Accessibility and Traffic Control in Asia

There were designs for accessibility and interesting traffic control and transit features in every country I visited in my 2006 trip to Asia (Thailand, Hong Kong, mainland China, and Japan - see Diary from Asia). This page shows some of them through photos.
  • For observations on these issues recorded in the diary, click here.
  • For photos from a tour of accessibility features of facilities in Hong Kong, click here.
  • For Japanese research projects that consider accessibility, check out Okayama Prefectural University and Mitsubishi.
  • For links to photos and observations from this trip as well as my 2005 trip to China, see People with Disabilities in Asia - Observations from Travels.
  • For photos of "shared surface" for pedestrians and vehicles in the streets of Guangzhou, China, click here.
  • For observations of an orientation and mobility lesson in Thailand, click here.

    NOTE: although bicycles, motor scooters and, in all countries except Japan, 3- and 4-wheeled carts (a few of them motorized) were pervasive throughout Asia, I saw no more than a handful of strollers throughout all the countries visited, and those were usually at the airport (I remember seeing only one in Thailand). Most of the children are carried or they walk.

    photo shows a mid-block crosswalk where there is no curb anywhere along the entire width of the crosswalk (about 15 feet wide). Along the edge of the street are rows of yellow standard detectable warning tiles (tiles with rows of flattened domes). Written in the street in English and Chinese is 'look right' with an arrow pointing to the right.

    A street in Hong Kong.

    Detectable warning surfaces extended the width of the curb ramps.


    photo shows crosswalk at a rounded corner so the edge of the street is not perpendicular to the crosswalk. The crosswalk is about 20 feet wide and there is no curb anywhere along the edge (the entire corner is flush with the street). Along the edge of the street are yellow standard detectable warning tiles (tiles with rows of flattened domes). The tiles are aligned with the crosswalk, they are not in rows, but are staggered along the edge of the street, looking like stairs. Written in the street in English and Chinese is 'look right' with an arrow pointing to the right.

    The tiles are installed so the rows of bumps on the detectable surface are aligned with the direction of the crosswalk.

    I explained to the students at Okayama Prefectural University that this is not permitted in the U.S., where the bumps should be perpendicular to the edge of the ramp (for people in wheelchairs, the wheels move more easily between the rows of bumps, and their chairs may lose stability if they can't navigate through the ramp at a perpendicular angle).

    Photo shows a busy hallway with a person in a wheelchair traveling away from us, far away in the hall. On the floor along the middle of the hall is a tactile strip about a foot wide, intersecting with the strip of another hall.



    A person in a wheelchair travels through the subway system in Hong Kong.

    In every country we visited, all transit stations as well as many malls and hotels had tactile trails leading to features such as stairways and elevators, train platforms, bathrooms, etc., as seen here along the hallways.


    Photo shows two strips on the floor, each about a foot wide and intersecting to form overlapping squares each about 2 feet wide. There are 4 raised bars extending along the strips, and in the square where they intersect are flattened domes in rows about an inch apart (standard detectable warning surface).



    Train station in the city of Marugami on the island of Shikoku, Japan.


    Photo shows sidewalk with a strip about a foot wide extending along the sidewalk about 10 feet away from the street. There are 4 raised bars along the strip. The strip intersects with another strip that goes to the street, reaches the about 20 feet from the corner, sloping down to a crosswalk that is about 20 feet wide. The curb ends at the crosswalk, and along the edge of the street for the entire width of the crosswalk is



    Crosswalk in Hiroshima, Japan.

    All countries visited (Bangkok, Hong Kong, cities in mainland China including Guongzhou and Shanghai, and cities throughout Japan) had strips with tactile bars along at least some of the sidewalks, with truncated domes at any points where there was a tactile trail leading to something of interest to the side, such as a crosswalk or bus stop. A few places in Japan had no tactile strips along the sidewalk but had tactile strips crossing the sidewalk at points of interest, such as mid-block crosswalks.

    In the United States, the use of truncated domes is restricted to indicate hazards such as the edges of streets, platforms and fountains. Extensive use of truncated domes to give wayfinding information as well as marking the edge of streets and platforms may make their meaning ambiguous.

    The photo is taken from a plaza that opens out into the sidewalk. A metal drain grill, about a foot wide, runs along the edge of the plaza, and about 5 feet away on the sidewalk (about in the middle of the sidewalk), is a strip about a foot wide, yellow with thin gray lines on the edges, apparently with detectable bars on it (it's too far to see details)



    A drainage grill runs parallel to the tactile marking strips along this sidewalk by Peace Garden in Hiroshima, Japan.


    photo shows a customer (Stephan Sauerburger) standing in front of a ticket machine; next to him is a woman wearing a uniform, pointing out something on the machine.



