Shrinkable cars are all the rage
Following last week’s post about MIT’s ‘folding’ Hiriko City Car, scientists have unveiled a similar 2.1m ‘pod’ car that can shrink to fit into tight parking spaces. The car’s length can be reduced by 50 centimetres by the driver for those tight parking spots, and like the Hiriko, it also features wheels that can turn […]
Dynamic on-street pricing overview
We came across a video on the Parking Today site this week that explains how dynamic pricing for on-street meters works. Created by IPS Smart Meters, the company responsible for San Francisco’s SFPark project, the video features contributions from Donald Shoup, John Van Horn and many more. It’s a simple overview of how the technology […]
London 2012 sets out venue parking plans
The world’s biggest transportation and parking challenge (the Olympics) has seen the London 2012 Organising Committee publish proposals for parking management and parking plans around all Olympic and Paralympic venues in London. According to the Organising Committee’s press release, the proposed plans would see a number of traffic alterations and parking restrictions in the vicinity […]
Parking Pods make it into the vernacular
An interesting article in this weekend’s SMH talks about parking pods and other kinds of pods, following the introduction of parking sensors to the Lane Cove area on Sydney’s north shore. If you are interested in words and word play, we would encourage you to visit the author (David Astle) on his website here.
NYC tests parking sensors
The NYC Department of Transportation is piloting a program in the Bronx that uses in-ground sensors to monitor the location of available parking spaces. The pilot’s aim is to test how the sensors survive the harsh NYC winter, standing up to a variety of factors including snow plowing, daily street sweeping, underground utilities, electromagnetic interference […]
Melbourne underground car park street art preview
Here is an update on Melbourne’s underground street art project we wrote about recently, as the project has started to take shape. Around 90 artists from New York, Paris, Amsterdam and Melbourne came together to paint over 8,600 square feet of wall space over the 3 levels of Emerald House in South Melbourne. Reminds us […]
How does mass transit entice users en mass?
We love examples of thinking that’s different and brings a new perspective to planning and transportation. We came across an article on Slate.com this week that discussed British consultant Charles Leadbeater’s matrix for re-thinking city design and management. Based on the psychologist Simon Baron-Choen’s work with Asperger’s patients, Leadbeater divided city transportation and management on […]
Melbourne Airport opens new ‘Ring & Ride’ area
Melbourne Airport has introduced a new ‘Ring and Ride’ waiting area in its long term car park, where drivers can wait for arriving passengers to phone to say that they are ready to be picked up from the airport’s terminal. According to the Australian Business Traveller, Airport CEO Chris Woodruff explained that the Ring & […]
Dutch bicycle congestion
The Dutch are facing the consequences of their own cycling success, including congestion, lack of parking and infrastructure. In a country where bicycles outnumber people by 1.2 million, the Dutch have simply run out of space to accommodate the 5 million cyclists who take to the road every day. In Amsterdam alone, 490,000 cyclists travel […]
Parking news review 2011
Another year, another summary. In what has become an annual tradition, we try and distil the key news and trends from the Wayfinding Forum blog. It’s no easy job, with just under 200 posts published every year… Parking rates and sentiment In 2011, Australian parking rates and the construction industry sentiment were inversely proportional. Sydney […]
Avoiding storefront crashes
We came across an incredible video this week caught on the CCTV of a car crashing through the front window of a store. Amazingly, no one was hurt other than a few scratches and bruises. Watch the video above and here. The International Parking Institute has recently published an article written by Mark Wright on […]
Technology breakthrough counters abuse of disabled parking
A New Zealand company has developed technology that will monitor and manage disabled parking, with the aim of putting to an end the misuse of disability parking permits. Instead of carrying a printed permit, disabled drivers would have an electronic tag in their car that can be read by sensors placed in the parking bays. […]
The world’s most crowded parking lot?
This parking lot in Sichuan Province, China, manages to squeeze around 70 cars into an area of just 500 square metres. The video says it all!
Do bicycles improve urban economies?
