User Story Narratives

What the user would do on the parking app

Frequent

Check to see if their usual spot is open

Look for spots that are available for how long they would want to be thereSee if there is enough parking for their whole group where they usually go
Find parking closer to where they want to goTry to find navigation on the one-way roadsFind parking close to where they want to go
Check to see where there is parking downtownCheck to see where there is parking downtownLook for parking for a large group

Occasional/Individual                                                                                                                                                          Group

Spot availability checker

Shows all of the parking downtown

Details time limitations for each spot

  • See each lot with what time limitations are located there

https://brentwoodhomepage.com/city-officials-ponder-three-options-for-downtown-parking-limitations-new-parking-regulations/

User Requirements

  1. As a user, I want to be able to check for the spots available downtown so that I know directly where to go.
  2. As a user, I want to see where all of the parking is located and how to get there so that I don’t have to drive around looking for any.
  3. As a user, I want to know what the time limitations are everywhere so that I can park in the correct spot for how long I’ll be there.

The Time Limitation User

Before using the app, I would sometimes drive downtown with my friends and we would plan on being there for about 2 hours, depending on where we were going. We would drive downtown, but usually the only spaces open were half an hour to 1 hour spots. We felt like that was too short for how long we wanted to be down there, but we would try to park there anyway and hope that we wouldn’t get a ticket. Sometimes we were lucky enough that when we would return to our vehicle, there wouldn’t be a ticket on its windshield. A few times, however we would get tickets and had to go down to pay them. We started leaving cash in our cars just for this case, so that we would always have enough for a ticket if we happened to get one. Unfortunately, Harrisonburg decided to start towing and we found that out the hard way when we came back to find our vehicle gone. That was a lot more expensive to retrieve than to pay off a ticket. We knew that we had to find some other options for parking because we either had to stop coming downtown, or had to park far away, and none of us really knew where we could find parking for 2 hours or more.

Before traveling downtown again, my friends and I got together to find a solution for the parking difficulties we usually experienced with the time limitations on parking spots. None of us really had any knowledge of where there were longer parking spots downtown, and the ones we did know about were usually full. We eventually found a parking app that helped us greatly. It allowed us to search by time limitation and it clearly labels each lot with what time limitations are located there. It turns out that there was 2 hour parking not far from where we usually go and it was almost always empty! We have stopped receiving tickets and getting towed, so we are thankful for the app saving us money and stress over worrying about our cars. Before using the app, we used to not know what situation we would be in with our cars at the end of our trip. Now, with the app, our lives are so much easier and we are able to look for parking before leaving so that we know exactly where to go.

The user who wants to know where parking is located and how to get there.

My friends and I drive downtown all the time. But regardless of going down there a lot, none of us actually know where we can park, except for a few spots, but they are usually full. We go downtown on the weekends, which is when it is the most crowded because lots of other students like us travel downtown then as well. Because we don’t know Harrisonburg that well, we drive around and hope we find parking somewhere close to where we want to go, but there have been many times when we have given up and just gone home. Last week in fact, we went downtown for a concert but finding a place to park was so hectic that we decided not to go anymore and we turned around and went home. Part of the problem is the one-way roads. We are able to go down them, but not go back up, and for students like us who don’t know the area that well, it is really difficult to find a way to loop back to where we want to go. A few months ago, one of my friends accidentally turned the wrong way onto a one-way road and we were blocking cars for a few minutes as we tried to turn back around again. That was so embarrassing but thankfully no one was hurt, because not knowing how to navigate those roads can be dangerous, especially if people weren’t aware of us trying to turn around.

One day we found a parking app for downtown Harrisonburg and we decided to try it out because we wanted to see if we would be able to find parking easier with it. To our surprise, it had every feature that we didn’t know that we needed! One of the first things it showed was a map of all of the parking downtown, with every lot clearly labeled. That was helpful because then we were able to quickly find parking that we previously had not even known existed. When traveling to specific locations, we could look on the app and find parking close to our destination without having to drive around for a while. This saved us so much time and we no longer give up because we can’t find perking, we just check the app and find another parking lot! Another feature is the navigation, which, as said before, helps us find parking close to our destination. The navigation feature also helps us drive through one-way roads so that even if we need to turn around, or loop around to our spot, it will show us a clear way back. This has made it so much safer for us to drive with and since using it, none of my friends or myself has been caught going the wrong way on a one-way road. This app has also shown such clear directions with the navigation, that I am now able to navigate a lot better downtown than I used to, even on roads I was familiar with.