Google Maps Will Now Help You Navigate Wheelchair Accessible Routes

Then tap "Options" and under the Routes section, you will find "wheelchair accessible" as a new route type.

Google Maps is helping people to navigate and explore the world by providing directions worldwide, to people who are traveling by auto, bicycle or on foot. In city centres, buses and trains, often the best way to get around presents a challenge for people who use wheelchairs or with other mobility needs.

Google Maps will show you a list of possible routes that can be considered.

To activate the feature, all you have to do is head to Google Maps (on mobile or desktop) and input directions for public transport like you normally would.

By adding this feature Google Maps just made so easy the movement of physical disabled people, because anyone with a physical disability knows it well that it is not that simple.

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The functionality is now available in Tokyo, Mexico City, New York, Boston, London, and Sydney, with additional cities hopefully added in future updates.

A new update to the popular Google Maps application allows users to select a "wheelchair accessible" transit route, highlighting, for example, public transit stations that are not wheelchair-friendly or have out-of-service elevators, TechCrunch reports. This meant looking at places where there were only step entrances, or where bathrooms were wheelchair-accessible.

"To access the "wheelchair accessible" routes, type your desired destination into Google Maps", explains Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' project manager.

Many are complaining that major transit stations that do not include wheelchair accessible features are discriminatory because they significantly hinder disabled peoples' ability to navigate a city easily. For the past year, Google has examined more ways of inspiring its Local Guides to share more info about the world around them. Unlike many online publications, we don't have a paywall or run banner advertising, because we want to keep our journalism open, without influence or the need to chase traffic.