Parking Buddy is a service that provides information on parking availability. It would be a digital parking information stand that would allow customers to view the amount of time each car parked on the specific block has left before they leave, or before they add more time to their parking meter. In urban and metropolitan areas where parking space is limited in addition to a dense population, finding a parking space in these areas is a stressful process which drivers experience daily causing them to lose a lot of time, money, and patience. The difficulty drivers have with finding parking spaces is a big problem that has not be addressed enough nor’ acknowledged to the extent it should be. With parking buddy, drivers can easily see the amount of time each vehicle parked on the block has left before they move or possibly add more time to their meter. The digital parking information stands would be like the digital interactive mall maps that are placed around malls to help people find stores and restaurants as well as provide information on their surroundings and where they are standing at. With access to this information, drivers are able to better plan out the amount of time they need to set aside for parking. The digital information stand would also provide details on the parking signs, if any, on the block including what it means and how it effects their parking. This is a feature that a few of my interviewees expressed would be very helpful because many signs related to parking is confusing which often leads to incorrect parking therefore making them more prone to getting parking tickets. The core values we deliver to our customers is dependability, efficiency, and accessibility. Parking in areas like the city can be very complicated so our system helps address this issue by giving everyone the ability to experience a smoother parking process with more convenience by giving them access to information which would improve the overall parking experience. Parking in very populated areas can be very frustrating and time-consuming so our system strives to help avoid this situation and decrease the amount of people who encounter this problem. With a digital information stand that displays the amount of time the vehicles on the block have left for parking would give drivers a better idea as to where they would get a parking spot faster as well as help them plan out their day because they would know the amount of time they would need for parking. Parking in densely populated areas and areas with limited parking space causes many drivers to spend way more time on looking for a spot than they should which leads to frustration and negative effect on a person’s mood. For example, for a person who drives to work every day, parking is one of the first things they do and if that activity is complicated and stressful, this impacts the way the person is throughout the rest of the day. Providing customers with information that would be helpful when looking for parking such as an estimated amount of time it will take to get a spot and between what ranges of time they can park there, for example, would make people’s days smoother and less annoying is our mission. Without these parking information stands, people are left clueless on when a parking spot would open up. People would have to read each parking meter ticket on the windshields of each vehicle on the street blocks which is extremely inconvenient. The parking buddy eliminates all this frustration and unnecessary waste of time during the parking process with the all the components mentioned in our business model canvas. These components are the root of our company’s success as well as the guide to addressing this parking issue affecting so many people that have little to no alternatives for making this situation better.

To start off with my business model canvas, the first element is my key partners. The key partners for the parking buddy would be the Department of Transportation in each state, parking garages, GPS companies, and companies that sell goods. Each states department of transportation is an essential key partner because they would be one of the main sources, we need to gather information on the way parking works in the specific state which includes parking rules and regulations that is important drivers are aware of in order to avoid confusion or miscommunication. The NYC DOT, for instance, is necessary to the parking buddy because we would need to connect the data collected by parking meters to transfer to the digital information stands that would automatically display the parking time information for people to access and see without them having to do it manually. The DOT would be willing to partner with us because we are making citizens lives easier by addressing an issue that has a lot to do with how the city/state is managed by providing them with a service that gives them access to information they are not able to gather easily or efficiently. The second key partner is parking garages. Parking garages would be another feature on the parking buddy stand that would allow people to see how many parking garages are nearby, the pricing, and how many spots there is available in that garage. This option would be beneficial to drivers who are in a rush or don’t want to wait around for a parking space to open up. These customers are able to use an alternative to street parking which is parking inside a parking garage. The third key partner would be companies that sell goods like clothing, shoes, and appliances. This key partner is especially important for parking buddy stands on street blocks that don’t have parking meters and require drivers to input their parking time information. Because it is not required to do this, offering incentives such as discounts to stores like Nike or Macy’s for example, would encourage customers to share this information because they are getting something in return. Not only will we be getting more people to use our service, but businesses will have another platform to market on and attract more customers to buy from them. Lastly, GPS companies are another platform we will use to target drivers and helping them with parking in the area of their final destination. With this key partner, we are taking into account platforms where our target audience is also on giving us an upper hand in displaying our worth and making the customer’s driving experience complete and easy. The driving experience does not end when you reach your final destination, but it ends when you park your car and close that car door.

