Parking Lot Design

Research Question and Interview Questions: - From the initial observations, several possible research questions arise. A basic question would simply be: “How convenient is parking at RIT?” This might result in a variety of qualitative answers, but these answers would likely be different depending upon the particular parking lot in question and the time of day being considered. Note that different group members performed observations for this study independently and different lots were observed at different times. While the data recorded suggests that access to parking in Lot J between 8:15 and 9:15 on a Thursday was fairly easy, the data recorded for Lot E is quite different, indicating that very few spaces were available there during the 4:00 to 5:00 interval. Therefore, a more specific research question might be more helpful, such as: “What improvements could be made to the RIT parking system to make parking more convenient?” or even better: “Does driver usage of RIT parking lots suggest ways that the parking system could be improved?” This last question lends itself to data collection and further study, since it targets an observable phenomenon – the behavior of drivers who use the RIT parking lots. The goal of this research is to learn whether the observed behavior can be used to identify problems with the current system, and if so, whether any improvements suggest themselves.

Focusing on this question, therefore, the following interview questions were developed:

1. Why did you choose this parking lot?
A. It is close to the building I need to go to.
B. It usually has available spaces.
C. Other reason ______________.

2. Why did you choose this parking space?
A. It’s the closest available space to the building.
B. It’s not too close to other vehicles.
C. Other reason ___________________.

3. How long does it usually take for you to find a parking space?

4. How long does it usually take for you to walk to your destination from your vehicle?

5. When do you usually arrive at your destination?
A. Early.
B. Late.
C. Right on time.

6. Why did you park your car in this fashion, facing away from the end yellow line?

7. In what situation would you give up and drive to a different parking lot?
A. The lot is completely full.
B. It takes longer than ____ to find a space.
C. It takes longer than ____ to walk from the space to my destination.
D. Both B and C.
E. Other reason ___________________.

8. In your experience, how likely is it that you would not be able to find a spot (with enough
time to make it to class) when you arrive at this parking area?
1     2     3     4     5     6     7

9. In your experience, how likely would you be to switch to another area from your current parking
area in future semesters (for example, from General to Reserved)?
1     2     3     4     5     6     7

10. Under what circumstances would you willing park your vehicle in a superior area (such as parking in a reserved lot while allowed to park only in a general lot)?

11. Is the visibility of open parking spaces good enough to pick a spot or do you face difficulty when there are more cars parked?

12. Do you have any other comments on the parking situation?

Note: For questions 8 and 9, respondents are asked to rate the likelihood on a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 means “Not at all likely” and 7 means “Extremely likely”.

These questions include a number of closed-ended questions in which respondents must choose an available option, so this data can be more easily compared across multiple interviews, and also some open-ended questions, in the hopes that something new might be learned from the interviews that the researchers had not considered.

Interview: - The interview was conducted with a fellow friend of mine named Madhusudan Hanagal. He is a student in Computer Science department in Golisano building. The time of the interview was recorded was 7:38PM Tuesday on November 3rd 2015, at ‘The Province’ after the parking lot incident.

The interview started with general questions regarding his name, college information for documentation purposes. The first question popped up was which car does he drive. As he is fascinated with Dodge, he drives a Dodge, which he owns. A general discussion over his car went on for few minutes and some comparisons of that car with others. Coming back to the topic he was asked about the selection of the parking lot. Since the most of the questions were option constrained he choose the first option ‘A’. The reason he chooses that parking spot be because it was the closest spot available near to the building. As per the option ‘A’ he choose. The next question that popped up was how long does it take to find a parking space. His answer varied, not all days have same amount of traffic and as he up-downs college everyday as per his calculations it takes him around 1-2 minutes to find a parking space, depending upon the cars parked. At some occasions it has taken him more then 2 minutes to find a parking space, which cost him a lecture as well. There was a short discussion over the lecture issue as well.

The next question I asked him was how long did it take for him to reach his destination from his vehicle. From the place he parks his vehicle, it is not always that he parks it in the first row or second. But the least amount of time taken for him to reach his destination is 5 minutes and at times he needed 6 to 7 minutes to reach his destination, as he parked cars in different rows at different times.

He usually arrives to the destination on time. As per my observations, I shoot out one question regarding the way he parks his car. He is usually a well-organized person, so my guess was right regarding the way some people park their cars. He does not like to go reverse while leaving the lot and it makes him easier to leave rather then wasting time to reverse the car and then turn to other direction. I was amused with the similarity with his thoughts and mine, because I also like to do the same while parking my car in the parking lot.

The other obvious question was when would he park in a different parking lot. He chooses the option ‘D’. One question I asked him to rate between 1 to 7 how likely was it that he cannot find a spot in the parking lot, to which he choose number 2. The other question I asked him related to the pervious one was whether he would change his parking lot in the next semester. To which he choose number 1. Where 1 was not at all likely and 7 was extremely likely. I popped up a question how likely was it that he could park his vehicle in a reserved lot and not in general lot in a parking space, to which he answered was he would not like to get into a fine from the security and would not like to do that in any case but if in case of an emergency he would do it, and give a valid explanation to such an act.

The problem I observed with different people in the parking lot was they couldn’t see parking spaces at times. I asked him the same question, to which at times he faces this situations when there are too many cars parked or if bigger cars are parked in front or side of the parking space it is difficult for one to see that space. The last question I asked him was whether he would like to comment anything on the current parking situations in college, he was a bit disappointed to the situation or the problems fellow drivers encounter with in daily life and wanted this problem to be solved. The duration of the interview was 20 minutes and 17 seconds. The problems I observed during my observations in the parking lot were absolutely true, I came to this conclusion as I interviewed my friend. The answers are the evidence. Where he faces similar problems like other people that I observed in the parking lot. Problems regarding difficulty to find free spaces in a perking lot, wasting time to find a space in a densely filled parking lot, difficulty to see for a parking space, which is hidden behind a big car. I gave him two solutions for these problems, first one was to use green and red light LEDs as signs, where green would suggest a free space and a red otherwise and second to use a LCD display to give total number of free spaces in the parking lot. He liked the solution on the current problem. The observations led me to ask certain obvious questions to the interviewed person and the assumptions made during the observation were proved true as per answers given.