I went back down and took some pictures. Here’s what I mean about the importance of good signage. I didn’t have my ticket validated because a glance at the sign told me that the first two hours were free and I knew I would be there only about 15 minutes.
First, the view on entry —
Note that the sign reads like War and Peace, its so small that if you are over 25 you can’t read it, and if you stopped to take it all in, you would block traffic. Here’s a close up:
When I glanced at the sign, I saw the word "free" and then the words "first two hours". That was it, Since I knew I would be there less than two hours, much less, I read no further.
Now, when I arrived at the exit lane 15 minutes later, I was presented with this:
Of course, even if I was going to read it, its too late now, the purpose of this sign is to give the attendant back up when he asks for your money. A close up:
When the attendant said "$2 Please" I said — "I thought it was first two hours free, it says so right here on your sign" He said, without any hesitation "Read the line above it". I was stuck.
I understand that parking rates can be complicated, and these aren’t easy to communicate, however there are a couple of givens in parking.
First, validations are provided by merchants after a purchase. Second, you pay more without a validation than with a validation.
The Market has obviously had problems with people parking in their spaces and going to the "Grove" which is only a few steps away. The Market is trying to ensure that its customers have room to park — so it penalizes non customers big bucks. The price at the Grove is less expensive — First hour free, then next 2 hours $2, then $2 an additional hour up to $14.
At the Market for non customers its $6 and hour, maxing out in 3 hours and one minute. You can park at the Grove for $2 for three hours, but if you park at the Market and don’t get a validation you will pay $18.
So the sign has to be a bit more complicated than most. Now, what could we do to make the sign a bit more clear?
First — I would put the "with validation" after the rate: First Two Hours FREE with Farmers Market Validation
I would put the "Farmers Market Purchase Required" down at the bottom in the fine print — Its up to the merchants to enforce this. And those that want to give a validation without a purchase will do so anyway. This would keep the clutter out of the main part of the sign.
I would also put the "No Grove validations etc" at the bottom in the noise level — However I would put a separate sign, very prominent, that gave the "No Grove" exceptions. I would make this very evident, so parkers could read it well outside the lot…Note that by the time you are studying the sign above, you are already committed to park and if you were going to Maggianos you are stuck. You have to go in the lot and then come back out again. You could also put a "Take your Ticket, Farmers Market Validation Required" sign inside, perhaps in front of the gate, to give drivers a couple of chances to read the fact that if you aren’t validated, you will be hit for a charge.
I think by splitting the signs up, you make it much more clear and ensure that parkers understand the complicated rate. Plus the Market would probably do a bit better on its goal of actually keeping non customers out of the Market parking lot and sending them to the Grove structure only a hundred feet away.
OK, they may have to tweak my suggestions a bit — the art of writing a rate sign is complex. It depends on whether or not you want to confuse and obfuscate, or you want to clearly ensure your customers know what’s what.
It should be noted, in defense of both, this is a very complicated layout, tight turning radius, and very little room for drivers to maneuver. All the more reason to make the signage as clear as possible. You enter off Fairfax and down a long driveway between two lots. If you go straight ahead or turn left, you park at the Grove, if you turn right, you park at the Market, which has about a 20th of the space as the Grove.
In the Farmer’s Market case, I don’t think they were trying to mislead, they were trying to communicate a complicated program, but sometimes too much information is well, just too much.
Less is Better.
Or, maybe I was thinking about the roast I was going to buy at the Farmer’s Market Butcher and just glossed over the sign..However, in my defense, the attendant was ready with a response when I said "First two hours free." He had said that many times before. I was’t the first to ignore the validation requirement.
JVH
No, I did not go down there just to take the pictures, I’m not a fanatic. R and I went to see Harry Potter at the Grove, and I walked the 30 feet to the Market to get my back up material. We parked at the Grove, didn’t get the requisite four hour free validation for the theatre, and ended up paying $8 to park. However as an aside, their validation is tricky. It is script, not time. So if you get a four hour validation and you are there four hours and one minute, your validation is completely worthless and you pay full boat. So the lack of validation made no difference, since we were there over 4 hours. (Probably all that time I spent taking pictures at the Original Farmer’s Market.)