For key activities, things such as data collecting, analyzing, engaging customers in their parking experiences by making it a more comfortable, less stressful process, and making the system as simple as can be to provide customers with that confidence when looking for parking is one of the main components of this element. All these activities would factor in to how a customer feels when looking for parking and after they have found that space. Collecting the necessary data in order to provide customers with the best service and make their experience as trouble-free as possible is one of the main goals we have because that’s the value we give to our customers. The data regarding what vehicle is going to be parked in the space for what amount of time would be collected from parking meters on the designated street block. This would be a way to avoid requiring customers to input this information manually and instead have it done automatically. If customers have to keeping inputting this data in order to use the parking buddy, it would just be an extra step added to the parking process which would be the opposite of our mission in regard to the parking issue in areas that are hard to find parking in. With digital information stands, customers are more engaged in their parking experience by being able to visually see this kind of information displayed and being more aware of how their parking process is going to go. With these stands, customers would also feel more confident when going through the parking process because they have an idea on how long they may spend on finding a spot to park in. Driving around like a mad-person stresses people out because they have no idea as to how long they might be going around in circles looking for a parking space due to lack of parking space and an overcrowd of car owners. Collecting and analyzing data regarding parking in areas such as urban and metropolitan neighborhoods is key in making parking buddy as useful and valuable as possible to our customers.

Moving to key resources, these include parking meters, parking garages, driver parking data (including locations where people are looking for parking a lot, how long they are parked for, when they park there, etc.), and DMV data. All these resources provide different types of information that will help in determining in what areas the parking buddy would bring the most value to. These resources are also necessary for creating a database where we can provide information to people which they can use to plan out when and where they will park as well as how long they can be parked in that spot for. From the company’s side, having additional information on how many cars are registered in the city and how many cars are in parking garages allows us to create a more accurate system that would help this parking problem. For the most part though, the drivers are the ones providing us with the information for example how long they will be parked through the use of parking meters. As a company that wants to let customers know we are reliable, dependable, and accessible, gathering as much data constantly is the way we will be able to provide customers with a trust-worthy, accurate service. Parking times and updating parking rules and regulations constantly is crucial to keep up to date because after all, that is what our service is based on and the value we provide to our customers.

The way we deliver our value to our customers is by establishing a trust-worthy, stable relationship. The customer would expect us to provide them with an accurate, reliable system that provides them with information helpful to the parking process. This system would be beneficial and accessible to everyone. Making the system easy and simple to use as well as providing a form of efficiency to their parking experience is how we strive to establish these customer relationships. In comparison to traditional parking meters, our parking buddy system would take parking meters to the next level by providing a service that is not available nor’ accessible with regular parking meters. Although establishing a sturdy, trustworthy relationship with the customer will be a little difficult because we have to prove to people on why this system would make their lives easier, we will be able to do this with the help of our key partners.

Through our channels that include our website and GPS apps/websites, we are able to reach customers by giving them access to very valuable information that come to their advantage on a variety of platforms. To provide access to the parking information displayed on the stands when they are not near their parking space, they can access this information on our website which would look similar to the digital information stand in order to avoid making the transition of the use of one hardware to another complicated. On the GPS apps/websites, we are targeting customers before they even encounter this situation making their entire driving experience complete and worry-free because they are essentially one step ahead. If they are able to know ahead of time before reaching their final destination, the parking spots available and how long it would be before one does become available is an important value we provide to our customers. Creating a platform for the parking buddy through these channels gives us a way to reach customers cost-efficiently and accurately. With our website and appearance on GPS apps/websites, we are focusing on our target audience that would be the ones to get the most out of our service and find it the most valuable. The integration of a parking buddy app would be a goal in the future when there is more data on how people are using and interacting with this type of info.

