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IN TOUCH – Smart Meters and Improving Access to Roads and Rail

TX:Ìý 30.07.2019Ìý 2040-2100

PRESENTER:Ìý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý PETER WHITE

PRODUCER:Ìý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý TOM WALKER

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White

Good evening.Ìý Tonight, can access keep up with fast moving technology or is it the job of those who develop new kit to remember disability access when they do it?Ìý Technology has certainly provided new ways for blind people to travel, to navigate the streets, to use household gadgets but when things change do we get forgotten?Ìý Well apparently,, it nearly happened when the government decided it wanted all homes now to have smart meters installed by 2020, so that, they said, we could monitor our use of energy and keep down our costs.Ìý So, what about visually impaired people?

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Well the question did get belated asked and now a company – GEO – in conjunction with the RNIB has developed a display unit with synthetic speech and clearly marked controls to do the job.Ìý

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Well to find out more about it I’ve been talking to Audrey Gallagher, she’s policy director of Energy UK, which represents energy companies who’ve been tasked with making sure accessible equipment is installed if visually impaired people want it.

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Gallagher

Well a smart meter works similarly to your current meter only it sends messages remotely to and from your house to your supplier.Ìý And that means that you’ll get accurate bills.Ìý There’s also an in-homes display attached to the smart meter and that allows you information about your energy consumption in real time, so you can understand what appliances are doing and you can hopefully find ways to save money.

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White

And physically, what does it look like?

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Gallagher

The in-home display, it looks a bit like a smart phone, it’s like – I think it looks like – a bit like a cross between a smart phone and a sat nav, sometimes, they’re like a wee boxy thing.Ìý But usually a digital screen, a few buttons on them and the one that’s currently being developed, the accessible in-home display, that’s just about making it even easier to use the in-home display and access information much more simply.

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White

Now people can argue about whether they think that smart meters are ideal for them or not but I guess from a blind person’s point of view, or indeed for some people with only partial sight, reading the meter itself is a difficult thing to do.

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Gallagher

So, that’s one of the benefits, I think, of smart meters in that there’s no requirement to crawl underneath the stairs or stand on a chair with a torch to take a meter reading, that’s for people that don’t have partial sight or are blind.Ìý So, it should really help to ensure that we’ve got much more accurate bills.Ìý But the reason why we’ve tried to develop this accessible in-home display is to make sure that not only is the information being fed directly to your supplier but people that are blind and partially sighted also have access to that information themselves in real time.

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White

So, what access features do they have?

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Gallagher

So, it’s got text to speech, so it’s got audio output.Ìý The contrast on the screen is much, much better.Ìý Much more tactile buttons.Ìý And it’s actually the only device that’s had a tried and tested approval rating from the RNIB, who have actually worked in partnership with the device manufacturer to make sure that we come up with an in-home display that actually works for people that are blind and partially sighted.Ìý What I would say though, right now, if anybody’s got any concern about the accessibility information, either through a smart meter or just generally, please contact their energy supplier because there will be other initiatives available on smart phones and through other technology.

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White

So, you say contact your energy supplier, have all energy suppliers and all companies signed up to do this?

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Gallagher

They haven’t – not all companies have signed up for this specific device but all companies will be obliged to ensure that they have measures in place to provide information in a way that suits customers, particularly blind and partially sighted customers.

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White

So, might people have to change company if they want to use this device?

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Gallagher

Well I’m hopeful that when the device has been fully tested and is out being manufactured that all suppliers will see it as a really valuable additional bit of kit to help their customers and will take it up.

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White

So, that’s the companies themselves, what about the manufacturers – is there going to be just one of these or are we likely to see competition – different models coming up?

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Gallagher

Could do.Ìý I’m aware of this one because Energy UK and our members have worked with the RNIB to commission this and we’ve got a manufacturer in place.Ìý But hopefully, if there’s a market out there then competition will develop.

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White

And what about the cost?Ìý What will these things cost people?

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Gallagher

So, they won’t cost people anything directly, like the whole of the smart meter rollout there is no charge at the point of installation.Ìý The rollout is paid for in the same way that the current analogue metering system is paid for and that’s that we all pay it through our bills, so there’s no additional charge for anybody getting one of these devices.

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White

Audrey Gallagher of Energy UK.

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So, how confident can we be that these displays will be fit for purpose?Ìý I asked John Worsfold of the RNIB how the testing with visually consumers in mind had been done.

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Worsfold

We carried out testing with some prototypes, with first of all in-house expert assessments.Ìý Then we did distant testing with a range of blind and partially sighted people.Ìý And they were both task-based tests.Ìý For example, could you turn the speech on and off, could you navigate to the main menu, could you get to your history. ÌýBut also observe testing.

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White

And what were your conclusions?