    The automatic ticket machine at the train station in Kyoto and other cities has an assistant posted to help travelers use the machines to purchase their tickets.


    photo shows Stephan standing at a rounded corner (with a wide radius) which blends into the street. Running along the sidewalk from the previous corner is a row of tactile tiles, about a foot wide and placed about foot apart. Running along the edge of the street are more one-foot tiles that are aligned with the crosswalk, most of them have one corner touching the corner of the next tile, looking like a stairway.



    A crosswalk at a narrow street near the train station in the city of Marugami on the island of Shikoku, Japan, had an unusual tactile trail along the sidewalk and the edge of the crosswalk, as the tiles were about half as wide as most tactile tiles, and the strip along the sidewalk was not continuous.


    a schoolgirl in uniform stands at the edge of a street using her cell phone. The brick sidewalk is lowered at the crosswalk to be flush with the street, with a concrete border at the edge.



    While most curb ramps in the larger cities had detectable warnings, many crosswalks in smaller cities did not.
    (shown: city of Marugami on the island of Shikoku, Japan).


    Photos shows two signals on the other side of a crosswalk. One signal is a pedestrian signal (we can't see the details, but there are two lights, and the bottom one is green and lit). The other signal is in the shape of a rectangle, with a green light that fills the rectangle in one photo, and fills half the rectangle in the other photo.



    Count-down signal in Marugami, Japan shows decreasing numbers of lighted bars rather than decreasing numbers (green for "walk," red for "wait").

    These two photos show closeups of the previous photo, each showing two signals. One signal is a pedestrian signal (we can't see the details, but there are two lights, and the bottom one is green and lit). The other signal is in the shape of a rectangle, with a green light that fills the rectangle in one photo, and fills half the rectangle in the other photo. These two photos show closeups of the previous photo, each showing two signals. One signal is a pedestrian signal (we can't see the details, but there are two lights, and the bottom one is green and lit). The other signal is in the shape of a rectangle, with a green light that fills the rectangle in one photo, and fills half the rectangle in the other photo

    3 photos show closeups of the previous signals, but now the top light on the pedestrian signal is lit and red, and the rectangle in the first photo is filled with red light, the second photo shows it half filled with red light, and the last photo shows it with some red at the bottom of the rectangle. 3 photos show closeups of the previous signals, but now the top light on the pedestrian signal is lit and red, and the rectangle in the first photo is filled with red light, the second photo shows it half filled with red light, and the last photo shows it with some red at the bottom of the rectangle. 3 photos show closeups of the previous signals, but now the top light on the pedestrian signal is lit and red, and the rectangle in the first photo is filled with red light, the second photo shows it half filled with red light, and the last photo shows it with some red at the bottom of the rectangle.

    This young woman travels the subway system of Kyoto by herself in her motorized wheelchair. She says she can get around most places but sometimes needs help for access. Click here for more story in the Diary from Asia.
    3 photos show Stephan and a young Japanese woman in electric wheelchair with tray. She has her arms raised about chest-high with her hands clenched and she is leaning far back, saying something while smiling at Stephan 3 photos show Stephan and a young Japanese woman in electric wheelchair with tray. Stephan is holding her address book and she is pointing to it. 3 photos show Stephan and a young Japanese woman in electric wheelchair with tray. She is writing on a piece of paper while Stephan holds her address book for her to read.

    This bus stop (below, left) in Kyoto, Japan, has an awesome signage system to indicate the approaching buses both visually and audibly. There are 4 buses that pass this stop, and the sign has 3 openings for each bus, indicating that the bus is 5 minutes away, 2 minutes away, or within sight - when it is within sight, it is announced audibly. The sign below (middle) indicates that bus 100 and the 206 bus to Shuo are about 5 minutes away, the sign on the right indicates that bus 100 is about 2 minutes away, bus 206 is within sight of the stop, and bus 208 and the other bus 206 are both about 5 minutes away. Click here for more details.
    picture shows a bus shelter on the sidewalk with a lighted box on a pole. The box is about a foot wide and deep, and 4 feet high. Front of bus stop kiosk has 4 horizontal rows, each labeled with the name of a bus. Each row has 3 round holes or openings labeled in Japanese. All the openings are blank except the far right (third) openings of buses labeled '100 Kyoto Station' and '206 Kyoto Station-Shijo Omlya' -- these openings are filled with a disk that shows a drawing of a bus approaching. border= The top row, labeled bus 100, has drawings of an approaching bus in the middle and right holes. The second row, labeled