From our distribution channel, we can see what our customer segments are and where they are. People who drive a vehicle(s), those who struggle with parking in their city, people who don’t want to spend time finding a good parking spot, those who drive in areas that are densely populated and those who have limited parking space in areas they are constantly driving in or around are our customer segments. The general market is people who drive because even though they can live in an urban, not so populated area, they may work in a metropolitan area where parking space is limited and is hard to find or expensive. The people who use street parking and pay parking meters often are our target audience because they are the ones experience this parking issue frequently and therefore would get the most value out of our service. Not everyone who drives a vehicle experiences this problem because they may have a parking garage, reserved parking space, or drive in areas that have more parking spaces available due to a less population number and more area to use. The people who work in areas like the city and drive there need to find parking but go through tough times trying to find a spot nearby or a spot in general because every driver is looking for the same thing. When demand is high and supply is low, there is a major problem.

With this great service the parking buddy provides comes great expenses and costs. The costliest aspect of our business would be the design, manufacturing, and implementation of the digital information stands. Designers for creating the perfect digital information stand will be an expense that is necessary to make sure the parking buddy is easy to maneuver and gives the customer everything we say we provide them through our service. Along with the design, covering the many street blocks that make up every city, manufacturing and implementing a stand for each is going to be expensive because it requires advanced hardware and software in order to deliver our service with the most accuracy and efficiency, we want to provide our customers. Putting together all the elements of the stand correctly is crucial in being able to follow our mission and give customers the best service we strive to give. In addition to manufacturing, installation is another expense we are aware of and have to prepare for because we have to make sure our stands are installed correctly in order to have the stands function to its full potential without complications or malfunctions that would affect the customers experience with the parking buddy. Our business is value-driven which means with all of these expenses comes great value that we will be able to pass on to our customers. Besides having a few high costs, the value we deliver in the end once all these components are put together is worth more than the costs we have to deal with.

In the last element of my business model canvas, revenue streams are addressed. These revenue streams include government funding, commission from parking garage companies, commission from companies that partner with us for the discounts, and a percentage from GPS apps/websites where we provide our service. Government funding would be a revenue stream that the company would convince the departments related to our business such as the DOT by explaining to them how our system is making an issue that is supposed to be handle by government officials less of a problem for citizens. In big cities like NYC, many people blame the government for letting this parking situation get out of hand in terms of reliability and efficiency. With the parking buddy, we are removing this blame by adding a feature to the costs of parking meters that people would benefit from and not feel as though they are not getting enough for what they pay for. The parking buddy is giving citizens an opportunity to a live a happier lifestyle by removing one out of the many problems they have to deal with on a daily basis. The fees from parking garage companies would be from allowing them to use our platform to advertise their company along with commission based on how many users chose to use a parking spot located in a parking garage through our system. Similarly, commission from making the driving experience complete with the addition of our parking buddy feature on GPS apps/websites is how we are gaining revenue from advertising on the GPS platforms. With our feature on the GPS platforms, we are making the customers experience better by giving them access to more resources that they will need once they reach their final destination. Lastly, commission from our partners that are advertising their brand on our platforms and providing our customers with discounts is another revenue stream. By allowing companies like Adidas and Target to display their brand on our stands and website, we are giving them access to another audience that they may not have reached yet so with their discounts and commission in return of space on our platforms benefits both parties.

