UK pilots electric-only car share scheme
A car sharing group in the UK will be the first in the country to exclusively use electric vehicles. The scheme, run by Sustainable Venture Development, will be piloted in north Oxfordshire. According to BBC.co.uk, the cars will have dedicated bays on the street, beside which there will be specific fast-charging infrastructure installed, ensuring that […]
Parking news from around Australia
In a quick summary of other news from around the parking and traffic world this week, the press is once again taking aim at airports, this time comparing the cost of parking a car to the cost of parking a plane. The article compares the base rates for parking against each other (finding that it […]
Should new freeways be tolled?
In a follow up to last week’s article on the recommendations of a government taskforce that users should pay for all new toll roads and infrastructure financing, Alan Davies of Crikey.com also explored whether new freeways should be tolled. Davies claims that the argument for tolls is straightforward – they provide the ultimate test of […]
Nurses protest over parking charges
In the UK, nurses and health workers protested over a proposed increase in car parking charges to £40 a month for staff and patients’ relatives. Over five hundred nurses and staff have signed a petition opposing the imposition of the increased parking charges. According to The Guardian, those against the plan claim that staff will […]
Private parking operators ordered to stop misleading
The Victorian Supreme Court has ordered private car park operators who issue unlawful parking ‘fines’ to stop using misleading tactics. The court’s decision confirms that private parking operators cannot levy fines or prosecute motorists who stay overtime or do not display a ticket. It was alleged that a number of car park operators had breached […]
New York car space expected to sell for $1m
An undercover car parking space in Manhattan is expected to sell for over $1 million, according to the New York Post. The garage is twice the height of an average space at 4.5m high, meaning that the owner could install a car elevator and allow two cars to be parked at the one time. The […]
New York explores private deal for parking meters
New York City is exploring the possibility of privatising the running of its 39,000 parking meters, currently researching mistakes made by other cities and exploring potential bidders. According to the Wall Street Journal, NYC officials are motivated in part by a belief that a private company could help alleviate some of the well-known frustrations of […]
Washington DC approves plan to expand ‘performance parking’
A council committee in Washington DC has approved a plan to allow city officials to manage the demand for parking spaces by adjusting parking prices, taking inspiration from San Francisco’s SFpark program. Under the plan, city officials would be able to adjust parking meter rates, length and times of operations, parking fines and residential parking […]
Minimum parking to blame for LA’s commercial inefficiency
Thanks to Paul Barter’s Reinventing Parking blog, we came across an article this week that explored how the minimum parking requirements in Los Angeles have had a negative impact on street life and force property owners to use their blocks of land highly inefficiently. For us the clearest representation of how the minimum parking requirements […]
Riders want footpath parking for motorcycles in Perth
In Perth, the Motorcycle Riders Association is calling on the government to allow motorcycles and scooters to be able to park on public walkways in Perth city. According to ABC online, they are calling for a trial policy similar to Melbourne, allowing motorcycles to park on footpaths and concrete public spaces, providing the vehicle is […]
Sustainability in parking
Sustainability and ‘green’ parking solutions have received a lot of attention in the media of late, with this blog in particular giving the cause solid support. And whilst sustainability has predominantly focused on the environmental aspects of maintenance and responsibility, it’s important to remember that long-term sustainability also encompasses other aspects: economic and social dimensions. […]
Citibank sponsors NYC’s bike sharing system
In New York, Citibank have announced that they are sponsoring and commercialising the bike share system. To be renamed Citi Bike, the system will be 100% privately funded with 600 stations and 10,000 bikes in Manhattan and Brooklyn. According to TreeHugger, Citi Bike’s pricing is listed as $95 for an annual pass, $25 for a […]
Congestion pricing in New York in consideration
Former New York City traffic commissioner Sam Schwartz is proposing a plan that would toll the East River Bridges of New York, while lowering tolls on other, non-Manhattan bound spans in an effort to both reduce congestion and give the city’s transit system a funding boost. According to Transport Nation, these tolls and other fees […]
Space fillers: the dynamics of airport parking
Airport car parks are huge business, with major airport hubs seeing car parking producing around $80 million to $100 million of revenue each year. Recent results from the 2012 ACI Airport Economics survey shows that car parking now accounts for around 7% of global airport revenues and is the second biggest source of non-aviation related […]
…as Monorail’s planned demolition calls for higher line
Due to be demolished to make way for the redevelopment of Darling Harbour, Sydney’s monorail has seen significant debate over what should happen to the structure once dismantled. Landscape architect David Vago has drawn up a plan to take inspiration from New York’s famous High Line (see our blog post about the High Line here!), […]
Sydney’s Darling Harbour to be rebuilt..
