Parking and Traffic Consultants – on the move!
A message from Parking & Traffic Consultants’ Managing Partner, Cristina Lynn. I am pleased to announce that we are moving to larger premises to accommodate the expanding number of consultants. As from 5th October 2012 our new details will be as follows: Suite 102, 506 Miller Street Cammeray NSW 2062 Telephone: 02-89 200 800 Fax: […]
The case for eliminating disabled parking permits
As we’ve reported before, the abuse of disabled parking permits is widespread across the US (and not just there!). Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, New York and Philadelphia are all reporting problems, with the situation particularly bad in Los Angeles, where a 2010 investigation found disabled passes in 80 per cent of parked cars in a […]
Car sharing: data shows it may be working
The city of Hoboken, New Jersey, introduced a car sharing scheme over two years ago; based on the assumption that they would create parking spaces by taking them away. According to the New York Times, 42 of the city’s roughly 9,000 on-street spaces were allocated to the car sharing program upon inception. Survey data shows […]
The world is on track to be one giant parking lot
A study recently published by Uri Dadush of the Carnegie Endowment proposed a new definition for ‘middle class’: those who own a car. Dadush contends that the number of passenger cars in circulation can be considered a direct measure of the middle class in developing countries. An article on TreeHugger says that if this theory […]
How much does it cost to buy a car park in Melbourne CBD?
Check our updated post with 2023 car park construction costs for all Australian capital cities. The 427-bay car park at 222 Russell Street in Melbourne’s CBD has sold for close to $17 million, at a yield of slightly more than 7 per cent. According to the Australian Financial Review, the result is a lot […]
NSW Government announces draft transport plan
On Tuesday this week, the NSW government announced the latest transport master plan, proposing four new motorways and another rail crossing under Sydney Harbour. The plan identifies four lead projects to complete the ‘missing links’ in Sydney’s motorway network: the M4 motorway extension between Strathfield in the inner west and the Port Botany–Sydney Airport precinct in […]
Britain’s parking demand
Following the recent publishing of the RAC report into UK parking policy and practice, the UK’s Telegraph has distilled many of the key findings of the report, including: The current number of cars on UK roads is 28.5 million. In 1950 there were two million cars on the roads, and the projection is to reach […]
Smarter parking meters for “human cities”
An article published by social scientist Thomas Erickson compares his experience of parking in two cities. In one, overstaying the allotted time on his meter led to a ‘courtesy ticket’ with no charge as a warning. In another city, a 3 minute lapse led to a $42 ticket, with no reprieve for first offenders. In […]
Driving versus riding your bike: a cost calculator
How much exactly does it cost to ride a bicycle instead of driving a car? There’s an answer for that, and it’s personalised to your own usage. The Saving Electricity site has come up with a biking vs driving calculator, that lets people plug in their own data to calculate how much they are able […]
Victorian car park congestion levy to stay
A study published by Monash University has found that the congestion charge on city car parks in Melbourne has not eased congestion. The levy, introduced in 2006, applies to 50,000 car spaces in Melbourne and was designed to stop people driving into the city. According to Yahoo, The Victorian Treasurer Kim Wells claims that the […]
Los Angeles may reduce parking requirements for businesses
Los Angeles councillors have backed an ordinance that would allow real estate developers, landlords and business owners to reduce the number of parking spaces to be supplied their buildings and projects. According to the Los Angeles Times, the action represents an effort to breathe new life into tanking business districts and drive new housing construction […]
Sydney’s CBD bike path debate continues
Whilst on the subject of bikes, according to a number of expert reports obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald, the controversial bicycle lanes in Sydney’s CBD have made little to no impact on the city’s general traffic congestion. The consensus amongst traffic experts is that congestion continues as no car traffic lanes have been removed […]
London installs in-street parking sensors
Westminster City Council, in central London, is set to become the first to use in-ground sensor technology to detect whether a car is parked in the space. According to UK’s Telegraph, the three month trial will be run across a number of streets, with plans to roll out the technology to the rest of the West […]
Parking policy and practice – a UK report
A report released in July by the UK’s Royal Automobile Club (RAC) has detailed British parking policy and practice. Called “Spaced Out: Perspectives on parking policy”, the 113 page report offers a huge depth of data on the industry. The report focuses on the demand and supply of parking, with a particular emphasis on the […]
Is charging for parking un-Australian?
We came across a great opinion piece on Crikey.com.au this week that explored the issue of paid parking being introduced into some of Brisbane’s largest shopping malls, generating significant debate and outcry in the Sunshine State (see our previous post here). According to the Secretary of the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association in Queensland, […]
Can this decision by a UK Car Park operator be considered un-Olympic?