We came across an interesting piece this week which attempted to analyse the economic impact (and benefit) of using bicycles over cars, given the increasing uptake and supporting infrastructure being implemented in cities in Australia and around the world. In theory, it’s a good idea – bicycle-related infrastructure is relatively cheap to install compared to […]
Heathrow airport pods are now in motion
According to BAA’s Commercial Press office, the pod system consists of 21 low energy, battery powered, driverless, zero emission vehicles capable of carrying four passengers and their luggage along a dedicated 3.8km guide way. The pods will carry 500,000 passengers each year, giving them a smooth and virtually silent five minute ride. The journey is […]
The next level in real-time traffic updates
A fleet of ‘probe’ vehicles has been developed as part of a system designed to monitor peak-hour traffic congestion, warning road users of delays in traffic. According to SMH.com.au, the vehicles, often hire cars, taxis or delivery vans, can relay their speed and location via satellite to a central hub that sends traffic warnings to […]
Cristina is on the move (again)…
The next couple of weeks will be very interesting for Cristina Lynn. She is bound for South America to attend a couple of challenging conferences. First stop is Brazil where a former organiser of the Intertraffic event in The Netherlands started a series of trade events in Sao Paulo, called TranspoQuip. This year, in addition […]
Australian Parking Convention 2012
The Parking Association of Australia has announced the 13th Australian Parking Convention to be held once again at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, on November 11 – 13, 2012. The program will be designed to appeal to a broad range of individuals working within the parking industry, as well as providing a number of […]
Brisbane’s Westfield Chermside activates paid parking
Last week, Brisbane’s Westfield Chermside shopping centre activated its paid parking scheme, which provides three hours of free parking, $2 for parking between 3 and 3.5 hours; $3 for 4 hours, $6 for 5 hours, and a flat rate of $20 for 7 hours or more. Westfield first announced the paid parking measures in late […]
Promising parking policies for India
Paul Barter is Assistant Professor of LKY School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. He recently delivered a keynote presentation in Delhi on some of the promising parking policies worldwide, with lessons for India highlighted for the delegation. From his observations, the dire parking problems in India (caused by an explosion in wealth and […]
Madame Parking: Teresa Sapey
When in Bogota recently for a client meeting, Cristina Lynn came across a very interesting woman dubbed “Madame Parking” by a Spanish design magazine. Teresa Sapey is an architect and designer based in Madrid, Spain. Amongst a wide range of beautiful and innovative public and private works (including this stunning video of Madrid’s Christmas Lights […]
1111 Lincoln Road Miami continues to impress
This month’s Parking Professional magazine, published by the International Parking Institute, includes a four-page spread on the groundbreaking parking garage at 1111 Lincoln Road, Miami. From our perspective, we are impressed at the way the garage is commanding the attention of the artistic elite in Miami, as a venue for weddings and as an art […]
Cycling in China and Australia
An article published last week on The Conversation drew comparisons between cycling in China and Australia, ultimately with the aim of applying learnings from the high bicycle usage in China to the growing but still infant usage in our country. The author, Matthew Burke, a research fellow at Griffith University, believes firstly that infrastructure is […]
Innovative garage door opener
A guest contribution from George Burton, our Senior Car Park Designer. Hopefully this video will either inspire you to innovate in your car parks, or at the very least, give you a laugh!
Technology enabling greater vehicle utilisation
We have posted in the past a number of articles about car sharing, with companies such as GoGet operating in Australia and Zipcar in the US. Robin Chase, the founder Zipcar, talked at TED in 2007 about a range of other technology-enabled ways of reducing car usage, the first being technology to enable ‘ridesharing’ – […]
New Los Angeles variable parking rates plan gets approval
Los Angeles has now followed San Francisco’s lead and has approved a pilot program that will adjust the cost of parking based on demand at various times throughout the day and the duration that motorists stay within each parking space. The program, called ExpressPark™, will use sensors and other technology to monitor around 6,000 sidewalk […]
The future of the LA meter plan?
Following from our previous post, the LA Times Cartoonist Ted Rall has provided his projection of what the future of the dynamic pricing system could have in store. The full cartoon is published below, or you can view on the LA Times site here. Thank you to Donald Shoup for sending this to us this […]
Barcelona’s bike sharing program health benefits
Last week, we published excerpts from an article written by Chris Rissel, Professor of Public Health at University of Sydney, about the Melbourne bike sharing scheme. One of Rissel’s arguments was that the low uptake of the bike sharing schemes in Australia was in part due to the mandatory helmet laws, going on to suggest […]
How’s this for a value add service
While recently working on a project in Broken Hill one of our consultants, Kelvin Worthington, spotted this great example of a value add service. While getting your car washed you can have your pooch washed at the same time!
Pods from the car park at Heathrow Airport
London’s Heathrow Airport has recently launched a commercial personal rapid transit system, with 22 electric autopilot pods now shuttling 800 passengers a day back and forth from parking lots to the British Airways terminal. Called ULTra, or Urban Light Transport, the pods are a self-driving, electric-powered pods which can carry four to six passengers plus […]