A second-year student has launched a new iPhone app designed to help make train travel more accessible for blind and visually impaired travellers by alerting them when their train station is approaching to ensure they don’t miss their stop.
The app, called Stay on Route, lets users pre-programme the app with their destination station and set an alert, such as an alarm or a vibration, for when the station is a set distance away, for example one mile. While the app is aimed at improving accessibility it could also be used by all types of travellers worried they may miss their stop if reading, resting or otherwise distracted.
Student James Grice, studying a Management Bsc at Kent Business School (KBS), first developed the app in 2018 and was a runner-up in the School’s Business Start-Up Journey, receiving £500 investment towards the app.
Since then he has worked with the KBS ASPIRE team to help bring the app to market, launching it first for iOS. As it’s the first iteration of the app James hopes to gather feedback from the first users of the service to inform future updates.
Commenting on the launch of the app he said: ‘Stay on Route has huge potential to make train travel easier and more relaxing for visually impaired travellers, as well as anyone else who may be worried about missing their stop. It has been great to have had the support of the KBS ASPIRE team at the University to bring the app to market and hopefully with feedback from users it will continue to develop into a must-have travel app.’
James is hoping to receive feedback from users of the first version of the app to help develop future improvements, new ideas and general updates to help make it as user friendly as possible.