For the research and testing process, I was able to test the concept of making parking time information along with other parking related data available to drivers without the physical digital information stand. I did this by focusing on three different blocks in three different neighborhoods. I conducted my research and testing throughout the time span of three days. I chose neighborhoods that had limited parking space and a lot of people because this is where my target audience is. The first neighborhood I went to was midtown Manhattan. This neighborhood is one of the most popular in the city because it is home to some of the most popular attractions such as Times Square, Radio City, Rockefeller center and Madison Square Garden. There is very limited parking space because of construction always going on, outdoor restaurant seating, Citi-bikes, and many fire hydrants. In addition to all these parking space limiters, the amount of people who are driving in the city and parking is a large amount making it even harder to find a parking spot in this area. With the idea of a digital parking information stand, gathering information about the timing was essential. With approximately nine to eleven available parking spaces on city blocks, and most city blocks being paid parking meters, I was able to see the time each vehicles parking meter ticket expired. With that information, I wrote down each vehicles last four license plate characters, the time I was checking their parking meter ticket and the time the parking meter ticket expired. I did the math to see how much time each vehicle had left before they had to move or renew the parking meter ticket. With this data, I asked some drivers who were double-parked or driving slow as if they were looking for parking and let them know which vehicle would be next to possibly move. When I shared this information, the drivers seemed thankful that I was able to share this information for them because they were able to determine whether they should stick around and wait for the next vehicle that was scheduled to move or go look somewhere else. Although drivers who were looking for parking were reluctant at first to put their window down so I could speak to them, they were content about the reason for me coming up to their car. I did this for one hour and half on each of the three blocks I chose to experiment on. The second neighborhood I went to was Chinatown also located in Manhattan. With so many stores, food places and people, this neighborhood is a nightmare for drivers who are looking for parking in this area. With narrow streets and a lot of vehicles, parking is definitely a stressful process. I chose a street block in Chinatown that had around eight parking spaces. On this block, it was a little different; there was no parking meters so I was not able to know an estimated time in which the parking space would become available again unless I stood on the block all day waiting until a car moved. At this point, I realized how difficult the parking buddy would be to implement on street blocks without parking meters. I could have definitely chosen a street block with a parking meter in Chinatown but coming to this realization allowed me to think about other challenges I will face when implementing the parking buddy. This test-run was unsuccessful but with this experience, I wrote down notes on ideas on how I would implement the parking buddy on street blocks with no parking meters. To be able to expand the parking buddy into every street block, I had to come up with methods to gather data on how much time vehicles would be parked or when they would move. On street blocks like these, I was thinking of allowing customers to input the last four characters of their license along with the amount of time they would approximately be parked in their spot. In order to encourage people to share this information on the parking buddy information stand, there would be incentives provided such as discounts to get as many people to use the parking buddy as possible. For the third neighborhood, I chose Astoria which is located in Queens. This neighborhood is known for being hard to find parking because of the amount of people who drive as well as the large amount of foot traffic that occurs on a daily basis in this area. I tested on a street block that had parking meters a followed the same procedure I did in the Midtown. The drivers who were looking for parking spots and whom I shared my data with were also pleased with the information I was giving them regarding estimated wait times for parking spots on the street block I was monitoring. Compared to Midtown, parking spots in Astoria opened up slower due to the large number of residential buildings and homes that are in Astoria. In Midtown, people seem to move a little faster than in Astoria which was interesting finding.

Before and after the research and testing process, much of my research came from feedback and statements made by my interviewees. Prior to testing the parking buddy, I had asked my interviewees a variety of questions that made me realize some aspects I was focusing on were ones that I ended up excluding right before my testing. The main one was pricing and affordability. Before changing from an app to a physical product that would provide the service, I wanted to display in the first place, I was focusing on the cost of parking in areas like the city. After transitioning from one prototype to the next, I realized that my main focus was not the cost of parking but the convenience and practicality I wanted to provide customers. By making the parking buddy an addition to parking meters, my service is not adding any extra cost to customers but instead adding more value and benefit from the costs they were already paying for parking in return for nothing. My interviewees both before and after testing were within the customer segments which provided me with similar feedback. The difference was the kind of questions I asked because my focus of the company changed completely. The interviews really helped me find the focus I wanted to target and expand on to make the parking buddy a service that is up to date, reliable, dependable, and convenient for people.

Questions and answers asked before testing:

Question 1: Would a parking app that gives you access to data regarding parking availability in different areas make parking easier?

Results: 75% said Yes. 25% said No

Question 2: Aside from actual parking space availability, what else affects your parking process?

Results: Parking meters, parking signs and regulation, distance from final destination

Question 3: Have you found any alternatives that address this issue in the most convenient way?

Results:  80% said no. 20% said yes.

Question 4: From 1-5, 1 being a lot, 5 being not at all, how much does searching for parking affect your mood in a negative way?

Results: 45% said 1. 20% said 3. 35% said 4.

Questions and answers asked after testing:

Question 1: Do you think digital parking information stands on every street block would improve the quality of parking in areas that have limited parking space?

Results: 90% said Yes. 10% said No

Question 2:  Would you use this type of service if you had to enter a small amount of information manually about your parking time in exchange for discounts to big brand stores?

Results: 75% said Yes.  25% said No.

Question 3: Would you use this feature often if it was available on GPS apps/websites?

Results:  95% said Yes. 5% said No.

Question 4: How much time do you spend looking for parking?

Results:  30% said 15-20 minutes. 50% said 25-30 minutes. 20% said 40 minutes or more