Mellon is currently being sued on ATM inaccessibility by the Disability Law Project of Pennsylvania. The pilot by the bank is independent from those involved in the lawsuit. A similar lawsuit by the Disability Law Project against PNC Bankcorp was tentatively settled with reader assistance through cellular telephones as the atm access solution. kelly February 21, 2001 Mellon Piloting Voice-Guided ATMs at 11 Locations PITTSBURGH, Feb. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Mellon Bank today announced that it has equipped the automated teller machines (ATMs) at 11 Mellon locations in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Harrisburg with voice-guided technology to assist visually impaired customers. This pilot program establishes Mellon as the first major financial services provider to offer voice-guided technology in Mellon's retail market area. The voice-guided feature is designed to allow visually impaired customers to insert a conventional set of audio headphones, similar to those used with portable radios and music players, into the ATM. The customer then hears through the earphones private voice instructions on how to conduct basic ATM transactions. The ATMs at the following Mellon locations have been equipped with voice- guided technology: Pittsburgh (4 locations): -- Oliver Avenue - downtown, opposite Mellon Square -- Penn Hills - 6125 Saltsburg Road -- Ross Park Mall -- University - Fifth Avenue & Craig Street, Oakland Harrisburg (1 location): -- Main - 10 S. Market Street Philadelphia (6 locations): -- Bala Cynwyd - 15 City Line Avenue -- Haddington Mall - 57th and Vine Streets -- Second & Chestnut - 123 Chestnut Street -- Stenton - 6324 Stenton Avenue -- University City - 36th and Walnut Streets -- Eighth and Walnut - 830 Walnut Street "This technology was designed to allow visually impaired customers who use these ATMs to hear a helpful voice. We hope they also hear the sound of a financial services provider attempting to meet their special needs," said Paul S. Beideman, executive vice president and head of Mellon Retail Financial Services. "Piloting this first series of talking ATMs in our retail market area reflects our commitment to providing our retail customers with a level of service commensurate with Mellon's corporate objective of becoming the best performing financial services company." "By making it easier to interact with an ATM, voice-guided technology provides an important assist to visually impaired people living independently in our community" said Dr. Richard L. Welsh, president of Pittsburgh Vision Services. "We congratulate Mellon on being the first financial institution in Pennsylvania to provide this service, and we look forward to working with Mellon on ways to make the service as responsive as possible to the needs of visually impaired customers." Mellon Financial Corporation (NYSE: MEL) is a global financial services company. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Mellon is one of the world's leading providers of asset management, trust, custody and benefits consulting services and offers a comprehensive array of banking services for individuals and corporations. Mellon has $2.8 trillion in assets under management, administration or custody, including $530 billion under management. Its asset management companies include The Dreyfus Corporation and Newton Investment Management Limited (U.K.). Press releases and other information about Mellon and its products and services are available at www.mellon.com on the Internet. For Mellon press releases by fax, call 1-800-758-5804, identification number 552187. /CONTACT: Ron Sommer of Mellon Financial, 412-236-0082, or [log in to unmask] 08:07 EST _________________________________________________________________ VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List. To join or leave the list, send a message to [log in to unmask] In the body of the message, simply type "subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations. VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html