    The railing of a stairway of this 5-story game store in Kyoto, Japan is labeled in Braille to indicate which floor is at the bottom and top of each stairway. Many stairs throughout Asia had detectable warnings at the top and bottom.
    3 photos show a stairway with a round metal railing, which has a braille metal label wrapped around the ends at the bottom and top of the stairs. On the floor, along the top of the stairs, is a strip of detectable warning surface about a foot wide. 3 photos show a stairway with a round metal railing, which has a braille metal label wrapped around the ends at the bottom and top of the stairs. On the floor, along the top of the stairs, is a strip of detectable warning surface about a foot wide. 3 photos show a stairway with a round metal railing, which has a braille metal label wrapped around the ends at the bottom and top of the stairs. On the floor, along the top of the stairs, is a strip of detectable warning surface about a foot wide.

    orange cones are placed in a street along some construction: they appear to have a lightbulb inside the top.



    Cones along this construction site in Tokyo, Japan light up at night.

    Many streets in Hong Kong barricaded the curb where pedestrians were not supposed to cross, making it easier to find the crosswalk. This street is intended to be crossed half at a time. When pedestrians reach the middle, they reach a barricade that must be followed to an opening to the left where they can complete the crossing. This signal (and all signals I saw in Hong Kong) were accessible - there was a constant ticking sound that could be heard near the crosswalk, and the time to cross was indicated with a change in the speed of ticking.
    4 photos show an intersection with a railing extending along the curb around the corners to the crosswalk. In the middle of the street is a median strip / refuge island, with railings such that people step up onto the island and then face a railing which requires that they move to the left to continue the crossing. 4 photos show an intersection with a railing extending along the curb around the corners to the crosswalk. In the middle of the street is a median strip / refuge island, with railings such that people step up onto the island and then face a railing which requires that they move to the left to continue the crossing.
    4 photos show an intersection with a railing extending along the curb around the corners to the crosswalk. In the middle of the street is a median strip / refuge island, with railings such that people step up onto the island and then face a railing which requires that they move to the left to continue the crossing. 4 photos show an intersection with a railing extending along the curb around the corners to the crosswalk. In the middle of the street is a median strip / refuge island, with railings such that people step up onto the island and then face a railing which requires that they move to the left to continue the crossing.

    The ticking of the signal is generated from boxes on poles near the crosswalk. The ticking can be felt tactually with a vibratory button on the bottom of the box (right, below).
    2 photos show a pole on the sidewalk near the crosswalk; on the pole, about the same height as the railing along the curb (about 4 feet) is a small metal yellow box with a circle on the bottom. 2 photos show a pole on the sidewalk near the crosswalk; on the pole, about the same height as the railing along the curb (about 4 feet) is a small metal yellow box with a circle on the bottom.

    photo shows a corner of an intersection -- we can see that the main street has 5 lanes on the half of the street that approaches the corner, and more traffic on the other side of the street.



    There are about 10,000 accessible pedestrian signals (APS) in Japan, according to Dr. Kunio Kurachi of Mitsubishi, but many intersections do not have accessible pedestrian signals, including this one at the crosswalk at the entrance of Tokyo University, where there are blind students. This appears to be a difficult crossing without APS because it is essentially a T-intersection with the entrance to the university, and the parallel traffic (which usually serves as the cue to cross) from the entrance is sometimes sparse.

    A screen inside each car on this Tokyo subway visually indicates how many minutes to each of the stations ahead, updating that information at each stop. The photo below (enlarged to the right) was taken when the train was two minutes away from Tokyo station, as indicated by the red arrow.
    2 photos show a panel on the wall of the train car, with a rectangular line of about 25 dots representing 25 stations. The Tokyo station is marked in red and has the number 2, the next 13 stations have increasing numbers up to 29. 2 photos show a panel on the wall of the train car, with a rectangular line of about 25 dots representing 25 stations. The Tokyo station is marked in red and has the number 2, the next 13 stations have increasing numbers up to 29.

    Photo shows the same panel as the last 2 photos but now the display shows a single strip of 11 small rectangles representing 11 stations. Below some of the stations are symbols for escalators and stairways.



    The same screen changes to indicate other information, as shown here.

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