Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Accessible Public Transportation

Mission

The RERC on Accessible Public Transportation will research and develop methods to empower consumers, manufacturers, and service providers in the design and evaluation of accessible transportation equipment, information services, and physical environments.

History:

In the Fall of 2008, the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and the IDeA Center at The University at Buffalo, State University of New York, collaborated to obtain the RERC on Accessible Public Transportation (RERC-APT). This cycle of the RERC-APT conducted research to address some timely and critical human factors issues in boarding vehicles and develop key accessible information technology resources for improving usability of transit systems for all riders while also facilitating management and maintenance. The RERC-APT was refunded in fall 2013 and brings experts in information technology, ergonomics research and universal design together to further advance the practice of accessible transportation. Industry partners in this project include Gillig Corporation, Tiramisu Transit, LLC, NFTA, and LINC-Design, LLC.