18 February 2008

Bumper cars

Today I'm thankful for ...

... not getting hit at the Serramonte Home Depot and Bed, Bath and Beyond. OMGWTF. Those are the absolute worst parking lots EVER.

Firstly, the Home Depot parking lot is horribly marked. You enter down a drive which T's: an immediate branch takes you under a canopy, the other sends you towards the roof. The signs for which direction you drive under the canopy are posted some 30 feet above the road---like anyone is going to look up there! I ended up going down a 2-lane road which actually was the wrong direction. The stalls were also 90-degree perpendicular to the road so there's no indication that I was going the wrong way. And the canopy is orange and the wrong-way signs are red---two colors relatively close together at a glance.

Secondly, the traffic flow is wrong. Once you're under the canopy there are huge signs saying "Exit", but those only take you around and put you back under the same canopy which would force you to make a secondary revolution with no exits!

Thirdly, it's way too crowded. There are too many options. It would have been better to branch off the traffic and keep things going in a larger circle than a couple of tight circles.

And over at Bed, Bath and Beyond there are too many entrances to paths in the parking lot which creates a lot of gridlock. Plus people drive too fast. Oh, and I forgot to mention the half-spaces: tiny spaces that are too shallow because someone thought putting decorative trees in very large planters was a good idea.

UGH.

Bad interface design!!!

Overall I had a horrible driving experience there.

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