We’re debuting a new tool to help improve web accessibility

Kitsap Transit’s website homepage with the UserWay Accessibility Menu open on the right-hand side.

Over the last year, we’ve heard from riders that Kitsap Transit’s website poses challenges for people who are blind, low-vision, or who otherwise rely on screen readers to use the internet. This is helpful feedback, and we’re working to improve the accessibility of our content.

One of our first steps in that direction is the UserWay Accessibility Tool, which we recently added to kitsaptransit.com. This is a tool that is being used by other public agencies, and we hope it will improve the user experience for people with disabilities, non-English speakers and anyone who wants to view our website in a different format.

The UserWay Accessibility Tool is a website add-on that provides a menu of different accessibility functions: You can access it by clicking on the small circular widget in the bottom corner of any of the pages on our website or by using the Ctrl + U shortcut on your keyboard.

The accessibility tool allows users to increase or change webpage contrast, increase text size, activate a screen reader and more.

The widget will open the Accessibility Menu, where you can change website contrast, increase text spacing and size, highlight links, toggle on a built-in screen header, access a dictionary and more. At the top of the menu, you’ll find several preset “Accessibility Profiles” as well as a translation dropdown menu to translate webpages instantly.

There are other tools that people with or without cognitive disabilities may find helpful, such as text alignment, reading masks, tooltips and the ability to pause animations.

As more than 20% of Washingtonians have a disability of some kind, it’s important that the content that public agencies publish is accessible. It is even more critical, as a public transportation agency, that our communication is available and accessible to all of our riders.

If you notice something that’s not working or is difficult to understand, we want to hear from you! You can reach out to us at marketing@kitsaptransit.com.