Congestion pricing – is it an option?
The Victorian Government has confirmed that it is not considering a congestion tax for Melbourne’s gridlocked roads, despite a submission by Acil Tasman (an economic consulting firm) proposing charging cars and trucks each time they enter the CBD and inner suburbs, saying the money could be used to improve roads and public transport. According to […]
Parking & Traffic Consultants once again at the World Parking Symposium
Cristina Lynn, our Managing Partner, will be attending her third World Parking Symposium which this year is being held in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada between 26 – 29 June. The World Parking Symposium’s title is: “Why does Parking & Transportation Matter? The Future of Service Delivery in the 21st Century” and will address selected issues in urban […]
Traffic management inspiration from New York
This week, we came across a demonstration of how one particular New York intersection is both dysfunctional and more than a little dangerous. For his master’s thesis at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Ron Gabriel created a campaign called 3-Way Street to examine how “pedestrians jaywalking, cyclists running red lights and […]
How many parking spaces are enough if your development is in Wynyard?
The developers of a new building at Sydney’s Wynyard station are clashing with the City of Sydney over parking requirements. According to an article published by the Daily Telegraph, the developers want 177 parking spaces for the 3,500 employee capacity building, claiming that the building needs that number of spaces to attract high-profile tenants. On […]
The importance of the Car Parking Professional
The International Parking Institute (IPI) debuted a two-minute animated video called Parking Matters at the annual Conference and Expo held in Pittsburgh, USA, last week. The video is aimed at promoting the parking profession by connecting with new audiences unfamiliar with the industry. It’s a great overview of the contribution made by the large number […]
Barbara Chance – a worthy parking consultant
In more news from Pittsburgh, the IPI recognized three parking professionals who have made outstanding contributions to the profession. Parking Consultant Dr. Barbara Chance and University of California/Irvine’s Ronald Fleming shared the Parking Professional of the Year award. You will no doubt remember that Barbara was one of the speakers at the Australian Parking Association’s […]
Interesting trends revealed by Parking Industry Survey
Also released at the IPI Conference were the results of the 2011 “Emerging Trends in Parking” survey of its members to examine the evolution of the car parking industry. The survey revealed that while parking professionals are finding increased pressure to boost parking revenue, significant trends centre on demand for sustainable parking solutions and advances […]
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 […]
Manly Council – great parking developments!
Manly Council (in Sydney’s Northern Beaches) announced last week plans to build a two storey car park underneath Manly Oval, as part of a plan to reduce the number of cars in the village area. The 800-space underground car park will allow Council to demolish two other at grade car parks with a combined capacity […]
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 […]
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 […]
Sydney’s mayor says that the critics are wrong on cycle lanes
An article this week in the Sydney Morning Herald summarises a lecture delivered by the Lord Mayor at the University of NSW on Wednesday April 6th about the city’s cycle lanes, currently in construction along several key corridors to and through the CBD. She argues that NSW has been held back due to little interest in […]
National Parking Association launches parking industry Peer Networks
Last week, the US based National Parking Association (NPA) officially launched an industry program called Peer Networks, an international series of peer topic and trend discussions on leading parking and transportation industry issues. The Peer Networks have been created to provide an opportunity for parking and transportation professionals to build industry connections, learn best practices […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
Traffic Management Plan proposed for Parramatta Road
The NSW road lobby group presented a plan this week with the aim of turning Parramatta Road – one of Sydney’s most congested roads – into a public transport corridor. The plan, developed by the NRMA and one of Australia’s leading urban planners, Ed Blakely, wants to remove most of the traffic and put it […]
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 […]
A car park minus the cars
A new Federally-funded car park in Fisher Street, Cabramatta, in Sydney’s West, is top of the range – with electronic parking displays, well-lit, polished and coloured interiors, landscaped gardens, native hardwood exterior panelling, and a 200-panel solar system feeding into the electricity grid. However, according to a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald, it […]
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. […]
Parking Consultants: 2010 in review
2010 was an exciting year for us and, although it seems to have flown by, when we look at what we have achieved it looks like at least we were not idle! Working back, we close the year with a new name “Parking & Traffic Consultants” to reflect our additional service offering. As you may […]
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 […]
Perth Airport set for $500m upgrade
A $500m program is being deployed at Perth Airport over the next three years to meet growth in demand, giving the airport new and expanded passenger terminals, expanded aircraft parking areas, and greater public access to the terminal. The resources boom in Western Australia has contributed to a 7.5 per cent increase in the 2009-10 […]
Car park is not ‘in the vicinity of’ for FBT purposes
In July this year we reported on a ruling from the ATO requiring Virgin Blue to pay additional Fringe Benefits Tax on a subsidised employee car park located 2km away from Melbourne Airport’s terminal. The car park was ruled to be ‘in the vicinity’ of the airport, and thus liable for additional tax. Read more […]
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 […]
Where will the cars and the parking spaces go?
A guest post from PCI’s Managing Partner Cristina Lynn A couple of days after the conclusion of the 12th Australian Parking Convention, a lively debate took place at the Sydney Town Hall as part of the City Talks 2010 series. Hosted by the Lord Mayor Clover Moore, the talk on Thursday 11th November was titled […]
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 […]
Is Perth the new Melbourne?
On a recent trip to Perth we took the opportunity of visiting the car park under the newly refurbished Condor Tower. Rather than painting the multi level underground car park in the usual regulation grey (or the more unusual bright white) the developer of the site was keen to do something different. And to that […]