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 […]
Free 15-minute parking in Sydney CBD
The newly elected council of the City of Sydney is considering introducing 15 minutes free parking throughout the CBD. The first meeting of the council voted unanimously to conduct a feasibility study on the idea. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, parking allocation, charging and restrictions were the subject of debate between many of the […]
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 […]
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 […]
Can the bicycle save the high street?
Following an article we published in March, Why cyclists are better customers for local businesses, we recently came across another article that also found that cyclists and pedestrians tend to spend more money in local economies. According to TreeHugger, both Portland, Oregon and New York’s East Village have found that streets that promote cycling and […]
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 […]
Nissan previews a self-driving car
Hot on the heels of Google’s driverless car, Nissan last week debuted its own self-driving and parking car at the Ceatec exhibition in Japan. According to an article on Nissan’s website, the advanced functions on the car are controlled from a smartphone. When the driver gets to his destination, rather than looking for a parking […]
Seeing the back of the car
Following our article last week, ‘Population density puts the squeeze on cars’, we came across an in-depth article from The Economist this week, titled ‘Seeing the back of the car’. The article explores how in the developed world, people seem to be driving less than they used to, with both car ownership and distances driven […]
Parking and Traffic Consultants – on the move!
A message from Parking & Traffic Consultants’ Managing Partner, Cristina Lynn. I am pleased to announce that we are moving to larger premises to accommodate the expanding number of consultants. As from 5th October 2012 our new details will be as follows: Suite 102, 506 Miller Street Cammeray NSW 2062 Telephone: 02-89 200 800 Fax: […]
King of the car park
Lost no more?! More than 500 years since King Richard III was killed in battle, archaeologists believe they have finally found his skeleton buried beneath a council car park. Experts said a fully intact skeleton matched much about what they knew of the medieval king, including his reputation as a “hunchback”, and are hoping that […]
Sydney’s George Street : what does it look like with light rail?
The City of Sydney has put forward a proposal to contribute to the NSW State Government’s light rail project, transforming George Street into a world-class main street. Council has offered to work with the NSW Government by committing $180 million to the light rail project, including funding new pedestrian spaces, new information signage, upgraded public […]
Brisbane airport upgrade officially opened
The upgraded Brisbane Airport Domestic Terminal Precinct was officially opened on August 28. The redevelopment included an expansion to the Central Area Satellite and terminal aprons, construction of a new nine-storey car park, an elevated Skywalk, new forecourt area and central taxi rank, and reconfiguration of the road network in front of the terminal. The […]
Sydney Airport connects retail and parking to improve customer service
Sydney Airport has recently announced a car parking promotion designed to boost passenger traffic across a number of food, beverage and retail outlets in the terminal. According to a Moodie Report, the airport is offering two free cups of coffee, a copy of the Daily Telegraph from Newslink and a A$10 duty free voucher to […]
The case for eliminating disabled parking permits
As we’ve reported before, the abuse of disabled parking permits is widespread across the US (and not just there!). Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, New York and Philadelphia are all reporting problems, with the situation particularly bad in Los Angeles, where a 2010 investigation found disabled passes in 80 per cent of parked cars in a […]
Car sharing: data shows it may be working
The city of Hoboken, New Jersey, introduced a car sharing scheme over two years ago; based on the assumption that they would create parking spaces by taking them away. According to the New York Times, 42 of the city’s roughly 9,000 on-street spaces were allocated to the car sharing program upon inception. Survey data shows […]
Gambling with one’s life on city roads
And it’s not just the developing countries that are having issues with too many cars on the roads. A letter to the Sydney Morning Herald recently highlighted the changes in Sydney’s traffic and drivers’ attitudes. The author, Nestor Lexa, used to ride a bicycle, but on noticing that car drivers were becoming more and more […]
The world is on track to be one giant parking lot
A study recently published by Uri Dadush of the Carnegie Endowment proposed a new definition for ‘middle class’: those who own a car. Dadush contends that the number of passenger cars in circulation can be considered a direct measure of the middle class in developing countries. An article on TreeHugger says that if this theory […]
How much does it cost to buy a car park in Melbourne CBD?
Check our updated post with 2023 car park construction costs for all Australian capital cities. The 427-bay car park at 222 Russell Street in Melbourne’s CBD has sold for close to $17 million, at a yield of slightly more than 7 per cent. According to the Australian Financial Review, the result is a lot […]
NSW Government announces draft transport plan
On Tuesday this week, the NSW government announced the latest transport master plan, proposing four new motorways and another rail crossing under Sydney Harbour. The plan identifies four lead projects to complete the ‘missing links’ in Sydney’s motorway network: the M4 motorway extension between Strathfield in the inner west and the Port Botany–Sydney Airport precinct in […]
Britain’s parking demand
Following the recent publishing of the RAC report into UK parking policy and practice, the UK’s Telegraph has distilled many of the key findings of the report, including: The current number of cars on UK roads is 28.5 million. In 1950 there were two million cars on the roads, and the projection is to reach […]
Smarter parking meters for “human cities”
An article published by social scientist Thomas Erickson compares his experience of parking in two cities. In one, overstaying the allotted time on his meter led to a ‘courtesy ticket’ with no charge as a warning. In another city, a 3 minute lapse led to a $42 ticket, with no reprieve for first offenders. In […]
Driving versus riding your bike: a cost calculator
How much exactly does it cost to ride a bicycle instead of driving a car? There’s an answer for that, and it’s personalised to your own usage. The Saving Electricity site has come up with a biking vs driving calculator, that lets people plug in their own data to calculate how much they are able […]
Sydney’s public transport infrastructure solutions
As Sydney’s population grows, so too has the demand for supporting infrastructure, particularly between the city and the suburbs. Two initiatives announced this week aim to try and address this demand through increased capacity. The NSW Transport Minister announced last week the return of double-decker buses to Sydney’s roads, as part of a trial to […]
Victorian car park congestion levy to stay
A study published by Monash University has found that the congestion charge on city car parks in Melbourne has not eased congestion. The levy, introduced in 2006, applies to 50,000 car spaces in Melbourne and was designed to stop people driving into the city. According to Yahoo, The Victorian Treasurer Kim Wells claims that the […]
Los Angeles may reduce parking requirements for businesses
Los Angeles councillors have backed an ordinance that would allow real estate developers, landlords and business owners to reduce the number of parking spaces to be supplied their buildings and projects. According to the Los Angeles Times, the action represents an effort to breathe new life into tanking business districts and drive new housing construction […]
Sydney’s CBD bike path debate continues
Whilst on the subject of bikes, according to a number of expert reports obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald, the controversial bicycle lanes in Sydney’s CBD have made little to no impact on the city’s general traffic congestion. The consensus amongst traffic experts is that congestion continues as no car traffic lanes have been removed […]
Cycle-tecture in urban landscapes
A guest post from our Senior Traffic Consultant, Andrew Morse. Will the bicycle influence our future streetscapes? It’s not such a strange question when considering how the car influenced not only our streets, but our architecture too. In fact, according to Dr Steven Fleming, Professor of Architecture at the University of Newcastle, there are architectural […]
Around the country: Australian parking news wrap
A number of short stories we’ve collated in parking and transportation from around Australia over the past few weeks. Adelaide Airport has opened a new multi-level short term car park, providing customers with more efficient parking and a weather-proof link to the terminal. According to Impact Pub, the new short term car park is more […]