My employer (a large university) recently adopted a new parking portal. To pay for parking every morning, I have to open my browser, navigate to a webpage (there is no mobile app), and tap eleven times to pay for parking:

1. Tap "login", taking me to the login page.

2. Tap the "login" button on that page.

3. Sign in using 2FA. (A few more taps, but I'm not counting that against the portal).

4. Tap "Redeem Parking Permit"

5. Tap "Redeem use of Permit Pack"

6. Tap the car that I used that day (which is always the same car)

7. Tap "Confirm"

8. Tap the calendar icon to open the date chooser.

9. Tap on today's date (why isn't this the default?!)

10. Tap "Confirm"

11. Tap "Complete"

After a month or so at being annoyed by all of this unnecessary friction, I had Claude write an iOS app that keeps me logged into the parking portal. Now paying for parking requires just a single tap in my custom app. It also shows me a widget, telling me whether I have already paid or not.

I've built a lot with Claude this year, but that simple tool might be the one that brings me the most happiness.

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rapind 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There's nothing about "pay for parking" that screams "app" to me. This is just a case of no one caring about UX, like at all.

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jkestner 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Screams "data surveillance" to me. https://www.wsmv.com/2024/12/19/4-class-action-lawsuits-file...

	▲	tristor 40 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		They all do this, unfortunately, it's not just Metropolis. Currently in a dispute with two other parking companies for similar forms of shenanigans.

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georgeecollins 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It is also another example of having a phone or SIM card with you is a requirement to function. I hate mobile phones. They are really useful but I really enjoy hours or days when I can leave them behind. But what you can do without a SIM card device in your pocket keeps getting more restrictive.

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riffraff 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I used easypark to pay for parking in different cities and countries very happily.

It is vastly preferable to "find a parking meter, sort out rules, find a way to pay" which was the previous experience, I'm a bit concerned they look like a sort of monopoly but I'll take that over every city having their own system.

	▲	knottn 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It is vastly non preferable for non riffraff individuals (eg me).

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npunt 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

iOS has App Clips which theoretically are supposed to do this - just tap on NFC, app clip opens up and lets you pay, and sticks around to allow you to re-up while your meter is going.

Agree tho, parking is not a world where we get really good UX developers.

	▲	Obscurity4340 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I've never once came across these famed App Clips

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onemoresoop 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The app was only necessary as a one click bypass for the original bad UX. Im not the author but would likely develop an automation of sorts for such a pointless daily friction. And it doesn’t really matter what’s bundled as (app, script, etc) as long as it gets compressed/reduced to one click.

	▲	hatthew 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I think GP was responding to "navigate to a webpage (there is no mobile app)"

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Kwpolska 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

An app is more convenient for something you do every day.

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tiew9Vii 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It’s paying for parking.

It was a solved problem long before smart phones.

Technology is supposed to improve the experience not make it worse.

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fenomas 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The person we're talking about didn't make an app to "pay for parking". They made an app to automate a tedious process their employer makes them do every day.

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UqWBcuFx6NV4r 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

What’s your actual point?

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tiew9Vii 5 hours ago | parent [-]

There's absolutely no need for an "app" / "website", a phone, and everything that comes with using that choice, i.e. original posters 10 steps, to pay for parking.

The design choices added more friction than walking past a "pay and display" machine.

The design choices added more friction than displaying a monthly/anual pass that you purchase for regular parking at places like universities.

The design choices added more friction than driving through a boom gate with camera recording license plate, and auto charging you on the exit or taking payment at exit.

You now need your phone with you, fully charged, to complete a transaction for what used to be a quick, simple process for at least 50 years.

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spider-mario 5 hours ago | parent [-]

> There's absolutely no need for an "app" / "website", a phone, and everything that comes with using that choice, i.e. original posters 10 steps, to pay for parking.

Making a proper app for it makes it not take those 10 steps.

> The design choices added more friction than driving through a boom gate with camera recording license plate, and auto charging you on the exit or taking payment at exit.

The one instance of this I have seen used an app to connect your licence plate to your payment method.

> You now need your phone with you, fully charged, to complete a transaction for what used to be a quick, simple process for at least 50 years.

With a proper app, it’s a quick, simple process if you have a phone that is just “not completely discharged”, no need for it to be fully charged.

	▲	tiew9Vii 4 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> Making a proper app for it makes it not take those 10 steps. No it means I’ve got to install a junk app for every individual carpark I use that uses their own app.
	▲	4MOAisgoodenuf 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Would you download an app to flush your toilet?

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allannienhuis 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

why? you can save the website to your home screen and should be able to get the same user experience for launching the thing. everything that happens once inside the app or website is just normal UX design - no reason to do it 'worse' on a website.

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hnlmorg 7 hours ago | parent [-]

> why? you can save the website to your home screen and should be able to get the same user experience for launching the thing.

Except saving that to the Home Screen isn’t the same user experience as downloading an app via an qr code, and you’ll be expecting some pretty technically incompetent people to be using the parking space.

But I do agree with your general point about the UX inside the (web|mobile) app.

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allannienhuis 6 hours ago | parent [-]

the complaint wasn't about the 'discovery and install experience', it was about the UX of paying for parking every day. There are definitely things that the app store experience brings to the table for distribution of apps - trust being the main thing I think. I really don't like the barriers that iOS specifically puts in place for web apps - they're intentionally making it harder than it needs to be, in order to protect their walled garden and the $$ that brings them.

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hnlmorg 5 hours ago | parent [-]

I was clearly replying to your comment about how “saving a webpage to the home screen is easy”.

Yes it’s easy…if you’re technical. But most people who drive are not good with technology.

	▲	JSR_FDED 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		“Most people who drive are not good with technology”? Now there’s a correlation I wasn’t aware of! Regrettably you’re forcing me to use one of the most annoying phrases on HN: “citation needed”.

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mpalczewski 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

When mobile phones came out I wrote something that logged my phone onto the schools WiFi and put it in the App Store. Make a few hundred selling it for 0.99. I found out the school had to have a meeting about it and that caused them to fix their cumbersome system.

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Group_B 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Wow, most garages I go to now, there are license plate readers. You just register once online and then save CC info and it’ll remember your plate from then on. Get auto charged once you exit.

	▲	throwup238 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That’s more futuristic than a talking computer than can write all my code for me.

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Lucasoato 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This is the real AI revolution.

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cobychapple 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

https://xkcd.com/1205/