Accessibility

We added these structural accessibility features in July 2026 as a foundation pass, and they are now part of every page:

• Skip link — the first focusable element on every page lets keyboard users jump directly to the main content.
• One main landmark per page — every route exposes a single main landmark with a stable id so assistive technology can find the primary content.
• Visible focus — every interactive element gets a visible focus indicator. We use the browser default focus ring plus a brand-coloured :focus-visible style so keyboard-only users can always tell where they are.
• Reduced motion — when your operating system is set to prefer reduced motion, all animations and transitions are disabled.
• Navigation landmarks — primary navigation has an aria-label and signals the current page with aria-current. The mobile menu button exposes its expanded state and opens/closes predictably with keyboard control.
• Breadcrumbs — every page with parent pages includes a breadcrumb trail marked as a navigation landmark with aria-label="Breadcrumb" and aria-current="page" on the current item.
• Decorative icons — icons that are purely decorative (the brand pin in the header, the hamburger/close icons on the mobile nav, breadcrumb separators) are marked aria-hidden so they do not add noise to screen-reader output.
• Automated testing — every build runs automated accessibility checks with axe-core against key routes. The checks cover WCAG 2.1 Levels A and AA.

This was a foundation pass. The following areas are acknowledged limitations that will need future work:

• Map pages are not fully tested. The interactive Leaflet map (line and system map views) uses a third-party library that renders into a div managed by the library. Station markers are not individually focusable through the keyboard, and the map does not provide a full keyboard-accessible alternative for panning and zooming. A text-based station list is available on the line detail page as an alternative way to browse stations.
• Data tables may not be fully navigable. The projects table and research source tables use HTML table markup but may lack full keyboard navigation, row-level landmarks, or sort/filter accessibility in all states. They are readable and have column headers, but interactive controls need more work.
• Some colour contrast was reviewed in this pass, but not every combination has been audited. Interactive elements, status indicators, and preview banners were checked for minimum contrast. A full systematic contrast audit has not yet been done.
• No accessibility contact channel. IndianTransit does not currently publish a dedicated accessibility contact email or form. If you encounter a significant barrier and need to report it, there is no official reporting path today. This is an honest gap we are aware of.

IndianTransit includes a hosted newsletter signup link (Beehiiv) and the Vercel-hosted Analytics script. These are embedded as standard links and scripts. We do not control their accessibility support.

Map tiles are provided by OpenStreetMap contributors. The Leaflet map library handles map interaction; its accessibility limitations are noted above.

IndianTransit does not currently publish a dedicated contact channel for accessibility feedback. We recognise this is itself an accessibility gap. When a contact path is added, it will be documented here and in the site footer.

This accessibility statement will be updated when new barriers are fixed, when new components are added, and when the automated test suite changes.

This site uses semantic HTML landmarks, ARIA labels on navigation regions, a skip link as the first focusable element, visible keyboard focus indicators, prefers-reduced-motion support, and automated axe-core accessibility tests on every build.

The automated test suite runs on the following routes: home page, projects index, cities, Bangalore Metro atlas page, Delhi Metro Red Line Rithala station, privacy page, and this accessibility page. These deterministic routes are tested for skip-link visibility, navigation landmarks, breadcrumb semantics, focus indicators, and keyboard trap avoidance using Playwright and axe-core. CMS-backed project detail pages still need manual preview coverage or a future fixture strategy.