Introduction

In the hope of designing concepts for future transport systems, we would like to understand more about the barriers and challenges faced by individuals with autism when taking public transport in Singapore. However, the limited research studies exploring this topic were all conducted abroad with different transport systems. This paper thus investigates the barriers to public transport in Singapore's context for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Methods

In collaboration with a special needs school, parents of students with ASD were invited to complete the questionnaire online about their children's travel experiences. From a total of 25 parents, details of their children's frequency of travel, independent public transport experiences (if any) and challenges of independent commuting were examined. Based on the survey findings, a requirement list was compiled as a basis for creating a design concept to address public transport barriers of individuals with ASD.

Results

Key requirements summarised from the survey include quiet environments, assistance in alighting, assistance in boarding, predictable travel routines, simplified ways to ask for help, supervision or support, more visual aids, emergency buttons, learning to ask for seats and priority seating. ViCo, a Virtual Companion at bus stops and in buses and trains is proposed in the current paper to address the requirement list of individuals with ASD as highlighted in the survey findings.

Conclusion

The proposed implementation of ViCo is expected to improve the commuting experience of individuals with ASD, but can be extended to serve individuals with diverse disabilities as well as people without disabilities.

中文翻译：

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促进自闭症患者之间的独立通勤–新加坡的一项设计研究

介绍

为了希望为未来的交通系统设计概念，我们想更多地了解自闭症患者在新加坡乘坐公共交通工具时所面临的障碍和挑战。但是，探索该主题的有限研究都是在国外采用不同的运输系统进行的。因此，本文研究了自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）个人在新加坡背景下的公共交通障碍。

方法

与特殊需求学校合作，邀请患有ASD的学生的家长在线填写有关孩子旅行经历的问卷。在总共25位父母中，他们详细研究了孩子的出行频率，独立的公共交通经历（如果有）以及独立通勤的挑战。根据调查结果，编制了需求清单，作为创建设计概念的基础，以解决自闭症患者个人的公共交通障碍。

结果

调查总结的关键要求包括安静的环境，下车帮助，登机帮助，可预测的旅行套路，简化的求助方式，监督或支持，更多的视觉辅助工具，紧急按钮，学会寻求座位和优先座位的方法。ViCo是本白皮书中提出的在公共汽车站以及公共汽车和火车上的虚拟伴侣，旨在解决调查结果中突出显示的具有ASD的个人的需求清单。

结论

ViCo的拟议实施有望改善ASD个人的通勤体验，但可以扩展到服务于各种残障人士和无残障人士。