Britain’s biggest car park operator NCP was accused of taking advantage of the Olympics as charges at its central London sites increased by up to three-fold since the beginning of the games. According to the UK’s Daily Mail, visitors to the capital are being hit with parking prices ramped up by an ‘average’ of 40 […]
Australian Parking Convention 2012 – registrations now open
A message from Cristina Lynn, Parking & Traffic Consultants’ Managing Partner.< As you may be aware the biennial convention organised by the Parking Association of Australia will be held on 11 – 13 November 2012 at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. Similarly to the event held in 2010 the Exhibition will be occupying Hall […]
Parking spots for women introduced in Germany
(Yes, you may have heard about this already…!) The mayor of the German town of Triberg has courted controversy by introducing parking spaces for women only, which are wider and have better lighting. Explaining the policy, Mayor Gallus Strobel said it was a “natural” decision because men are better at parking than women. He then […]
How much does it cost to design and build a car park?
The most popular article on the Wayfinding Forum we’ve published (in terms of traffic to the article) was regarding the costs of building a car park (view the article, ‘How much does it cost to build a car park‘, here). This week, we came across data on the construction and design of car parks, with […]
Technology and innovation key trends in IPI survey
The 2012 Emerging Trends in Parking Survey from the International Parking Institute (IPI) has seen increased demand for technology-related innovations account for half of the top ten trends in today’s $30 billion parking industry. Among these trends include, cashless, electronic, and automatic payment systems; real-time information about parking rates and availability via mobile apps; and […]
Electric Vehicle charging in Europe
A report released by Pike Research (now stored in web archives) into the deployment of Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure across Europe has forecasted that by 2020 there will be more than 2.9 million plug-in electric vehicles on Europe’s roadways, and the region will have more than 4.1 million electric vehicle charging stations installed. The EV […]
Residents taking advantage of car park squeeze
With Brisbane’s CBD parking prices rapidly catching up to those in Sydney and Melboune, The Brisbane Times claims that a large number of inner city residents are leasing their garages and driveways to motorists, keen to avoid the off-street parking fees and on-street parking meters. Figures supplied from RentMyCarPark.com.au show that the average weekly rent […]
Road pricing may be the answer to transportation funding
In an article published on the Australian Financial Review recently, transport consultant John Cox claims that the potential introduction of road pricing is much needed with discussions going on under the surface. One of the biggest driving factors in the examination of road pricing has been the realisation that the congestion issue in Australian cities […]
Airport Operations 2012 Conference
The second annual Airport Operations Conference will be held in Canberra in September this year. The conference is the only event addressing operational challenges and opportunities in airport development, and will take a close look at current trends, as well as offering a site tour of Canberra Airport. The key issues to be covered at […]
Pango mobile parking service launches in US
The Israeli-founded app “Pango”, designed to help with city parking and cruising, has launched in the US, together with their first so-called ‘smart garage’ in New York. Once users install the app and create their account using their license plate number and credit car details, they are able to search for participating parking stations. On […]
Urbanized: A must see for all Urban Designers (real or otherwise!)
Urbanizedis a feature-length documentary about the design and development of cities, which looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design and features some of the world’s foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers. According to the film’s press release, over half the world’s population now lives in an urban area, and 75% will call […]
Ohio State University leases parking operations to QIC
Ohio State University has moved ahead with leasing their parking operations to Australian company QIC and US partner LAZ Parking, in a 50 year contract deal worth US $483 million. According to the Star Tribune, the university pushed the plan as a way of providing cash flow at a time of declining public funding, with […]
Bicycle infrastructure funding far from priority
An article published in The Conversation this week provides a comprehensive assessment of the benefits and costs associated with state governments’ transport policies. They claim that governments across Australia have been slow in investing in the areas that deliver maximum benefit for least cost. A recent example of this mismatch is the Victorian Government’s decision […]
Canberra Airport plans to build high-speed rail station
Canberra Airport has unveiled plans to build a A$140 million high-speed rail facility next to its new airport terminal, in a bid to transform the gateway into a multi-modal hub and eliminate the need for a second Sydney airport. According to a federal government study, a high speed rail link between the two cities would […]
Transport blueprint recommends user-pays roads
A report published by the Infrastructure Finance Working Group, a Gillard government taskforce comprising of Treasury officials and experts from ANZ, KPMG, Royal Bank of Scotland, Alinta Energy and industry associations, has recommended a stronger push towards the user-pays approach to infrastructure financing used in toll roads. According to the Australian Financial Review, charges such […]