Spain, with a population of just over 46 million as of 2018. 

moovit and Once executives meeting

Collaboration agreement signature event in Madrid with the Foundation’s CTI Director, Guillermo Hermida, & Moovit’s Chief Growth & Marketing Officer, Yovav Meydad.

Resources:  

To read about the agreement in Spanish, click here

To read more about the agreement in English, click here.

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