Cardtronics To Make Largest Fleet Of ATMs Audible For The Blind

HOUSTON - Cardtronics, now the largest provider of ATM services to credit unions, announced it will make the nation's largest fleet of ATMs accessible to the blind by 2010 under an agreement with the National Federation for the Blind. The agreement, which ends years of litigation, requires 23,350 ATMs located in places like drugstores and train stations to be equipped with a voice guidance feature that can be activated by plugging headphones into a jack on the machines. The National Federation of the Blind will monitor the progress of Cardtronics in making the machines accessible.

The agreement settles a suit brought by the Federation against E*Trade, which sold the ATMs to Cardtronics in 2004. "The ATM is the most common way for members of the sighted public to conduct financial transactions. To be full participants in modern society, blind people must have access to these devices," said Marc Maurer, president of the federation. Cardtronics, which is acquiring the 5,500 ATMs in the nation's 7-Eleven stores, has become the largest provider of ATM services to credit unions, through connections to the CO-OP Financial Services and Credit Union 24 networks, and through its subsidiary Allpoint, which provides surcharge-free ATM access to hundreds of credit unions.