Quote:
Originally Posted by Riise
Seeing the results of Calgary drivers navigating roundabouts would indicate a design flaw in roundabouts. However, it most definitely user error. The only thing worse than Call to Gates flaws would be abandoning the system due to the initial difficulty travellers have adapting to it. It's a painful transition, not a life sentence of torture.
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I don't see it as a valid analogy. A traffic circle is part of a complex system that depends on extensive rules and regulations, requires licensing to use and testing to validate understanding before use, and - typically - user training.
The efficient flow of people in a large public space - i.e. passenger flow in an airport - requires excellent user-centered design to make it work. There is no user training in the system. No expectation that people have previous experience in using the system. Not even an expectation that people speak the same language and can read the signs. And no expectation that some passengers will ever 'learn' YYC, since they may only use the facility once in a lifetime.
If outbound passengers aren't "getting" the CTG system at YYC, it's not because they are stupid or untrained. It's because it's not intuitive to the users of the space, and because their experience and expectations tell them to expect something totally different from what they're confronted with at YYC.
If dozens of people are going straight to the gates and sitting on the floor - yes, even on day one - it points to flawed design. It needs to be fixed. Bums on the floor is absolutely a design problem.
I'm not suggesting that YYC undo it's CTG system and change the new terminal to a "regular" design. At this stage, they
can't. CTG is intrinsic to how it was laid out and built -- it needs to stay. But even one day's worth of evidence would suggest that they need to quickly figure out how to make it work much, much better. Those people who were frustrated and confused today, or who felt they had no option but to sit on the floor of a brand new, $2B airport terminal did not have a good experience.
(As mentioned before, I really hope YYC does not try to fix it with more signage. Fixing a problem like this with big blue and yellow explanatory paragraphs would not work, and would itself reek of poor design thinking and no user empathy.)
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