Bright yellow bus helps Guide Dogs campaign reach Downing Street

A bright yellow bus visited Cardiff to help national charity Guide Dogs rev up their campaign to install audio visual (AV) technology on buses.

AV technology would see bus stops announced, so blind and partially sighted passengers could depart confidently.

The Guide Dogs Cymru team with their bright yellow bus at Cardiff Bay’s Millennium Centre.

The vehicle visited the city centre and Bay from Friday 12 to Sunday 14 September, providing a place to meet Guide Dogs Cymru and sign the petition.

Over 9,900 signatures were delivered to Downing Street on 2 October, 1,050 of these collected in Cardiff.

Guide Dogs Cymru engagement officer, Nathan Foy, 34, said: “I’m blind, and if a driver forgets to announce my stop, I could end up 100 yards down the road from my destination.

“If my two-year-old daughter asks: ‘Daddy, where are we?’, I can’t answer that.”

Guide Dogs provide freedom and mobility to blind and partially sighted people and have been expertly training and breeding guide dogs for over 75 years.

The charity also delivers rehabilitation services to those suffering from sight loss, funds eye disease research and campaigns for equal rights, making sure blind and partially sighted individuals have access to services and transport, freedom of mobility, and provision of better rehabilitation services.

This week marks the charity’s annual Guide Dogs Week, from Saturday 4 to Sunday 12 October, during which fundraising and awareness building activities take place.

On Tuesday 7 October, Guide Dogs Cymru hosted an event at the Senedd, which saw Wales Assembly members experience a Guide Dogs’ sensory tunnel, an enclosed environment, which simulated moving around without sight.

For more information about Guide Dogs, visit their website at: www.guidedogs.org.uk

Audio visual technology, Guide Dogs, Talking Buses, yellow bus