Green power and electric vehicle charging stations
Whilst we have commented on the benefits of electric vehicles on the Wayfinding Forum for some time, recent studies are muddying the waters as to the effectiveness of the technology. Car maker Audi has examined the energy output of the entire chain of powering the vehicles – from power station to the car’s emissions – […]
Federal Government launches first national urban policy
The Federal Government’s first national urban policy was launched yesterday by the Infrastructure and Transport Minister Mr. Albanese. The policy, called “Our Cities, Our Future” underlines the relationship between funding for projects with specific criteria relating to productivity and sustainability. The areas in which the Government intends to get involved in includes water, rail, urban […]
Sydney road congestion IS getting worse!
Australian Insurer NRMA has surveyed 1,100 businesses that run vehicle fleets in the city, finding that 80 per cent believe that congestion has worsened in the past year. In addition, 62 per cent of businesses surveyed believe that the roads themselves have worsened while 78 per cent believe that it is taking them longer to […]
Americans are working to feed their cars
Cycling enthusiast James Schwartz published an article recently on the cost of owning a car in America. According to his findings on the average rates of car ownership, when compared to the median household income, the average employee needs to work around 2.9 hours every day, just to pay for their car. In addition to […]
Mobile technology: changing the way drivers look for parking spaces
The recent emergence of location-based applications servicing the parking industry is having a significant (and very fast) impact on how drivers seek for available parking spaces and how owners/operators of those spaces monitor usage, provide information on their location to the public and, in some cases, enforce the regulations governing their use. With the largest […]
Brisbane short term car parking costs on the rise
According to a report released this week by Queensland Insurance company RACQ, Brisbane’s short-term parking prices are now the second most expensive in Australia, after Sydney. The average cost across the car parks in the Sydney study area was $25.83 for 1 hour compared with $21.65 in Brisbane and $15.98 in Melbourne for the same […]
Does the uniform make the man?
A pensioner in Collingwood, Victoria, has challenged her parking fine after an ‘unidentified passer by’ photographer her car whilst parked in a no standing zone. Her complaint is based not on the fine, but on the fact that the parking officer was not wearing a uniform or driving a marked car. Yarra City Council said […]
New car parking technology for City of Melbourne
On April 20th the City of Melbourne formally approved a $5.48 million project to modernise the way parking is managed across the city which had been unveiled earlier this year. The new technology, which will be rolled out between 1 July and 30 October this year, includes the installation of in-ground sensors in more than […]
San Francisco switches to demand-based parking fees
The implementation of demand-based parking fees (on city streets and public parking garages), which is an integral part of the SFpark project in San Francisco, is starting on April 21. Sensors installed at each parking space will track where parking is available in real time and uploaded to signs and smartphone applications. According to the […]
Davis Langdon’s Construction Sentiment Monitor update April 2011
The April release has seen the Sentiment Index drop by three points from the previous release in September 2010, down to an index score of 60. Key findings from this quarter’s Sentiment Monitor include: workload expectations dip into negative access to finance remains greatest obstacle tightening of competition Health and Civil & Resource sectors most […]
Do CBD tenants still want parking spaces?
According to an article published in last weekend’s Sydney Morning Herald, the demand for CBD car spaces is decreasing and being replaced by increased demand for shower facilities as more people either cycle to work, or take public transport. The article claims that this trend is putting pressure on developers to redesign the basement areas […]
Issues regarding safety in car parks
A car with its driver fell six stories in Melbourne CBD on Monday, after it drove through the safety rail at a car park off Anthony Street, between Elizabeth and Queen Streets. Despite the huge fall, the driver, a 41-year-old woman, was found alive, hanging sideways from her seatbelt. The car fell into the side […]
NSW Government promises 100 days of transport focus
Following the outcome of the NSW state elections on the weekend, the Liberals leader Barry O’Farrell has promised a 100 day focus on transport in NSW, particularly on roads and rail systems and includes the establishment of a Public Service Commission, the integration of public transport agencies and the launch of Infrastructure NSW, to take […]
Research finds Adelaide to be car friendliest city, Sydney the least….
