Have you ever experienced the frustration of hunting for parking in Belgrade's congested streets? The endless circling, the stress of finding a spot before time runs out, the uncertainty of whether you'll be able to park close to your destination—it's an ordeal that many drivers in our city face daily. But what if there was a better way?
Can we transform the exhausting, overwhelming, and frustrating experience of parking in Belgrade into something more convenient, efficient, and even enjoyable?
Situation
In Belgrade, the soaring number of registered vehicles—664,092 to be exact—far surpasses the availability of parking spaces. With only 25,000 registered zoned parking spots and 9,000 garage spaces (Source: Republic Statistical Office, 2022), drivers are constantly battling for limited parking real estate. The result? Endless traffic jams, wasted time, and frayed nerves as drivers navigate the chaotic search for parking.
In Belgrade, the soaring number of registered vehicles—664,092 to be exact—far surpasses the availability of parking spaces. With only 25,000 registered zoned parking spots and 9,000 garage spaces (Source: Republic Statistical Office, 2022), drivers are constantly battling for limited parking real estate. The result? Endless traffic jams, wasted time, and frayed nerves as drivers navigate the chaotic search for parking.
Drawing from my own user experience and shared frustrations with parking in Belgrade, I collaborated closely with a talented team of graduate students from the Faculty of Organization Science. We embarked on a mission to design a solution that not only addressed the challenges of finding parking but also enhanced the overall experience of navigating the city's streets.
I undertook the challenge of improving the parking situation in Belgrade by designing a user-centered platform that would efficiently utilize existing parking spaces and provide drivers with convenient parking solutions. To understand the needs and pain points of both garage owners and drivers, I embarked on a design thinking project centered around the ParCo platform.
By empathizing with the frustrations and obstacles faced by drivers, I leveraged our collective insights to develop a streamlined parking process, making it simpler, more accessible, and less stressful for all.
Research Methods
Through a combination of user interviews, observational studies, and surveys, I engaged with a diverse range of participants, including driving students of the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, my collage and studentsf from Metropolitan University, as well as my friends and families based in Belgrade, totaling around 60-80 valid responeses.
Insights
Research revealed a notable gap in the city's parking options: a lack of low to medium-priced parking options with high comfort levels. I identified various existing options, including low-priced but low-comfort walk/bike options, medium-priced/zoned parking with limited comfort, and high-priced but low-comfort garages in the city center. Public transportation emerged as a mid-comfort, low-cost option, while open parkings - such as one near 25 Maj offered a free solutin with medium comfort. Taxis were identified as the most expensive solution, providing high comfort levels at a premium price.
Personas
Utilizing these findings, I developed user personas, synthesized insights, and prioritized design decisions to create user-centric parking solutions that address identified gaps and meet diverse user needs. Through iterative sketching, testing and refinement, I collected the list of features and divided them into Main MVP, Nice-To-Have and Not-Urgent.
MVP FEATURES:
- Location Tracking
- Live Parking Availability
- Parking Searching
- Booking
- Filtering by parameters
- Push notifications
- User Profile
- History of parking
- Feedback and Rating
...
+ Add garage dashboard & management (for garage owners)
+ Garage aproving and user administration (for administrator)
- Live Parking Availability
- Parking Searching
- Booking
- Filtering by parameters
- Push notifications
- User Profile
- History of parking
- Feedback and Rating
...
+ Add garage dashboard & management (for garage owners)
+ Garage aproving and user administration (for administrator)
NICE TO HAVE:
- Advanced Analytics
- Customizable Parking Preferences
- Gamification Elements
- In-App-Support
- Scale to more cities
...
- Advanced Analytics
- Customizable Parking Preferences
- Gamification Elements
- In-App-Support
- Scale to more cities
...
- First draft of information architecture, map, user types, basic user model...
First Iteration: Wireframes
To address the identified pain points, the ParCo app was designed with three main components aimed at improving the parking experience for users:
Garage Listings: Users can easily discover and explore available parking spaces in their desired locations. This section provides a comprehensive list of parking options, including private closed garages, private driveway spots. Users can view details such as location, pricing, availability, dimensions, making it convenient to find suitable parking spots.
Booking System: A user-friendly booking system allows users to reserve parking spots in advance, ensuring availability upon arrival. Users can select their desired parking location, specify the date and time of parking, and complete the booking process seamlessly through the app. This feature eliminates the hassle of searching for parking upon reaching their destination, providing a stress-free parking experience.
Live Parking Availability: Users can access real-time information on parking availability in selected areas, helping them make informed decisions about where to park. This feature provides updates on the number of available parking spots, allowing users to navigate to the most convenient parking location efficiently. Additionally, users can receive notifications about parking availability changes, ensuring they always have up-to-date information while on the move.
So, remember when I thought I could skip a few screens in the prototype? Yeah, turns out, that was a big nope! Who knew so many folks had more than one set of wheels? I mean, multiple cars? Shocking, right? So, after realizing this, I had to go back to the drawing board and iterate, iterate, iterate.
During the first round of testing, things got interesting. People were like, "Um, which car did I just book?" Talk about a head-scratcher! And don't even get me started on the confusion between "Book Now" and "Reserve." It was like watching a comedy of errors unfold. Overall, testers were left with this nagging feeling that we'd forgotten something important.
Oops! Time to iterate more!
Second iteration, and then third, and then test & iterate again :)
I thought I finally covered every scenario, BUT users were like, "Can't we just have a quick option to park now or later?" I mean, imagine being in a rush, stuck in a jam-packed parking lot, and having to sift through options for parking spots you can't even use right away. Talk about frustrating, right?
The problem here was app was lacking visual destinction between spots available right now and spots that not available right now, but available for reservation. The first solution was to have 2 different color spots - Green for Available Now, Yellow for available for reservation with free time slots, but not available right now.
Testing users, now with additional set of bellow-avarage tech literate users (yes... I shemelessly tested on my parents and family) results were higher, but still there was room for improovement.
So, I put on my thinking cap and came up with a solution: the almighty modal!
So, I put on my thinking cap and came up with a solution: the almighty modal!
Now, users can simply toggle between parking now or later without the hassle of constantly setting filters. It's like a breath of fresh air in the world of parking chaos!
And there you have it! After countless hours of hard work, I finally wrapped up the design, put it through rigorous testing, and even started adding some fancy functionalities for garage owners and administrators. But hey, that's a tale for another time, invite me on cup of coffee and I can show you!
If you're curious, check out the prototype below. Enjoy the ride!
Prototype:
