The impact of driverless cars on our cities
As we posted in last week’s Wayfinding Forum, auto companies are now striving beyond the development of self-parking cars. They are building self-DRIVING cars. Whilst the technology has advanced rapidly in recent years, public acceptance and understanding is still in its infancy. This week, an interesting perspective was offered by The New York Times. The […]
Remember the Jetsons?
We complain about traffic snarls. We complain about transport links. We complain about airport processing queues. Well, it seems the creators of the imagined “Horizon System” had all this in mind when they submitted their winning entry to the Glasgow School of Art creative competition, offering a vision of the future of aviation. Watch their […]
Driving and parking – where have the people gone?
We’re told there would be fewer accidents and traffic snarls, and time spent looking for parking could be spent doing…..well, anything else. Thanks to Volvo, the fully automated, driverless car is now closer than ever. But are we ready for it? Volvo will become the first car manufacturer in the world to release a self-parking […]
Driverless trains are headed for Sydney
The NSW budget handed down last week delivered significantly on transport, with over $6 billion pledged towards infrastructure projects. Along with the light rail project previously mentioned on Wayfinding Forum, heavy rail was the big winner with funding confirmed along the north-west corridor of Sydney. The NSW Government describes The North West Rail Link as […]
PIE at Chicago, 2013
Cristina Lynn attended the Parking Industry Exhibition held in Chicago earlier this month on behalf of the Parking Association of Australia. The exhibition took place over three days showcasing a wide range of suppliers with many representatives from access control, parking guidance, ticket manufacturers, LED lighting and on-street technology. A very interesting group of speakers […]
Compact automated parking garage launched in LA
AutoParkiT has just been launched in the Van Nuys district of Los Angeles. The system is designed to automatically park, store and retrieve vehicles in a compact parking structure, using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology containing details of the user to ensure the swift identification and retrieval of vehicles. Whilst automated mechanical parking is not new, this […]
Car parking fee slashed to encourage investment
Port Adelaide Einfield Council has voted to reduce the penalty on new developments to encourage commercial investment. Under current regulations, in lieu of providing their quota of car parks required for new proposals, developers may choose to make a financial contribution to the Port Adelaide Centre Car Parking fund. Revenue raised by this fund goes towards upgrading or building new car […]
New York City’s parking privatisation on hold
New York City has scrapped a controversial plan to privatise its street-parking management system. The concept was designed to help ease the financial position of the city by generating a steady revenue stream under a leasing arrangement with the private sector, according to the Wall Street Journal. However opposition to the plan was strong, citing […]
Update on Hong Kong parking prices
In November, we reported that the cost of property prices for car parks in Hong Kong was going through the roof, following the introduction of measures from the government to cool the cost of property prices. Car parking spaces are now selling for more than some homes, with AU$276,000 being paid for a space in […]
Avis to buy Zipcar car sharing service
Car sharing service Zipcar agreed last week to a sale to Avis Budget Group for about $500 million. The deal puts Avis ahead of its competition in the hourly rental market. According to the Boston Globe, the market for hourly rental in the US has grown to nearly $400 million and could reach $10 billion […]
NYC upgrades parking signs
The New York City Transportation Department announced last week the replacement of more than 6,000 parking signs with an easier-to-follow design. According to the NYTimes, key changes include “more breathing room” (white space), eliminating a colour (blue), and reducing the number of characters needed to explain the rules to a Twitter-friendly 140 (from 250). The […]
Sydney Convention centre to be upgraded
The NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell announced last month plans to refurbish the convention, exhibition and entertainment precinct in Darling Harbour. The upgrade will see the area boast Australia’s largest convention and exhibition facilities, Sydney’s largest red carpet entertainment venue and a hotel complex of up to 900 rooms. A new urban neighbourhood in Haymarket will […]
Paying for parking by Etag is a reality (in Santiago!)
