Constructed in 1970, the Iowa State Transportation Service Building and adjoining lot have been home to the complete fleet of vehicles made available to various departments of the university. Transportation Services is an operation of only seven employees. This small but efficient staff, led by Director Kathy Wellik, responsible for tracking and maintaining a fleet of over six hundred vehicles, stay true to their mission of providing economical transportation options for the university faculty to perform their duties.

Currently, fleet rentals can only be made within operating hours, 6:15 A.M. to 5 P.M., when there is staff on-site to process the reservation. However, there has been an increase in demand for off-hours rentals. To alleviate the economic burden of staffing the facility 24-hours a day, Transportation Services has invested in a Kiosk customers can use to rent and return vehicles during off-hours.

The client has requested the fenced lot be redesigned to support one hundred and twelve vehicles, that can be rotated out as the fleet inventory and demand changes. The kiosk system must be outfitted with an accessible and easy to understand interface that will guide a customer through the process of picking-up and dropping-off a vehicle. All training material must be clear and concise, applicable for a customer with any level of experience renting a vehicle.

Many different industries are undergoing similar changes to address needs of the customer outside of normal business hours. The self-service kiosk is becoming a common solution. Most of the big-name car rental industries employ a similar method to the one mentioned above. With the success and economic benefits seen in the car rental industry, the self-service kiosk has spread from the postal industry to tech repair and continues to grow.