ParkedIn
What is this project?
This is a project for the Accessible and Inclusive Design class at the Master of Information program at University of Toronto. I worked with 4 other classmates to research, design and iterate on the solution in one semester. In this project, I was the primary research lead, talking to 2 subject matter experts at the University of Toronto transport department.
↓ Below is our project timeline ↓
The Problem
University of Toronto, particularly the St. George Campus' parking system is inaccessible to persons with motor disabilities. The below are the problems identified
1. A lack of information organization surrounding disability parking on campus, including locations, facilities, contact method, contact person, etc.
2. The current parking app is incompatible with WCAG 2.1 standards
Why this problem?
While many Canadians regularly use busses, planes, or trains to get around, persons with disabilities may require specialized transportation or accommodations while using these modes of transportation. Among Canadians with disabilities aged 15 and older who considered themselves housebound, 17.8% said it was due to the unavailability of specialized transportation (source).
The University of Toronto’s (U of T) accessible parking system is flawed in many ways:
1. individuals have to hold an APP and pay parking fees to obtain an accessible parking spot.
2. it is difficult for users to find any information related to accessible parking on U of T campus as such information is not readily available on the U of T website or the ParkedIn mobile application - the only platform where payments for on-campus parking can be made.
3. Finally, other schools’ in comparison to U of T, such as McGill University, offer services and tools that provide users with clear indications of where accessible parking is located and how to find and use those spots.
Some Stats for Context
Canadians w/ disabilities aged 15+
considered themselves housebound, said it was due to the unavailability of specialized transportation.
Youth w/ disabilities aged 15-24
that is, ~32,500 students required specialized transportation to attend school, according to Statistics Canada.
Employees w/ disabilities 24-64
required at least one type of workplace accommodation, such as building modifications, accessible parking, or elevators.
The Outcome
By exploring how the service is provided now, our team explored how to enhance the university's current resources to improve the experience of persons with mobility limitations, with a focus on parking services.
As a result, we redesigned the University of Toronto's ParkedIn app which provides real-time accessible information. We will also want to make sure the app and website are compatible with Assistive Technology.
Our final design is an interactive prototype showcasing the specific task of reserving an
accessible parking spot on campus in a redesigned version of the current ParkedIn app. We chose
to redesign the current app and not create a new app to ensure we were not disrupting the current
process for users and the university.
Limitations
As UX Researchers and Designers of abled bodies, we do not have mobility disabilities so we would not be able to fully understand the day-to-day experience of people with mobility disabilities. This is one limitation of our research that we would like to acknowledge.
Competitive Analysis: What about other universities?
We used the competitive analysis method to compare and contrast a few campus-accessible parking cases of other Canadian universities, such as Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), McGill University and Brock University.
Two universities had systems that stood out among the others with their features that help users navigate through accessible parking information: McGill University & Brock University.
Other important facts that jumped out at us during this research were:
- UofT has a campus-specific wheel trans system, but only available in UofT Scarborough.
- Even for accessible parking, parking fees are required, with the exception of McMaster and Brock, in addition to a valid MTO permit.
- In general, accessible parking information is not readily available on the same webpage as those display information for the able bodied. This results in extra time and effort for persons with disability to find accessible parking information.
✅ Interactive map with accessibility-specific info
✅ Point-to-point route customization
✅ Integration with Google Maps for further customization
✅ Accessibility-specific info on parking lot
✅ Direct pointer to further information
✅ Integration with Google Maps for further customization
❌ No accessibility-specific info
❌ No sorting feature for accessibility-related info
❌ Limited information for contact
Competitive Analysis: What about other parking apps?
UofT uses the ParkedIn app for parking reservations and payment. Therefore, we would also like to compare other parking apps to find common patterns among best practices and what the ParkedIn app is missing.
As we can see, 1. filters for accessibility features and 2. interactive map are desirable to make finding parking spots easy for persons with motor disability.
Currently, there is no way on the ParkedIn to find accessibility specific information about a parking lot!
Subject Matter Expert Interview
I led the subject matter expert interview, in which we interviewed a member of the Transport Services Department at University of Toronto.
I planned the interview in a semi-structured manner, with the research question in mind:
What is the current practice is UofT's accessibility parking services on the St. George Campus?
Here are some example questions I asked during the interview:
- Can you describe how the accessible parking system in UofT works?
- What do you think are the challenges people face with accessible parking services at the St. George campus?