The NSW government announced last week that the Sydney Entertainment Centre, Convention Centre and Exhibition Centre at Darling Harbour will be closed for three years while they are expanded or replaced under a $1 billion upgrade approved by NSW cabinet. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the precinct will be expanded with a view to […]
The cost of parking in America
During the 2012 Intertraffic conference, the American based National Parking Association released their fourth annual Parking in America report. The study measures monthly, daily and hourly rates in cities throughout the United States and Canada, including parking facilities in hospitals, hotels, educational institutions and airports. It also documents rate trends in downtown parking areas and […]
Pre-booking parking at airports
We came across an interesting article which explores the pre-booked parking phenomenon and why it is commonplace in the UK – accounting for around 20% of airport parking – but almost non-existent around the rest of the world. The article’s author, Chris Wortley, asserts that the practice came about from two factors: high prices at […]
NFC payments in parking
Near field communication (NFC) technology allows secure data to be transmitted from a device or object to exchange information or even conduct electronic transactions with a tap. The technology is already embedded in many chip credit cards, and mobile phone providers are moving to roll out handsets which are NFC enabled, allowing users to pay […]
Parking space squatting
An article published in the SMH recently explored what they considered a new phenomenon: parking space ‘squatting’, whereby drivers returning to their cars will sit in the vehicle to use their phones to talk, text or email. On the one hand, it’s upsetting the normal ‘order’ of things – with the driver expected to vacate […]
Parking for bikes in private car parks in BA
In Buenos Aires, a city where bicycle theft is rampant, the provision of secure parking facilities is almost as important as the supporting infrastructure. The city is currently embracing cycling, under a scheme called “Mejor en Bici”, with a number of laws and construction projects designed to provide several bike parking facilities. Of these laws, […]
Melbourne Airport’s Southern Precinct project
The Southern Precinct project and expansion of Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport is part of a proposed program of investment by Melbourne Airport over the next five years. The expansion project is budgeted to cost in excess of A$1 billion. According to MICEBTN magazine, Stage 1 of the project is focused on the area south of the […]
Parking at Australian universities
Students at James Cook University in Cairns this week have staged a protest against the university’s parking situation, insisting the university needs to boost the number of spaces and make them free of charge. According to Cairns.com.au, about half of the campus’ 979 parking spaces have been restricted to permit holders this year, meaning students […]
US transit lanes changing to paid permit lanes
In and around Atlanta, a new scheme putting a price on convenience is being introduced as a way to manage traffic congestion. According to the New York Times, transit lanes are now able to be accessed by solitary motorists, on a user-pays model. In addition to the usual occupants (car pools of three or more, […]
San Fran parking plan undergoing reappraisal
After a strong pushback from the residents and business owners in neighbourhoods planned for parking meter expansion, San Francisco transportation officials have said that they will gather more data and work more closely with each neighbourhood to refine the parking management proposals. According to SFGate.com, the plan to add about 5,000 new meters across a […]
South Australia’s hospital parking charges impact health budget
South Australia’s Health Minister, John Hill, has said that the state’s heath budget could overrun by $99 million for the financial year. According to ABC News, he blames the overspend on unforseen demand for health care, and a shortfall of $11 million in hospital parking revenue, with the protracted legal dispute over hospital parking fees […]
California gets more transport sharing options
The residents of two major cities in California have recently seen the introduction of car sharing and bicycle hire operations, thus increasing their choice of transport. In Los Angeles, the US’s largest car sharing network, Zipcar, has recently opened for business, placing over 125 vehicles throughout the city. The ‘car capital’ of the US is […]
How are electric vehicle sales performing?
Figures released this week from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries said that only 49 electric cars were sold in Australia last year, in a market that topped 1 million total vehicles for the first time. According to the SMH, the number of electric vehicles sold declined by 9.9 per cent on 2010. Whilst politicians […]
What is ‘fair’ in the provision of parking?
Two weeks ago, the Boston Globe wrote an article about San Francisco’s SFPark, a pilot program of applying variable parking prices and putting Don Shoup’s market-based parking theories to trial. Whilst the article presents a good view of the program in general, the waters get very muddy when it introduces the concept of what it […]
Car parking rates across Australia
A while ago, we posted about the ‘Cheap Parking’ application for iPhones – it will tell you the prices charged at all of the car parks around you at any given time of day, with the aim of helping you find the cheapest parking for your needs. The company behind the app has recently published […]