Bromley BID is a business improvement district operating primarily in Bromley town centre.
They had a problem with car parking. While there was plenty of capacity to use, people were finding it difficult to find places to park around the town centre. They needed a wayfinding system to be put in place to better guide drivers to appropriate parking spaces.
To fulfil the brief, our first challenge lay in developing a clear understanding of the road network surrounding the town centre, as well as surveying its internal routes. To accomplish this, we used on-the-street surveys and spoke to a number of drivers and road users to form a more concrete understanding of the needs and challenges they face while navigating the town. With a particular focus on parking, these insights would be of great help when it came to designing the strategy.
We soon identified that there was plenty of car parking capacity but that the traffic signage throughout the town failed to clearly signpost where it was. From this, we understood that our goal would be to put together a clear, directional signage plan to correct for these shortcomings.
Looking at all the traffic and advanced directional highway signage, we investigated which needed to be refined to better reflect available parking, and where new signage would need to be installed to bolster navigation. We also noted where car parks were located and what they were called, so that we could ensure that they could become clear and consistent.
It was clear that the main recommendation we had was to overhaul the highway signage around Bromley. However, when we initially presented such to the BID, there was no budget available to achieve that result. Thus, we had to explore alternative options that could achieve the desired result.
From our research, we knew that there was extensive data associated with car parking capacity. With consent from the data holders, we instead suggested that we implement a digital solution for drivers in Bromley. Taking on board the navigational challenge and technical brief, we developed a smartphone app that would display all the car parks in town, alongside a traffic light system that would relay availability to the user.
The app was launched on the Apple App and Google Play stores, for anyone to download and use. Not only can it show the location of nearby car parks and their capacity, but it also includes further information, such as the payment method for each car park and whether there are electric charge points available too.
It also relays the most accessible parking spaces for people with disabilities. So no matter your parking requirements, you can use the app to find the closest available spot to your chosen destination.
In wayfinding, the most ideal solution is not always financially feasible – but by thinking outside the box we are able to ensure every visitor’s needs can be met regardless.
