At Arrive, this is something we think about every day, from the hardware on city streets, to the apps people open when they step out of their car, and the payments that happen in seconds without anyone noticing.

Hardware that doesn't assume who's using it

A pay station on a street corner needs to serve anyone that walks up to it. There's no onboarding, no tutorial, no second chance to make a good first impression. It either works for that person, in that moment, or it doesn't. So we design them with that in mind. Controls and card slots at a height that works for wheelchair users and shorter users alike. Large buttons that give immediate feedback, a sound, a change in color, so you know your tap registered even if you're not sure. Simple language, high contrast, no gestures that require two hands or perfect motor control.

We also test in real environments rather than controlled settings, with people in real cities who use these systems as part of their daily lives.

  • During testing in Łódź, one senior participant completed their entire transaction seamlessly only to realize afterward that the reading glasses they usually need for reading were still on top of their head. 

  • Another participant finished a full session on an interface that had been accidentally set to Swedish. They didn't speak Swedish but they didn't need to. The layout and iconography were enough to guide them through the process.


These aren't edge cases we got lucky with, these are examples of what good design looks like.

From June 2025, the European Accessibility Act requires all new transport and parking terminals to meet EN 301 549 standards. We've been working toward this for years not because a deadline pushed us there, but because it was already the direction we were heading. More recently, we've been exploring voice-assisted ticketing on our Galexio S+ transport terminal, allowing a full ticket purchase through spoken interaction, supported by a microphone designed to perform in busy street environments. For someone who finds touchscreens difficult, whether because of age, a motor impairment, or simply cold hands on a winter morning, having another way to complete the same task can make a meaningful difference.

Apps that have to work for everyone

The phone in your pocket is personal in a way a pay station never is. People set their text size, their contrast preferences, their accessibility settings. An app that ignores all of that and renders itself the way it was designed in a studio, under perfect lighting, on a brand new device is already creating friction for a significant number of people using it.

We've audited our parking apps for screen reader compatibility and made sure text sizing follows the user’s device settings. We’ve also worked on contrast that holds up outdoors, in sunlight, and even through sunglasses. User research across multiple markets keeps pushing us further: people told us fees weren't clear enough at a glance, that contrast still fell short in bright conditions, and that selecting a parking duration shouldn't require a perfectly steady hand.

User research is giving us a clear direction: flexibility matters. To solve these real-world friction points, we're constantly testing different concepts with our users and learning how to better support diverse needs:

  • Quick presets for setting time, reducing physical effort outdoors.

  • End-time selection, for drivers who think in arrival times rather than durations.

  • Familiar time pickers, inspired by those used in alarms and calendars.

  • Direct text entry, for those who prefer to just type a number.


Providing accessible software isn't about finding one perfect pattern. It’s an ongoing process of listening, testing, and adapting to real human behavior.

The layer underneath it all

A lot of this starts before a single screen is designed. Our design system, Rally, sets accessibility as the default, with built-in support for contrast, structure, and screen readers from the start. Designers also have tools to document their intentions clearly, so what ends up in the product actually matches what was planned. It doesn't make everything automatic, but it means every team starts from a solid foundation instead of figuring it out from scratch.

What intergenerational fairness actually means in practice

Intergenerational fairness means not designing for one type of user and hoping the rest figure it out. We test with people with less digital experience, first-time users, and people who don't speak the default language because accessibility is not an afterthought; it is the starting point. Mobility only works when it works for everyone. That's why we design it that way.

As cities grow, people of every age should still be able to move through them with ease. Together, we make cities more livable, for everyone.


This article draws on work and insights from our internal teams working on hardware, parking apps, payments, and design systems, as well as the researchers and users who help us get it right. The work described here spans teams across Arrive far more people than we can name. A special thanks to those who contributed directly to this article: Daniel Wikström, Karl-Johan Vogelius, Lensay Abadula, Miguel Ramirez, Phil Boulter, Shima Khosravi, Silia Kamarotou, Yann Adam.