With everything that has happened in Austin and with other cities with ridesharing, we find ourselves without the services we come to rely on and must attempt to use similar services to fill the void. Get Me, a service supported by the City of Austin, is one such service, but is Get Me’s app accessible?
Accessibility of Get Me
If you have read the title of this article then you already know the answer to the above question. Get Me for iOS has absolutely lousy accessibility, and that is not a subjective opinion. Lets start at the signup process.
While I am a low vision user that uses magnification, I attempted to sign up with Get Me with VoiceOver. I filled out much of the information until I reached the portion where they ask for your card method. This does not include Apple Pay or anything like that, but only a card. There is only one text box, which changes when you enter certain information in there. Once you enter your debit card number, they want the expiration date which is 4 numbers. they then want your CVV and then your zip code but this information is not spoken to the user as you enter it. I have heard that there is a way to take a picture of the card, which may be easier for some than entering the numbers without knowing what to enter when.
Once I signed up (using vision) I was presented with two buttons that are badly labeled. They are Home Delivery 2 and Home Ride 2. These are the buttons where you pick if you want something delivered to you, or if you want to get a ride. Obviously, these buttons are badly labeled, and should be changed.
Requesting a ride is impossible with VoiceOver The only things VoiceOver can find on the request a ride screen are the cancel button, and the title of the screen. VO does not see any buttons on the screen, such as where to enter the pickup or destination address, where to pick the type of ride, or even the request button. These all appear to be standard iOS controls, but Get Me does not seem to be using a standard method for creating their app for iOS, which will require them to invest a LOT of time in making their app accessible.
Conclusion
While the City of Austin might find the Get Me service to be an alternative to Lyft and Uber, it is not an accessible alternative to blind and low vision users. When using VoiceOver, a person needing a ride would need to have sighted assistance in requesting a ride, which is not an alternative by any means.