- Has the department tried to solve these challenges before? If yes, are there any difficulties when doing so? If not, why?
- Has there been any change/redesign to the campus accessibility services, particularly the parking system in recent years?
Three Main Findings from SME Interview
1. Biggest Obstacle for Department 🤯
not every building has its own dedicated accessible parking space due to lack of space downtown.
2. The Current Practice 💼
done on a case-by-case basis, persons with disability have to call their office in order to arrange for facilities and help with parking.
3. Working around Restrictions 💪
currently, the department helps individuals in a personalized approach, working around restrictions because of old buildings around downtown
Overall Challenges
📍Accessible parking options on campus are limited due to the lack of space and historical buildings. Thus, it emphasizes the need for clearer information on where accessible parking lots are available.
📍 The UofT website lacks accessibility services information, for instance, filtering and sorting features according to needs are absent.
📍Requiring an MTO permit and a permit from the school seems to be an excessive.
📍The ParkedIn app, again, just like the UofT website, lacks filtering capabilities for looking up information about accessibility services.
Overall Opportunities
💪 Having an interactive map with real-time information processing capabilities via sensors to show what accessible parking spots are available.
💪 Putting accessible parking information all in one place for easy access, including filtering and sorting capabilities online for accessible parking would be great.
💪 Turning the app compatible with assistive technology and accessibility guidelines, such as the WCAG 2.1
To-be Storyboard Visualization
We prepared a storyboard to help us visualize the future state of accessible parking at UofT, that would in turn help us envision the improvements made to the design of the app.
Also, this storyboard is later presented to our SME for further input to identify blindspots, allowing for iterative improvement after feedback.
Wireframing
Based on the findings from primary and secondary research so far, we understood that the redesign has to integrate into the university administration ecosystem, not disruptng it.
Therefore, our redesign focused on revamping the current app.
What we did:
- Facilitated information finding and increased information availability. We did this by including filtering and sorting options.
- Interactive real-time map powered by smart parking to show users whether accessible parking is available at a particular spot.
- Integrating information finding into the actual reservation workflow to minimize user efforts.
↓ First Iteration (Wireframes)↓
2nd Iteration
One of our groupmates took the 1st iteration and collective feedback in class, to the 2nd iteration. We discussed and prioritized areas of improvements:
✅ Ensuring colour contrast meets accessibility guidelines ➜ The orange in the previous wireframes was too light on a white background
✅ Text and information hierarchy
✅ Reworded labels and CTAs to make action buttons clearer.
✅ Allowing users to use voice input or simply use button clicks to minimize manual input actions, compatible with assistive technologies.
✅ Adding more filters and alternate route options for customization to individual needs.
↓ Second Iteration↓
Subject Matter Expert Feedback
As part of our testing and evaluation process to improve our design, we got in touch with our SME again from the primary research.
We walked through the storyboard and the prototype with the SME to gather feedback.
We got a couple of important insights, including the fact that abolishing parking fees for accessible parking wasn't feasible, as the proceeds are to maintain the facilities, and not for profit.
Parking fees are mandatory. Parking fees are not for profit at all, they are for maintaining parking facilities.
— Subject Matter Expert
3rd iteration
There are a few updates to the design after gathering invaluable feedback from the subject matter expert:
- Reintroducing payment, learning that parking fees are important for maintaining parking
- License plate input is added as it is important to ensure online reservations are taken by the corresponding vehicle at the designated time
- Confirmation messages after payment to assure users that booking is completed
Change Management
Implementing change on any scale can be a grueling process but it is extremely difficult to make changes in a decentralized organization like UofT.
Introducing change would require obtaining consensus from all moving parts to implement our redesign, in this case, various departments and signatories.
This could interfere with the timeline for implementing the redesign or even failing to launch the redesign
Integration with Systems
We might have potential difficulty of integrating the solution with existing transportation options. This is a common issue that designers would face in any service design / UX design project, where technical constraints are always present. The steps that we took were to speak with an SME to ensure we mitigate the negative effect the design will bring to the system.
Education and Enforcement
Another challenge we faced was debating the feasibility of implementing our design.
It may become necessary to educate the university community about the new parking scheme to enforce it effectively. Would the university be willing to allocate a budget for this? Who would spearhead the education of the new system? How do we force everyone at the university to partake in this re-education to ensure successful implementation?
These are questions that need to be addressed.