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Worsfold

So, in the first stage our conclusions were that the work we had done with GEO, yeah, that they had a really good understanding.Ìý They had some issues, so, for example, the voice output was a little bit lower than we would have expected.Ìý And when we said – look, you need to increase the volume – it turned out that in order to increase the volume they had to actually change the form factor of the case because it wasn’t just a question of turning the volume up, they actually had to make some modification to allow the sound to come out and resonate more.Ìý So, it wasn’t just about the software design.Ìý We had quite a few consultations around the information because obviously the display is quite a small display, it’s a high colour contrast display, and they were used to displaying as much information as they needed on there and when we came along and said – well, hang on a minute, there’s a minimum font size and you need to consider the colour contrast of this, this and this, we had to then prioritise the information that they displayed and it took a while for them to understand that perhaps less was more.Ìý This project is to create a single display that all of the suppliers have signed up to, so that we get a benchmark of accessibility, they all get exactly the same device.

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White

And they’ve agreed to that?

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Worsfold

And they’ve agreed to that.Ìý We haven’t got a launch date for everybody because every supplier is going through their own tribulations with the smart meter rollout, they’ve all got their own business requirements and everyone is in at a different stage.Ìý So, we will find, towards the end of the summer, that some suppliers will be offering these and some suppliers won’t.

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White

That was John Worsfold of the RNIB.

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Now you wouldn’t think, would you, that there’d be too much technology involved in slabs of stone but these knobbly bits of paving, which have, for some time, been a feature of our streets and railway stations continue to be a matter of some debate.Ìý I’m just standing at the top of a flight of steps that goes down to the piazza here at Media City, which is marked by this ribbed paving and it’s really helpful to me.Ìý Many blind people, at the moment, are more concerned about the gradual disappearance of those accessible road crossings and the way in which distinctions are being constantly blurred between pavements and roads, pedestrians, motorists and cyclists.Ìý The National Federation of the Blind has already written to new Transport Minister – Grant Shapps – to express their many concerns.

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Meanwhile, the Department for Transport is carrying out a survey into textured paving.Ìý They’ve already conducted an online questionnaire but they assure us there will be more opportunities for visually impaired people to express their views before the end of the year.

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But why are they such an issue?

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Someone who was in at the start of textured paving is Ann Frye, who, back in the early ‘80s, headed the mobility unit at the Department for Transport.Ìý She told me how textured paving had come to her and the department’s attention.

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Frye

Well it started with a lady who’ll be known to many of your listeners – Jill Allen-King – way back, in fact 38 years ago.Ìý She found that there was a completely accidental lump of knobbly pavement near where she lived that helped her as a relatively recently blind person to find out where she was and to navigate.Ìý She then contacted me and colleagues in the Department for Transport with a newly formed disability unit in those days, and said – could we go down and have a look at it and discuss it.

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White

And, I mean, that sounds like a very simple idea – the idea of textured paving – once somebody’s actually thought of it but there have been a lot of debate about it ever since about how to implement it.Ìý So, what are these complications that have arisen?

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Frye

It really stems from the fact that there’s a limited number of surfaces that blind people can detect, distinguish between and remember over time.Ìý And there was a lot of research done before we went firm on any of the designs to make sure that it met all of those criteria.Ìý So, there was a lot of debate and discussion and a huge amount of testing of all the different surfaces and in the end, I think, it was about five surfaces was the absolute maximum that we thought met all those criteria and those were then allocated to different purposes – the road crossing one that everyone knows, one along the edge of platforms, one at the top of steps and so on.Ìý So, for example, the one at crossings needs to guide you either to the centre of the crossing or to the push button box, if there is one.Ìý So, it’s important that it runs from the building line right through to the kerb edge and that it’s giving you a very clear and precise message.

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White

So, I mean – and is it really true that we took this idea to Europe because I understand you almost physically did that didn’t you?

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Frye

I did actually take a very heavy test tactile surface paving stone and took it all the way to the Netherlands to see whether they thought it was also a good idea.Ìý So, you know, if I say that we definitely invented it, someone, somewhere in the world will pop up and say they’d already thought it but definitely in Europe.

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White

But given the fact that it is still a relatively simple idea and there’s been a lot of work on it, why do you think new surveys are still needed, what is there still to learn?

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Frye

I’m not sure there’s too much to learn in terms of its use.Ìý I think what is happening is that some of the initial guidance and understanding among local authorities, highway authorities, about what it’s for and how to implement it correctly are perhaps being lost over time.Ìý You don’t have to go very far to find examples of the tactile surface being put down incorrectly, one way or another.Ìý So, something that perhaps reviews the guidance that’s given and how to do it correctly, I think has got to be a good idea.Ìý I’ve certainly seen the crossing surface at the top of a flight of stairs, which is tremendously dangerous of course because it’s giving you a quite different message, I think one of the most exasperating I’ve seen was actually finding the chaps putting down a tactile surface upside down – they thought the knobbly bits were to grip into the concrete.Ìý So, just that sort of lack of understanding about what it’s there for, I think still abounds.

