ParkedIn

The University of Toronto's parking system presents challenges, particularly for people with motor disabilities. Insufficient website information makes it difficult to find and reserve accessible parking spots, impacting timely arrival at destinations. This project analyzed the current parking landscape and redesigned the ParkedIn app to improve accessibility on the downtown campus and enhance the overall experience of parking for people with mobility limitations.

Timeline

January - April 2023

Tools

Figma, Miro, Zoom

Role

Secondary research, prototype redesign

The Problem Space

The current app for UofT’s accessible parking system is problematic for the following reasons:

It does not meet WCAG 2.1 standards.
It is difficult for users to find information surrounding disability parking on campus because of the lack of available information.

01

Allow people to efficiently find a parking spot to save time.

02

Be able to reserve an accessible parking spot.

03

Find an accessible parking spot close to the campus building entrance.

Goals

Purpose of Solving the Problem

The landscape of downtown parking is challenging enough for people who want to reserve accessible parking spaces. To make parking as accessible as possible, my team aims to improve the navigation and reduce the frustrations associated with having access to campus buildings.

There is also a potential attitudinal barrier of making people with motor disabilities acquire an MTO permit, get it approved by the university, and pay additional parking fees in order to have access to accessible parking.

It is imperative to have the university adhere to Ontario laws when it comes to following accessibility guidelines.

Research Methods Overview

Research Methods

Comparative Analyses - Reviewed 3 university websites and 3 third party parking apps.
Social Listening - Reviewed comments on Reddit.
30-min Semi-Structured Stakeholder Interview - Spoke with a subject matter expert from UofT's transportation services department to learn more about the landscape of accessible parking on campus.

Research Constraints

Due to the legal and resource constraints, my team was unable to do primary research with persons with motor disabilities for a university project as it would require further research ethics approval.
A caveat of doing secondary research only is that there is potential for inherent biases that can affect the accuracy of the information. Furthermore, without doing primary research, design decisions may be based on assumptions about user needs, behaviours, and preferences.

What I Would Do Next

Run a usability evaluative test with a few participants to test core functionalities and address usability issues. This data would help me make informed decisions about the interface, features, and overall user experience.
Combine secondary research with primary research. For example, conduct user interviews to gain a deep understanding of their needs, goals, and pain points. This firsthand knowledge is invaluable for designing products that truly resonate with users.

My team conducted a comparative analysis by comparing accessibility resources among different Canadian universities.

Here are our findings:

McGill and Brock have interactive maps with various customization features. For example, McGill provides filtering for various types of wheelchair users. Brock provides accessible parking and accessible washroom options.
Most universities do not offer accessible shuttle bus services. UofT has a limited wheel trans initiative that is only available on the Scarborough campus.
Students usually need a valid MTO permit and pay accessible parking fees. The exceptions to this rule are McMaster and Brock.

Blue Badge

Wheelmate

Parking Mobility

My team also reviewed parking apps such as Blue Badge, Wheelmate, and Parking Mobility:

All apps have an interactive map and various filters for customizability.
Blue Badge allows users with wheelchair-accessible vehicles to view the parking space via street level view, map, and satellite views.
Wheelmate integrates the search of accessible facilities (e.g., restrooms) with accessible parking.
Parking Mobility allows users to report accessible parking spot abuse by sending report claims to governmental departments.

Social Listening Findings

Comparative Analysis Findings

McGill University

Brock University

McMaster University

Secondary Research

Social Media Observations

To further understand the experiences and challenges people with mobility limitations faced, we looked at social media sources such as Reddit. A discussion thread on Reddit shares the challenges a student faced while trying to find a parking spot on their university campus. This student faced resistance and dismissal from fellow students and university representatives. The thread displays attitudinal barriers towards people with motor disabilities.

Interview with Subject Matter Expert

We also interviewed a member of UofT’s transportation services department to have a more in-depth understanding of the current parking landscape. The interviewee revealed that students have to connect with Health & Wellness services to access accessible parking spaces. Not every building has its own dedicated accessible parking space due to the lack of space downtown. This highlights the importance of having parking information easily available, so that users can easily navigate the parking system.

UofT's Current Flow of the ParkedIn App

Issues:

No accessibility features or filters
Not compatible with assistive technology and accessibility guidelines (e.g., insufficient colour contrast)
Needing to acquire a Ministry of Transportation (MTO) permit and a permit from the school seems to be too excessive in a multi-step process

Opportunities for Improvement:

Add an interactive map with real-time information via sensors (i.e., sensors through smart parking functionalities)
Centralize all information in one place to make finding resources and information easier
Make the app compatible with assistive technology and accessibility guidelines (e.g., WCAG 2.1)

We chose to integrate the redesign within the current university ecosystem rather than disrupting it. Our primary and secondary research findings informed the revamp of the current app. I created the initial redesign above. Afterwards, my team members and I walked through the storyboard with the subject matter expert and iterated further

To improve the app, we did the following:

Facilitated information finding and increased information availability by including customizability, filtering, and sorting options.
Added an interactive real-time map by integrating smart parking functionalities to show users whether accessible parking is available at a particular location.
Integrating information finding into the parking reservation workflow to minimize user efforts and enhance intuitive navigation.

Redesign Iteration #2

We discussed and prioritized areas of improvements to redesign the second interaction. We focused on the following:

Ensuring colour contrast meets accessibility guidelines. The orange was too light on a white background in the previous iteration.
Adding more text and information hierarchy.
Reworded labels and CTAs to make action buttons clearer.
Enabling compatibility with assistive technology (e.g., users can use voice input to minimize effort of manual input text fields).
Adding more filters and alternate route options for customization to individual needs.

Stakeholder Feedback

We spoke with the subject matter expert to collect their feedback. We walked them through the storyboard and prototype during the feedback session.

The subject matter expert questioned the feasibility of our redesign and stated that parking fees go towards maintaining parking facilities and are not used to make profit.

To-Be Storyboard

This storyboard helps us visualize the future state of accessible parking at UofT. This storyboard was presented to our subject matter expert for further input to identify gaps in our redesign. This allowed for iterative improvement after this final feedback.

Redesign Iteration #1

Redesign Iteration #3

In the final version of our redesign, we did the following updates:

Reintroducing payment process. We added a screen to indicate what the payment is for because we felt transparent communication was important.
Added license plate to ensure online reservations are booked by the corresponding vehicle at the designated time.
Added confirmation messages after payment to let users know that booking is completed.

Finding and Booking Accessible Parking on St George Campus Storyboard.png

Lessons Learned

Feasibility

The feasibility of our redesign should also take into account the management politics of an organization.
In this case, UofT is a decentralized organization so implementing changes may be very challenging.
It may be necessary to educate the university community about the new parking scheme to enforce it effectively or otherwise, we may experience their potential resistance to change.

Technical Constraints

It is important to understand the technical constraints of the design. For example, our team might have difficulty integrating the final solution with existing transportation options such as the UofT Mississauga shuttle bus.

Data and Security

Designing for accessibility is not always an easy feat to achieve. We haven’t thoroughly considered the data and security aspects of this app. For next steps, we would implement further research and testing into these aspects because potential breaches of security can cause harm to the user, especially if they identify as a person with a disability and view it as sensitive and personal information to disclose.

Final Prototype