Ten new digital real-time arrival panels will be installed at the Adelaide Railway Station, City West, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Rundle Mall, Pirie Street, Victoria Square and Entertainment Centre tram stops.

In addition, 31 real-time arrival bus stop panels along the O-Bahn and Grenfell and Currie streets will be fitted with voice annunciators – to inform commuters when a bus is nearby – and hearing loops – which project those announcements directly into hearing aids.

And nine new digital bus stop panels, featuring the same technologies, will be installed at Tea Tree Plaza, Paradise, Klemzig and Mount Barker.

The installations and upgrades will cost just under $1 million and works are expected to begin in coming months, the State Government says.

Tony Starkey from the Royal Society for the Blind told InDaily: “We’ve been advocating for those (accessibility technologies at bus stops on Grenfell and Currie Streets) ever since those real time bus stops were installed.”

“Now we are able to press a button and it will announce what’s displayed.

“We welcome the announcement.”

Minister for Human Services Michelle Lensink in a statement that: “Making public transport more accessible for people with disability means they will also be more easily connected to social, cultural and economic aspects of the community.”

“The Marshall Liberal Government is committed to better supporting people with disability and our first Bill passed upon coming into government last year was the Disability Inclusion Act.

“We are now creating South Australia’s first State Disability Inclusion Plan and are urging people with disability, their families and carers to have their say online, via email or post on what they believe the plan should entail to improve access and inclusion for all South Australians.”

Transport Minister Stephan Knoll said the technological upgrades “will make it easier to catch public transport from some of our most populated and utilised locations” and make public transport more accessible for people with a disability.

He said the Marshall Government was also spending $33.5 million on four new Park ‘n’ Rides at Paradise, Golden Grove, Klemzig and Tea Tree Plaza, adding:

“We have secured $220 million in Federal Government funding to complete the electrification of the Gawler line to provide a better, faster and more reliable service, and is delivering the Flinders Link and Port Adelaide spur rail extensions.

“The government is also establishing the South Australian Public Transport Authority which will inform the development of a comprehensive strategy that is customer-focused and better suits the needs of state.”

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