Research into Australia’s car friendliest cities released last week by Virgin Car Insurance has found that Adelaide has emerged as the best city in which to own a car. The research looked at a number of variables, such as the cost of car insurance, petrol prices, parking fines, theft and tolls. Adelaide leapfrogged Hobart, Darwin […]
Perth Car Parking Levy not yet spent on public transport
According to a recent news article, parking levies in the Perth CBD area have not (yet) been fully spent on the Perth CAT buses. Of the nearly $60 million collected from Perth car park owners in parking levies since 2009, only $22 million have been spent on the service thus far. The Property Council of […]
Perth car parking levy exemption for churches
The West Australian State Government decided last week to make inner-city churches exempt from paying the Perth parking levy. The exemption will apply from next financial year, but stopped short of providing reimbursement for the parking levies paid in 2010-11. Other Perth based charity groups, church-affiliated bodies, and other not-for-profit organisations have requested that the […]
Useful tips for reviewing Councils’ parking strategies
The recent volume and variety of articles appearing on the media locally and internationally with regards to parking management, parking strategies and revenue generation has caused us to stop and think about these important issues. On-street parking controls are often introduced by local councils to improve management of available spaces as a response to regular […]
Parking Sensors may be coming to Melbourne’s Moreland Council
Melbourne’s Moreland Council is considering a proposal to install electronic sensors in nearly 4,000 parking bays. The technology, designed to increase the turnover of cars, sends an alert to parking officers if a car has overstayed its time in a parking spot. However, critics of the scheme claim that turnover of the spaces is already […]
Parking consultant tells council that parking is not being used efficiently
A parking consultant has told Havre de Grace City Council in Maryland, US, that their parking problem is not a shortage of spaces, but that too many short-term spaces are being used by long-term parkers. The study essentially concludes that the city does not enforce appropriately its parking ordinances, and suggests that the city commence […]
New York City asks bankers to assist in maximising parking revenue
New York City officials have recently issued an Expressions of Interest document, calling on investors to identify ways to extract more revenue from city assets, including its parking meters and garages, real estate and infrastructure, while reducing costs. The EOI is seeking ideas on how to develop new sources of revenue and restrain costs, as […]
Parking meters: Brisbane City Council expands system into suburbia
Brisbane has been increasing the number of metered spaces throughout the city and suburbs, with an additional 3,704 spaces added this year. This brings the total number of metered spaces in Brisbane to 8,500. The council has been driving the installation of the meters, recognising that they are the most effective means to manage competing demands […]
The future of Parking Meters in Davenport, Iowa
A motion on the agenda of the Davenport City Council next week directs the council to remove all on-street parking meters downtown, increase monthly fees in the city-owned parking stations (called ‘parking ramps’) by $5, and prepare an ordinance that will increase parking ticket fines through a sliding scale. A first violation would cost $20, […]
What’s the cost of a parking spot?
The value of parking spaces is one of our blog’s favourite topics. We published a story recently about a stand-alone garage in Bondi, Sydney, selling for almost a quarter of a million dollars. This week, we have come across an article about the impact of an off-street parking space on the value of a private […]
ACCC report targets Australian airports
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s annual airport monitoring report was released last week again focusing on car parking fees. Sydney Airport commissioned two independent reports which put into question the methodology adopted by the regulator in reporting customer service levels. A Productivity Commission has been appointed to carry out an independent review of the […]
Melbourne City announces new automated parking monitoring system
This week, the Melbourne City Council announced the introduction of an electronic parking detection system throughout Melbourne’s CBD and Southbank. Utilising sensors installed in the ground beneath the parking spaces, and in conjunction with technology able to automatically read license plate numbers, the system monitors the length of time a car spends in a space. […]
Colliers 2010 Global CBD Parking Rate Survey
Colliers have released their Global CBD Parking Rate Survey for 2010, with Australian cities again featuring high in the rankings. According to the survey, Sydney is now the fourth most expensive city to park (USD $51.18 daily), behind Oslo, Tokyo, and London (City), but ahead of major centres including London (West End), New York and […]
From the blog: Parking news in 2010
Where did 2010 go? As we once again reach the end of another year, we take a few minutes to look back on the main events of the year that was. In 2010 we started recovering from the GFC, with the industry as a whole innovating and searching for new ways to deliver a more […]
Monetising bicycle sharing schemes
Whilst there has been growing attention paid to bicycle sharing schemes around the world, one of the biggest challenges they face is that they rely exclusively on the self-motivation of the users, reassuring themselves as to the health and mental outlook benefits of biking as an alternative to driving. An innovation from a New York […]
China’s record jam and examining traffic math
In China last August, a massive traffic jam on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou highway in Huailai, caused by road construction in Beijing, stretched for dozens of miles and lasted for over ten days. The stretch of highway has been frequently congested, especially since large coalfields were discovered in Inner Mongolia. It prompted the Wall Street Journal to […]
Dallas Fort Worth Airport – Parking Consultant recommendations
With the NPA’s survey showing that parking operations in the US, and particularly at airports, are reporting decreasing revenues, we thought that recently published recommendations of a parking consultant at Dallas Fort Worth Airport would be interesting to our readers. According to the Dallas News, the highlights of the consultant’s recommendations are: D/FW should launch […]