Introduction
Parcel is an app designed to make parking in Madrid city easier and less stressful. Its features allow users to access a secured parking space (or parcel) in just a few clicks and faster than ever before.
Context
The regulated parking area of Madrid is concentrated within the M30 motorway, with recent expansions to peripheral areas. All live data collected by parking meters, agents of the company managing the service (estimated parking time and parking street) and specific parking apps (exact parking time and specific parking location) are synchronized in a common database. The service has four enabled parking zones:
Blue Zone Maximum 2h parking
€0.5-€2/hour cost
Green Zone Maximum 4h parking
€0.5-€2/hour cost
Orange Zone (Residents) No time limit
Specific rates
Red Zone (Shared with Loading and Unloading)
Maximum 4h outside loading and unloading hours
€0.5-€2/hour cost
Access to the city of Madrid for parking is gradually being restricted according to the Madrid 360 plan with the aim of limiting air pollution in the city. By 2025, cars without environmental labels will not be able to access the Low Emission Zone, marked on the map with a red border.
Accessing the center of Madrid for parking becomes more complicated as you need a vehicle with an ECO/ZERO environmental label to access the city center and park without restrictions in regulated areas, or a B or C label to access the city center and park in specific public parking lots.
Currently, it is already limited to cars without labels or with an A label and the medium-term plan is to completely restrict access to those with B and C labels (around 2028).
These are limitations that any parking service will have to adapt to.
Faced with these circumstances, there are suburban connections or bus services to connect the outskirts of Madrid with the center, workplace, or leisure areas for most people. However, as reported in this article, the situation regarding punctuality and incidents is not the best, which can be an obstacle to its use.
A better situation exists for those neighborhoods and municipalities adjacent to the metro network, a service that has a high level of satisfaction regarding intra-city mobility
Field Work
Interviews
To conduct the interviews, we selected users from Madrid with diverse characteristics, prioritizing those who live and/or have to commute to the center of Madrid using the car in some way. We also considered users who access the city center with a car, but in new ways, such as in the case of Carsharing (Services with a fleet of shared cars among registered users that do not have access restrictions in low emission zones or have to pay for regulated parking zones)
Surveys
We also conducted a series of surveys to gather information about drivers' preferences on various topics: transportation cost vs. ecology and quality of life, use of car vs. public transportation to go to the city center, parking in parking lots or on the street, in a regulated area...
Insights
1
Users would consider it positive to have more available parking time and pay less per hour
2
The user considers the environment as secondary, preferring a lower cost of transportation and parking
3
The user believes that more traffic education and more regulation of alternative means (scooters, etc...) is necessary
4
The user who lives in peripheral areas prefers to use the car over public transportation to access the center due to reasons of punctuality, trust, and speed
5
The average user generally has a B or C environmental label car and could not afford a ZERO/ECO label car in the short term
6
The user generally uses the car for convenience to get to work and for leisure purposes (Also for areas where it is more difficult to access with public transportation)
User Persona
Raquel, 40
"There's no space for so many cars. I drive around a lot to find a spot."
Parking
local_parkingRegulated Zone
Car
directions_carPublic Transportation
Savings
savingsHealth and Well-being
directions_car
Label B
work
Suburb
home
City Center District
Frustrations
check_box_outline_blank
Wasting time searching for street parking near her workplace
Goals
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Find available street parking quickly to drop off her kids without fear of being fined
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Know exactly how long she has been parked in a spot and the time remaining before the green zone limit expires
Raquel lives in the City Center District and can access it with her car B because she is registered there. She has a garage in her building so she doesn't have to worry about parking when she comes home. Around her children's school (also in the city center district), she can't find a place to park her car and has to double-park. She fears the day she'll get fined.
Her workplace is outside the regulated parking zone in Madrid. She would take public transportation, but it would take twice as long as driving. It takes about 10 minutes to find a parking spot if she's lucky.
Joel, 50
"If I find a parking lot on my route, I don't think twice, I don't care about the cost. I don't have time to search for a street parking spot."
Parking
local_parkingRegulated Zone
Car
directions_carPublic Transportation
Savings
savingsHealth and Well-being
directions_car
Label ZERO/ECO
work
City Center District
home
Suburb
Frustrations
check_box_outline_blank
Wasting time searching for street parking
check_box_outline_blank
The slow payment process at parking lots
Goals
check_box_outline_blank
Find available street parking quickly for temporary stops without fear of being fined
check_box_outline_blank
Save time on calculated routes to parking lots or spots
Joel isn't concerned about the new access restrictions to the City Center District of Madrid; he thinks they're fine and notices the cleaner air in the city. He has an itinerant position where he has to visit different establishments in the city center, and the company has provided him with a company car with an ECO label. Even though he could park in street spots, he prefers to go straight to parking lots because he's guaranteed to find a spot, even if he has to walk to his destination afterwards. He tried double-parking for his visits, but he ended up getting fined several times and gave up the idea.
Rosa, 27
"I wish they would notify when you enter neighborhoods you can't enter or when you exceed the parking time limit."
Parking
local_parkingRegulated Zone
Car
directions_carPublic Transportation
Savings
savingsHealth and Well-being
directions_car
Label A
work
Madrid City
home
Suburb
Frustrations
check_box_outline_blank
Exceeding the parking time limit when visiting her parents
check_box_outline_blank
Accidentally entering restricted zones for her car
Goals
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Stay up to date on car restrictions and changes in restricted areas
check_box_outline_blank
Know in advance where there's an available spot near her parents' house
Rosa lives in a municipality bordering Madrid and would prefer to take public transportation to get to her job on the university campus, but there's only one bus line with very few frequencies connecting Madrid with her town. Also, she would have to make two more transfers when arriving in the city until she reaches her workplace.
She has a car with an A label and gets lost in Madrid, so she has unintentionally entered the City Center District more than once and has been fined for it. Her workplace is near the edge of the regulated zone, so parking isn't difficult for her. After returning from campus, she usually visits her parents on the other side of the city occasionally and parks in the blue zone, which is the most available. Sometimes she has exceeded the parking time and has been fined.
User Journey
Proposal and Objectives
Parcel is a mobile application that...
check_boxWill ensure the user finds a free parking space near their destination in the regulated parking area of Madrid, by having updated information from the municipal parking ordinance on available and occupied spaces.
check_boxWill allow the user to monitor their parking time, with the ability to renew it automatically or manually up to the parking zone limit according to the characteristics previously defined during each user's registration (residence, environmental label of their car, etc.).
check_boxWill keep the user informed about low emission zones and their future modifications, avoiding access to restricted areas during navigation to a free space, calculating the route based on the characteristics previously defined during user registration (residence, environmental label of their car, etc.).
check_boxWill provide the user with personalized information about assistance to adapt their car to current and future environmental requirements, as well as the option to contact selected workshops specialized in these procedures.
Features
F1
Park wherever you want...
...within the regulated parking zone
and avoid accessing restricted areas for your car
with pre-planned routes
Zoom in and explore the image to discover how the parking search process works when interacting with an external user.
Zoom in and explore the image to discover how the parking search process works when interacting with another Parcel user.
F2
Pay at your convenience
...and extend parking manually or automatically
and know at all times how much time is left until the zone limit
F3
Have up-to-date information
...about restrictions and modifications for your vehicle
F4
Have everything essential at hand
...in an easy organization of elements like tickets, fines, and trip records
Architecture
Zoom in and explore the image to discover the information architecture of the application
