Case study · Barcelona · 2018
TMB TMBGO! — bus and metro that speak to the rider.
Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona and Vodafone launch TMBGO! with NaviLens: bus shelters, metro entrances, lifts and SOS intercoms read aloud in 42 languages.
2018
TMBGO! launch
Bus + Metro
TMB multimodal network
Vodafone
Innovation Award 2018
42
Languages with voice readout
The client
TMB & Vodafone Spain
— TMBGO! programme
Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) is the metropolitan area's main public transit operator, running the Barcelona metro and urban bus network with hundreds of millions of riders per year.
In 2018, with Vodafone Spain, it launched TMBGO!: an accessibility layer built on NaviLens that overlays existing signage so anyone — including those with visual disabilities — can hear lines, next departures, lifts and service info read aloud.
§ The challenge
Making a huge network speak, with zero construction.
- 01
One of Europe's largest networks
TMB runs the Barcelona metro and urban bus network: hundreds of stations, thousands of shelters, millions of daily riders. Making all service information accessible to people with visual disabilities was a challenge of scale.
- 02
Dynamic bus and metro information
Lines, next departure, platform, transfers, lift in service or out of order. Traditional signage —even with braille— could not solve real-time information in the rider's language.
- 03
End-to-end accessible equipment
The full journey —shelter, metro entrance, lift, platform, SOS intercom— had to be readable aloud from the phone with no construction or new screens, integrated into existing signage.
§ The solution
TMBGO! on shelters, lifts and intercoms.
TMB installs TMBGO! stickers with NaviLens codes on shelter headers, metro entrances, TMB street lifts and SOS intercoms. No construction, no new screens: existing information becomes audible in 42 languages.
Using the free NaviLens app, the user hears line, next departure, direction or lift status. Detected up to 30 m away, no need to point precisely.
§ Timeline
From TMBGO! to a consolidated network.
- Jul 2015
Pilots with Vodafone and ONCE
TMB launches the first pilots with Fundació Vodafone España, Fundació ONCE, Fundació TMB and Mobile World Capital Barcelona, laying the groundwork for later rollout.
- 2018
TMBGO! launch
TMB and NaviLens, together with Vodafone Spain, present TMBGO!: the system wins Vodafone's Innovation Award for technologies that improve people's lives.
- 2019
Start of mass rollout
TMB begins deploying NaviLens across the entire bus and metro network: shelters, entrances, lifts and SOS intercoms in concourses.
- 22 Apr 2021
First city in the world with full network
Official TMB press release: Barcelona becomes the first city to install smart tags (ddTags) across its ENTIRE metro and bus network, with 9,100 multicolour NaviLens codes deployed.
- Today
Consolidated, validated network
TMB keeps NaviLens as a voluntary accessibility layer over existing signage, validated with blind users and guide dogs.
§ Walkthrough
Bus, metro, lift and SOS, signposted.
Bus
TMBGO! shelter with NaviLens code
Every shelter carries a TMBGO! sticker with the NaviLens code: the user hears lines, next departures and timetables without reading the panel.
Bus
Pl. Espanya stop
View of the TMBGO! NaviLens code at one of the stops of the Plaça d'Espanya interchange node.
Bus
H12 shelter — Pl. Espanya
The assistant scans the shelter header with the NaviLens app and hears the interchange area 3236, plus lines H12, 50 and night services N1–N28 stopping there.
Metro
L9 Sud entrance — Fira
TMBGO! NaviLens codes on the glass railing at the entrance to Fira metro station (L9 Sud), guiding the descent to the concourse.
Metro
TMB street lift
A blind person with a guide dog scans from the street the NaviLens code of the station's street lift, identifying the accessible metro entrance.
Metro
Fira L9 Sud lift
Every TMB lift carries its own code: the user hears which station it is, which line it serves (L9 Sud Fira) and the available accessibility pictograms.
Concourse
SOS intercom
The concourse Help/SOS intercom has a nearby NaviLens code that reads aloud usage instructions and the exact location of the help point.
Walkthrough
User with guide dog
A user with guide dog walks the access to the Fira venue, scanning with their phone the TMBGO! codes on the escalators.
Demo
Detection test
NaviLens detection demo: the code is read from several metres away, without aiming, and the app reads the content aloud in the user's language.
Awards
Vodafone Innovation Awards 2018
Javier Pita (Neosistec director) and Pedro Esquiva receive in Barcelona, on 14 February 2018, the Vodafone Spain Innovation Award for NaviLens.
§ What they said
Voices from the rollout, in their own words.
“Es una forma muy rápida y eficaz de trasladar información del estado de la red, especialmente importante si hay incidencias. La aceptación ha sido muy notable.”
“La aplicación las detecta si están cerca. No es como un código QR, que debes tomar una fotografía. En el caso de los autobuses, detalla el número de parada, las líneas que se detienen o el rato que queda para que llegue uno.”
§ Results
Public transport for everyone.
Award
2018 Vodafone Innovation Award for TMBGO!
0 works
Stickers placed on shelters, entrances and lifts
Autonomy
Validated with users and guide dogs
§ And your network?
Your next station can also speak.
Tell us about your network, your pain points and the KPIs you want to move. We’ll show you how NaviLens would fit —with comparable cases.
