A reservation system for peer-to-peer parking, where availability depends on both time and location — and where the familiar booking patterns from hotels and flights do not fit how drivers actually behave.
The team needed a reservation experience that felt simple to users but could still reflect real-time availability, dynamic pricing, compliance, and business constraints underneath.
Parking is not hotel booking.
Reservation isn't a calendar problem — it's a real-time service decision across three axes: location, time, and price.
I framed the reservation experience around the three variables that matter most in parking. Instead of forcing a hotel-style booking model onto peer-to-peer spots, I treated the act of reservation as a real-time service decision.
- Make available supply visible early
- Help drivers act quickly with minimal cognitive load
- Support compliance and payment logic without turning the flow into an operational form
Two models: location-first vs. time-first.
I explored both strategies. The goal was not just to find the cleanest UI, but to determine which model best fit the business stage and the real booking behavior of drivers.
Location-first starts with the parking spot. It builds trust, is easier to explain to stakeholders, and shows supply clearly — a strong fit for early-stage marketplaces.
Time-first starts with when the driver wants to park. It reduces friction for urgent intent, but becomes weaker when supply is sparse or when the business needs to communicate inventory plainly.
Location-driven, with availability made visible.
I recommended the location-driven approach. At this stage, the company needed stronger supply visibility, greater host trust, and a clearer story for investor demos and go-to-market communication.
To close the transparency gap, I introduced a parking availability indicator into the map surface — so drivers could read supply before committing to a tap.
Discovery that respects both user and host.
The final system made parking discovery intuitive, aligned the product with business priorities, and created a foundation for compliance-aware booking without overwhelming the user.
Covered on Fox 5. Promoted in Times Square.
After launch, the project gained external visibility — reported by Fox 5 on March 8, 2024, and promoted in Times Square, New York on February 9, 2024.
The first booking landed before the press did.
Drivers trusted the map because it refused to clutter itself. The location-first model shipped as the company's flagship reservation flow and became the demo surface investors and partners saw first.