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White

There is a sense amongst quite a lot of blind and partially sighted people that their needs are getting less priority than they did perhaps in your heyday, as head of the mobility service, you know developments such as shared surfaces, the loss of many audible crossings, the growth of obstacles on pavements despite continued campaigns to get rid of obstacles on pavements.Ìý What’s your take on that and why it might be?

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Frye

I think again it’s a new generation of professionals coming up who perhaps haven’t had the background and the training.Ìý I mean it’s still possible to qualify as any kind of engineer or professional without any knowledge of accessibility issues and personally I think it’s high time that that was dealt with, so that it shouldn’t be possible to qualify as a highway engineer unless you have studied and passed exams that show that you’ve got a proper understanding.Ìý So, I think, with all the pressure for getting cars off the road, giving preference to cyclists and so on, occasionally the fundamental issues of what’s safe and appropriate and useable for people with disabilities is just getting pushed down the pecking order.Ìý But a lot of it is a lack of awareness I’m afraid.

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White

And you did a lot of work on this, in conjunction with visually impaired campaigners, is it frustrating for you to see that happening?

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Frye

It is because, you know, I thought we had made tremendous strides – we’ve got legislation in place, we’ve got good practice established – and you are now seeing – whether it’s train designs or tactile surface – people doing things without recognising that they’re actually throwing away the good practice that was developed.

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White

If you were contributing to this latest survey what would you say?

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Frye

I think I would be talking about the need for good and consistent advice and training to the professionals responsible for installing it, so that they understand where and when and it’s wanted and how to do it correctly, how to monitor it, how to enforce bad practice – all of these things, I think, are now what’s needed to – we don’t need to reinvent the wheel, we just need to make sure that the wheel is still round and rolling properly.

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White

Ann Frye, who’s now an independent consultant on disability access.

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Well, as we’ve said, those textured surfaces can be a real boon when trying to navigate railway stations.Ìý But stations are complicated environments, prompt well informed help is useful for the most confident of visually impaired rail users and an absolute essential if you’re less confident or inexperienced.Ìý It often works well but the regulator – the Office of Rail and Road – thinks it could work better.Ìý And today they’ve issued new guidelines.Ìý

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Dan Brown is from the Office of Rail and Road.Ìý Why new guidelines now Dan?

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Brown

We’ve announced a set of measures which together really represent a step change in the rights that people can expect on the railway, nationwide, over the next few years.

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White

Can we look specifically at the advance booking system, which as far as visually impaired people is concerned is important but there have been complaints about that, blind people, like anyone else, don’t always know when they’re going to have to travel.Ìý What are you suggesting about the advanced booking system?

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Brown

What we’re aiming for is an integrated national system where everybody can have absolute assurance that there are going to receive a consistent service.Ìý So, what we want to achieve, by 2022, is that passengers can, so far as possible, enjoy a turn up and go service if they request assistance within two hours of their journey.Ìý That’s quite an advance from where we are at the moment and there are a number of changes that need to be made behind the scenes to railway company systems and processes and critically the training that staff receive on platforms, in order to deliver that two-hour window.

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White

Well isn’t one of them that they have actually got enough staff to do it?

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Brown

What we have found is that even where there are staff, at the moment, even where stations and trains are accessible, passengers aren’t always supported as well as they could and should be.Ìý In the longer term, changes that needed to be made to staffing levels, to the configuration of stations, to the introduction of new rolling stock – those are really decisions for government.Ìý What we also find is that station staff don’t always have access to accurate information that help them to support passengers from their end to end journey.

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White

You also want to give people more redress when things go wrong.Ìý What are you suggesting there?

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Brown

There’s a real inconsistency in the modes of redress.Ìý Our guidance requires common standards nationwide, so that redress can be relied upon.Ìý Often when people are looking for assistance in journeys the sort of redress that they’re requiring is not the same as the redress that an able-bodied person would be requiring, the sort of redress they need are alternative travel arrangements, provision of taxis and so on.Ìý And so, we are assuring common standards about what they can expect.

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White

Dan Brown, how much clout do your guidelines have?

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Brown

The licence that we issue to each train passenger company is ultimately backed by our ability to find them if they don’t live up to the conditions of that licence.

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White

Dan Brown, thank you very much indeed.

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Brown

Thank you.

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White

And that’s it for today.Ìý Your responses on travel, access, technology are welcome.Ìý You can leave a message for us on 0161 836 1338.Ìý You can email intouch@bbc.co.uk.Ìý Or you can go to our website bbc.co.uk/intouch from where you can also download tonight’s and previous editions of In Touch.Ìý

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From me, Peter White, producer this week, Tom Walker, and the team, goodbye.