WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Chevy Chase Bank promised to install voice-guided ATMs at more than 500 locations in the Washington D.C. area within three years, according to a report in the Washington Post.
Advocates hailed the decision, saying Chevy Chase Bank will become the area's first financial institution to make such machines readily available to the public.
Bank officials said they will start a pilot program within six months using 20 voice-guided ATMs, then will begin retrofitting hundreds of other ATMs with technology developed by NCR.
As with other voice-guided machines, blind customers will be able to use their own headsets to plug into ATMs, getting step-by-step instructions on how to withdraw cash and complete other transactions.
"I hope that this will be a model for other banks in the area," said Elaine Gardner, a plaintiffs' attorney who is from the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. "These will be the very first ATM machines that many blind people use."
Numerous banks throughout the country have begun introducing voice-guided ATMs in response to pressure from the Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind and other groups. The nation's first such ATM was put into use in 1999 in San Francisco. Since then, several large financial institutions have installed voice-guided machines or are making plans to do so.
Chevy Chase agreed to install the machines after it was named in a federal lawsuit filed by three blind men, the NFB and the Disability Rights Council of Greater Washington. Instead of fighting the suit, bank officials decided to work out a plan to address the groups' concerns.
The bank was targeted because it operates the area's largest ATM network and because its machines are at prime locations used by the public throughout Washington, according to the NFB. The first 20 voice-guided machines will be at airports, museums and Union Station.
Chevy Chase is the largest bank based in the region, with more than 180 branches and more than 800 ATMs in the District, Maryland and Virginia.
The federation filed a similar suit last year against Diebold, the nation's leading manufacturer of ATMs. Diebold agreed to install voice-guided ATMs at four Rite Aid pharmacies in Washington and is working with the federation on developing new technology.
Federal officials are considering a proposed guideline that would specifically require voice-guided ATMs under the Americans With Disabilities Act. Advocates said that most blind people cannot read the Braille that is displayed on current ATMs. Approximately 1.1 million Americans are legally blind.