During our recent visit to the South American capital, we were able to witness the operation of a payment by e-tag in a large shopping centre car park. The system has been recently installed and the owner is expecting that use will increase very fast from a currently low 2% to around 40% of transactions. […]
Parking levy in Adelaide
The South Australian State Government has proposed a car park levy for the Adelaide City Council region, at a rate of $750 per space. According to AdelaideNow.com.au, the council has defended the decision, pointing out that Adelaide will still have cheaper parking fees and the highest number of available parking spaces than any other Australian […]
Parking and Traffic Consultants – 2012 year in review
2012 has been another eventful year for PTC. Many new clients joined the prestigious names in our portfolio, including Perth Airport, Health Infrastructure, Adelaide University and Leichhardt Council. Many other previous clients engaged us to do new work. Just to give you an idea, during the year we worked for these airports: Adelaide, Gold Coast, […]
Sydney light rail project to be green lit
The first stage of the extension of Sydney’s light rail appears to be moving ahead, with the staged construction of a line from the University of NSW in Randwick to the CBD expected to be announced this week. NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell will announce that work will start at the university and go to Central […]
A year of ‘Parking and Traffic’ blogs in review
Feel like the year has passed you by too? If you’ve been too busy to stay on top of the parking and traffic industry news every week – never fear! Here is our annual round-up of the highs and lows, and headline-making stories from 2012. Parking and policy in Australia This year saw Parking & […]
Sydney’s bike lane network set to be completed
NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell’s push to take control of Sydney’s CBD transport may see the completion of the network of bike lanes. The committee set up by the government to take control of the city’s transport planning has endorsed the completion of the bike lane network by May next year. The committee gave new impetus […]
Sydney’s smartcard technology already behind the times
With the roll out of Sydney’s new ticketing system, the Opal card, starting on December 7, some transport experts are claiming that the system is “old technology”, already being replaced around the world. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, one analyst claims that the Opal card is 10 years too late, due to the rise […]
The soaring cost of a car park in Hong Kong
Following last week’s article on Mumbai’s car parking prices, it would seem that Hong Kong is also experiencing a similar boom in car parking property prices. Soaring property prices have seen the Hong Kong government introduce measures to cool residential property prices (which jumped 20% in the first nine months of this year), seeing many […]
Sydney public transport mapping
Mapping of Sydney’s public transport network has revealed that huge pockets of the city are disadvantaged when it comes to convenient and frequent transport services. According to ABC News, a community group called the Sydney Alliance has commissioned maps revealing the proximity and frequency of public transport services throughout greater Sydney. Key findings of the […]
The market for charging stations for electric vehicles
Meanwhile, and somewhat in contradiction to our previous post, research released by Lux Research recently indicates that the market for delivering electricity to Electric Vehicles will rise to be a $1.2 billion market in 2020. Lux Research developed a forecast using vehicle sales to project the global electric-vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) market. According to a […]
13th Australian Parking Convention is a resounding success
Following in the steps of the November 2010 Convention, the Parking Association of Australia held its 13th event at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre earlier this week. The event was characterised by a high level of local and international speakers that had the delegates particularly riveted to their seats. The exhibiton, in Hall 6 […]
Avoiding holiday parking stress
Whilst still very early in the holiday season, that doesn’t stop some department stores displaying Christmas decorations and nor is it too early for the International Parking Institute to publish a list of tips to help avoid parking stress during the holiday period. According to a press release on the IPI site, shoppers who circle […]
Smart paint lights your way on the highway
The Netherlands is introducing a form of ‘smart highway’, featuring glow-in-the-dark tarmac and dynamic paint that warns drivers of weather conditions. The roads will include interactive lighting and an induction priority lane for electric vehicles, with the aim of using light, energy and road signs that automatically adapt to varying traffic conditions. The design and concept […]
Public transport use in Sydney on the rise
Results from the latest Sydney transport Census snapshot released yesterday have revealed that public transport use is increasing, but the car remains the dominant mode for people commuting to work. In the five years to 2011, Sydney’s total workforce increased from 1.9 million to 2.06 million, with the proportion of people using public transport growing […]
For parking to make dollars it needs to make sense
A great article on common sense in parking planning was recently published by the Houston Chronicle, which contains many simple truths about balancing parking supply and demand and the retail requirements of a high street area. In Houston, a partnership between a ‘downtown business booster’ and the top parking representative from the city, has begun […]
NSW’s proposed Opal ticketing system
Sydney residents can expect the first release of an electronic ticketing system at the end of 2012 as a part of the NSW Transport Master plan and a commitment in the NSW Budget, released in June. The ticketing system, called Opal, will be rolled out on Sydney’s ferries by the end of this year, before […]
Plug-in vehicles, plugged in policy?
A report from the UK’s Transport Select Committee recently published in Britain has claimed that sales of electric vehicles (EV’s) are on forecast for growth but remain relatively small despite the introduction of a Government plug-in grant. Incentives offered by the government include financial subsidies for consumers as well as funding for publicly available vehicle […]
West Hollywood automated parking garage
The City of West Hollywood (LA) engaged technology company Unitronics to design, engineer, fabricate, install and maintain a 200-car automated vehicle storage and retrieval system for the City Hall. This is a $2.6 million project, according to the City’s website. The automated parking system is indeed impressive, with the automated garage able to hold as […]