Reply to: Car Parks and User Friendly Design

[Spacecadet]

Is it really a good idea to place two pillars in front of the entrance necessitating the execution of a slalom manoeuvre by those entering the car park?

That could well be by design as it naturally slows vehicles down as they enter.

Apart from other peoples crap parking I can't say I've ever had that much of a problem with car parks even with the 4x4 we've currently got.

[BoredBloke]

American car parks must have the most design flaws. In pretty much every movie I see where they have a scene set in a car park the floor is soaked yet there is clearly a roof. Ok it could be raining out but all you would expect is wet tyre marks, but in the ones I've seen (in films) they look like somebody has had a hose on them. You can see the same effect in tunnels in films. Somebody should teach these Americans about the water table.

[Mich the Tester]

Zürich airport has possibly the worst car parks I've ever seen.

...and they have little obersturmbannfuhrers who go around with rulers and hand out fines if the front of your car hangs over the lines.

[Churchill]

Just take up two spaces

I'm not very good at parking...

Hey, if you park on one white line you're between two others, simples!

[NotAllThere]

I can vouch for that (not BP, one of the other buildings). The pillars made it like The Hacienda crossed with a maze for lab mice. And that was before the sewage system packed up leaving the car park 1/2'' deep in effluvia.

Never had any problems with Coat's car park at Stockely Park. Proper outdoor carpark. None of this airy fairy covered parking.

Zürich airport has possibly the worst car parks I've ever seen.

[Mich the Tester]

The car parks were there first (mostly). If car manufacturers want to make and car buyers want to buy something that's not fit for purpose that's hardly their fault.

The car park I used this morning is 4 years old.

[Mich the Tester]

The entrance to the Harrisson Gibbs car park in Ilford has what looks and feels like a 45% drop as soon as you enter. I have over 20 years driving experience but the first time I went down this ramp I almost ended up with brown trousers.

I have during my empirical studies of car park design seen that this is a common problem in hotel car parks. It has obviously not occurred to the hotel management that I am unlikely to return if my car has been damaged by the floor at the end of the precipitous drop they call an entrance ramp.

[threaded]

In Doncaster they built a multi-storey car-park. It was intended especially for market store holders vans etc.

The design chosen was meant for a desert country.

They built it in a river bed.

Result: it started to collapse even before it was finished and required immense amounts of H section girder to hold the floors/roofs up.

So much so that only sports cars, cars with lowered suspension, Citroens etc. could be parked in it.

[MPwannadecentincome]

WHS ++

My other half has a 7 seater with sliding doors - so at least parking is a little easier, I have found myself nipping back from inside the car and sliding the doors to get out.

The concrete post spacing is the worst though, because of the poor turning circle the other half has managed to prang both front and rear doors and wheel arches on the offside. Not a pretty sight. This is now the 3rd time it has happened, the first time she claimed on the insurance, now its just been left - I hope rust doesn't set in.

[thunderlizard]

The ones ar Stockley park for BP were about the worst I've used.

I can vouch for that (not BP, one of the other buildings). The pillars made it like The Hacienda crossed with a maze for lab mice. And that was before the sewage system packed up leaving the car park 1/2'' deep in effluvia.

[Naaarwich]

The entrance to the Harrisson Gibbs car park in Ilford has what looks and feels like a 45% drop as soon as you enter. I have over 20 years driving experience but the first time I went down this ramp I almost ended up with brown trousers.

[BoredBloke]

Granted, but in a lot of car parks there is a big enough gap between the pillars so that you can squeeze an extra space in.

The ones ar Stockley park for BP were about the worst I've used. Even if the two cars were slap bang in the middle of their spots you would struggle getting in and out.

[NickFitz]

Not hard to change the markings though

It's hard to move the pillars.

[BoredBloke]

The car parks were there first (mostly). If car manufacturers want to make and car buyers want to buy something that's not fit for purpose that's hardly their fault.

Not hard to change the markings though

[oracleslave]

Customer satisfaction probably comes very low down on the KPI list. Making money and hence smaller spaces has a far higher priority.