Parking Meters, need change?

By Jacco Nieuwland on 11 Nov 2008

Pierson, Klompenhouwer, Nieuwland

This article has been published on World Usability Day 2008, theme "Transportation"

Universal problem - universal solution?

When thinking about the task of using a parking meter, you might expect it to be a universal design challenge. Getting a parking ticket in Brazil shouldn't differ much from getting one in New Zealand, should it? Are parking meters all over the world basically the same or are there a lot of variations of the concept? Are there patterns in the design of parking meters all over the world and is it possible to create a universal meter that could potentially be used everywhere by anyone?

How?

To get an overview of what variations there currently are in the parking meters all over the world, we asked usability professionals in various countries to describe a typical parking meter in their country. These parking meters were then compared to find common challenges and solutions to the problem of making people pay for a parking space, or at least allowing them to.

Results

What we have found is that no two parking meters in our survey are completely the same and that the complexity of operating the parking meters varies considerably. There is a world of difference between the auto-detecting parking meter in Tokyo and the complex and error-prone parking ticket dispenser in Amsterdam.

To find out more about this survey: download the full article.