The new Italian Police Lamborghini
We received an email from an anonymous contributor this week with images from Italy of the new Italian Lamborghini Gallardo Police car. One of two new high-speed patrol cars designed to catch speeding drivers. It seems as though the car met an unfortunate end, although one of our eagle-eyed contributors did point out that the […]
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, […]
Free parking under threat for NZ workers
A report prepared by the New Zealand Transport Agency has recommended that the government investigate changing the fringe benefit tax to include employer-subsidised parking. The proposed additional tax is being considered to address concerns that employees are undermining attempts to ‘encourage more efficient commuting behaviour’. According to Stuff.co.nz, more than half of the country’s workforce […]
Mercedes pushing digital innovation
We have come across two technological innovations this week from auto manufacturer Mercedes that are pushing the boundaries in parking and driving. The first sees the integration of Apple’s voice recognition technology (called ‘Siri’) into their vehicles, allowing users to access their iPhone and applications through voice commands. According to Discovery.com, the system will transfer […]
Volvo pedestrian air bags a hit
Volvo has recently announced a world first in the introduction of a new safety technology it calls Pedestrian Detection. According to ZDNet, it’s part of Volvo’s IntelliSafe system that, in the first instance, will brake sharply if someone steps in the way. If the car goes on to hit someone, an external airbag on the […]
Pay by phone may now become a reality
The NSW government has recently changed legislation for on-street parking, paving the way for the introduction of ‘phone parking’. After registering their details with a third party operator, drivers would then either use a smartphone application or call a toll-free number to send their car registration details to the system, advising of their arrival in […]
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 […]
Incompetent bike thief caught on camera in NYC
We came across a great video this week on TreeHugger, showing a hooded bandit’s unsuccessful attempts to steal the handlebars from a locked bike in New York. Watch the video below.
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, […]
US town residents to build an off airport parking facility
Residents of Decatur in Indianapolis, US, have received approval to open a paid parking lot near the local airport, with revenues going to the community rather than the airport authority. The private group of residents were successful in defeating strong opposition from the mayor’s office and the airport who claimed that parking is not the […]
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 green are EVs in China?
A recent study by researchers at the University of Tennessee has explored the impact of electric vehicles on China’s air quality and particulate matter emissions (the most likely to result in health issues). According to the study published in TreeHugger, the particulate matter impacts per passenger-km in most Chinese cities are greater for e-cars than […]
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 […]
France grants cyclists the right to run red lights
Following a nationwide pro-cycling campaign, the French government has issued a decree allowing cyclists in some cities to disregard red lights at certain intersections. Until now cyclists have been subject to the same rules of the road as other vehicles. According to TreeHugger, the newly relaxed road rules for cyclists are now being tested across […]
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 […]
London’s bendy buses no more
London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson, has made good another of his promises, seeing the large ‘bendy buses’ removed from the city’s public transport system. Whilst removing larger vehicles with greater capacity may seem counter-intuitive, an article on TreeHugger discusses the pros and cons of removing the buses: They are faster to board, having three sets of […]
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. […]
Cycling in the world’s greatest cities
London’s Cycle Hire bikes are seeing significant popularity, with now more than 8.6 million trips made on the ‘Boris Bikes’ since the scheme opened one year ago. The number of bikes means that they’re near ubiquitous – with 6,000 bikes available through 400 docking stations around central London, according to smh.com.au. Their popularity is due […]
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!
Argentinian airports and Brazilian parking
The First National Airports Congress, “Airport Show Argentina”, has drawn to a close, with Parking & Traffic Consultants’ Managing Partner Cristina Lynn one of the speakers at the inaugural show. Over 800 registrants were presided over by the Argentine Transport Secretary and the Tourism Minister, and included representatives from all major Argentine airlines, government bodies […]
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 […]
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 […]
Madame Parking follow up: Parking Hotel Puerta America
As a follow up to our post last week about Madrid’s ‘Madame Parking’, Teresa Sapey, we came across a great video which shows her talking about her recent project for Hotel Puerta America. Teresa talks about how the project came to be, as well as her inspiration for the design of the car park that […]
Italian couple fined for parking car illegally 1803 years ago
An Italian woman suffered shock and dizzy spells and was forced to go to the hospital after receiving a parking fine for 32,000 euros ($42,440). The Repubblica newspaper reported Sicilian police issued the head-spinning fine to the woman earlier this month. The fine was supposed to be dated 2008, but the date was incorrectly entered […]
Davis Langdon Construction Sentiment Survey, Q3 2011
The September release of the Davis Langdon Sentiment Survey has seen the key sentiment indicator drop considerably from the April results, now down to -11 percent. According to Davis Langdon, this reflects a growing and ongoing uncertainty that has marked the industry through much of 2011. Optimism has declined in most states, which is reflected […]
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 […]