Driving into a parking garage
Oh my, just created the blog and I have something to bitch about already? Geez...!
Yesterday I drove into a parking garage as I have done hundreds (thousands?) of times before. I stop at the gate, open my window to get the parking ticket and hear the voide "push the button for the ticket" or something along those lines. And suddenly a thought struck me: why in the world do I have to push a button to get this ticket? Obviously the machine knows I am here, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten that voice prompt, right? And the button was even blinking, if I remember correctly.
Now this IS interesting. Why indeed do I have to push this button? Couldn't the machine simply push out the ticket and give me the voice prompt to please take the ticket? I am pretty sure I have once been at a garage where things indeed worked like that: you drive to the gate, the ticket gets stuck out at you and you get a voice prompt. So why not here?
Let's step back for a moment and assess the more complete situation. That particular garage entrance was right off a street. You turn off the street and there you are at the gate and get the voice prompt. This is different from some garages where you might have gone through some driving to get to the gate. I'm thinking of garages where you drive down a dark alley to get to the gate or where you drive down/up a ramp. Could this make a difference?
Well, I think it could indeed. Because if you turn off the street and there you are, especially in a place where there is maybe not much space to stop for a moment, it could happen that somebody stops at that entrance for a moment to take a phone call or whatever. And as the gate is right off the street, this would trigger spitting out a ticket.
Big deal? Well, maybe! Let's assume somebody stopped for a moment just to take a cell phone call. Voice prompt happens, ticket gets pushed out, nobody takes the ticket, gate stays closed (we have to assume the gate opens only when the ticket is taken, because you want to ensure that whoever went into the garage got their ticket) car drives away again. Gate still closed, ticket still sticking out of the machine. What now?
Does the machine pull the ticket back in? Probably not. Does the machine just spit out the ticket so it drops to the floor? That could be risky because somebody arriving later might drop their ticket and then they could pick up the wrong one (very bad). Just leave the ticket in the machine? Not good either because the next poor fellow that comes to the garage now has a ticket with - say - 10 minutes of parking time on the ticket already (unless the system is smart to actually record the time the gate really openend to let the holder of that particular ticket into the garage. Or somebody would have to talk to the machine to collect the bad ticket (which is expensive with today's cost of personnel)
So maybe in this particular situation it isn't quite so stupid after all, to give the voice prompt and ask the driver to push the button. But, only in a situation like this one. I don't think it makes any sense to ask people to push that button if we can be certain that whatever car drives up to that gate indeed wants to get through the gate.
Yesterday I drove into a parking garage as I have done hundreds (thousands?) of times before. I stop at the gate, open my window to get the parking ticket and hear the voide "push the button for the ticket" or something along those lines. And suddenly a thought struck me: why in the world do I have to push a button to get this ticket? Obviously the machine knows I am here, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten that voice prompt, right? And the button was even blinking, if I remember correctly.
Now this IS interesting. Why indeed do I have to push this button? Couldn't the machine simply push out the ticket and give me the voice prompt to please take the ticket? I am pretty sure I have once been at a garage where things indeed worked like that: you drive to the gate, the ticket gets stuck out at you and you get a voice prompt. So why not here?
Let's step back for a moment and assess the more complete situation. That particular garage entrance was right off a street. You turn off the street and there you are at the gate and get the voice prompt. This is different from some garages where you might have gone through some driving to get to the gate. I'm thinking of garages where you drive down a dark alley to get to the gate or where you drive down/up a ramp. Could this make a difference?
Well, I think it could indeed. Because if you turn off the street and there you are, especially in a place where there is maybe not much space to stop for a moment, it could happen that somebody stops at that entrance for a moment to take a phone call or whatever. And as the gate is right off the street, this would trigger spitting out a ticket.
Big deal? Well, maybe! Let's assume somebody stopped for a moment just to take a cell phone call. Voice prompt happens, ticket gets pushed out, nobody takes the ticket, gate stays closed (we have to assume the gate opens only when the ticket is taken, because you want to ensure that whoever went into the garage got their ticket) car drives away again. Gate still closed, ticket still sticking out of the machine. What now?
Does the machine pull the ticket back in? Probably not. Does the machine just spit out the ticket so it drops to the floor? That could be risky because somebody arriving later might drop their ticket and then they could pick up the wrong one (very bad). Just leave the ticket in the machine? Not good either because the next poor fellow that comes to the garage now has a ticket with - say - 10 minutes of parking time on the ticket already (unless the system is smart to actually record the time the gate really openend to let the holder of that particular ticket into the garage. Or somebody would have to talk to the machine to collect the bad ticket (which is expensive with today's cost of personnel)
So maybe in this particular situation it isn't quite so stupid after all, to give the voice prompt and ask the driver to push the button. But, only in a situation like this one. I don't think it makes any sense to ask people to push that button if we can be certain that whatever car drives up to that gate indeed wants to get through the gate.
posted by Andreas at
11:38 PM
2 Comments:
Do you think maybe they think if they have you "work for your ticket" you'll feel like you've really been a part of the parking "experience"?
Essentially, you're in control of this machine and you have a say in your parking. (Not really, but psychologically we're satisfied with handing over our ticket for a price quote).
My dream would be to pull up and the gate opened as I went through. I don't want to roll down the window to push buttons or pull tickets. How about cameras (with time stamps) that catch your plate number as you enter?
When exiting, the gatekeeper will either have a mirror reflecting the back of your car (like Customs does at the border) or if you know your plate number, they type it into their computer that calculates your time spent in the parking structure.
By
JC, at 9:09 PM
Julie, that's an interesting thought... so -- I might interpret too much into your comment -- you are saying that because of the ticket transaction we might feel we got a bit more for our money? By extension, then, it would actually feel less satisfying if your dream was actually reality, right? Having things work that way would would be like driving in and out of garages and automagically our parking bill would get paid. A bit like using the cellphone, and once a month you utter a big groan when you get the bill. Sure that could work. And fastlane payment on toll streets works like that, actually.
By
Andreas, at 11:17 PM
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