This article reports on a survey of the use of buses in Santa Barbara, California, by 55 persons who are visually impaired (including those who are blind and those who have low vision). Findings on users’ frustrations, potential use of technological aids for travel, and perceptions of and attitudes toward the characteristics of bus services are presented. In addition, differences in the responses of those to whom household cars were and were not available are analyzed, and suggestions for dealing with the participants’ major concerns are provided.

No abstract

Hierarchical clustering, Choropleth mapping, Matrix reorganization, Unidimensional seriation, Ordered binary trees,

Our purpose is to explore the travel behavior of blind or vision impaired people, focusing in particular on travel by bus. We differentiate the sample depending on the availability of a household car. We examine perceptions of and attitudes toward existing transit and various transit characteristics, highlighting features that seem to be frustrating or difficult. Finally, we have travelers evaluate the potential usefulness of various assistive devices, including electronic information that gives navigational assistance.

A variety of tests for randomness are reviewed based on simple product—moment statistics defined between two matrices, { aij} and { bij}. Typically, the first matrix, { aij}, contains proximity data on the spatial placement of n observations, { x1…. xn} the second matrix, { bij}, is obtained from the relationships among the n observations themselves. Depending on the definitions of { aij} and { bij}, a variety of well-known tests of randomness and/or trend (those attributed to Mann, Daniels, Moore and Wallis, Cox and Stuart, and Goodman and Grunfeld) as well as various approaches to serial correlation and spatial autocorrelation can be encompassed. Finally, these notions of randomness can be extended to an assessment of spatial association between two variables. A numerical example is given within this latter context.