School Traffic: How much can Sydney take?
During school terms it is not only traffic which increases but also pressure on public transport systems, localised congestion around schools and particularly at drop off and pick up zones. All of this equates to an added strain on resources such as roads, public transport, police and local government and consequently to a drain on […]
Welcome to Parking Australia’s new president – Cristina Lynn
Photo credit: Parking Australia We would like to welcome the new President of Parking Australia, Cristina Lynn. At the Parking Australia event in Sydney on Wednesday 10th December, long standing President Larry Schneider announced his retirement from the role. Cristina is the Managing Partner at Parking and Traffic Consultants and has been actively involved in […]
Turning New York City’s parking lots into affordable housing
Photo Credit: Stefan Georgi/Flickr With New York City facing increasing pressure on housing affordability, the NYC based Institute for Public Architecture called for creative ideas and solutions for affordable housing. One of the most intriguing ideas came from fellows of the Institute Sagi Golan, Miriam Peterson and Nathan Rich, which targets the abundance of parking […]
Victoria Decides – Traffic congestion and public transport high on the agenda
In the days counting down to an election the promises and future party policies are announced in rapid fire as last ditch attempts to persuade the undecided. Every speech is an attempt to impress the overall electorate with the “trust us – we know what you really really want” persona of political parties. This process […]
Rise of the elevator car park
The evolution and adoption of the automobile as an everyday necessity is one of the most impacting of the 20th Century. In 1886 the ‘modern car’ was developed by Karl Benz and only 22 years later in 1908 the first Model T became available to the mass population. Move ahead only 20 years and the […]
A Parisian car park challenge
The Peninsula Hotel, situated in the heart of Paris was built in 1908, one of its many claims to fame being the site where George Gershwin wrote “An American in Paris” in 1928. It took two years to build and has recently undergone a four year restoration to bring it back to its former glory. […]
Canberra Pay Parking sparks surge in Bus use
The introduction of paid parking in the Parliamentary Triangle has finally moved Canberrans to leave the car behind and utilise the bus network, reports the Canberra Times. The change was introduced in order to increase the number of spaces available to visitors to the national institutions ( e.g., National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Old Parliament […]
Low cost Dynamic Signage?
No budget for the latest in Dynamic Signage technology to help your customers navigate quickly to that elusive parking spot? Here’s a rather basic version spotted in the US which comes complete with an attendant who updates the sign as required. And another less than dynamic example from Cleveland Airport which apparently won’t require much […]
Airport Parking Infographic a winner
We love a great infographic, and here’s an interesting one from Budapest Airport, Hungary, which is experiencing very strong growth in parking (up 40% in 2014 to over 1 million vehicles). It features a visual comparison of alternative methods of getting to the airport, and helps the traveller choose the best parking option taking into […]
Free parking to boost EV sales in Germany
The German cabinet has backed a bill designed to stimulate demand for electronic vehicles by enabling municipalities to offer EV owners incentives such as free parking, and the use of bus lanes, as reported by Businessweek. As a world leader in car manufacturing, the bill simultaneously aims to stimulate the sluggish sales of EVs in Germany […]
IKEA tries urban stores with No Parking
IKEA is making a foray into the urban market with a number of new “city” stores that have smaller footprints and no parking provision. It sounds improbable if not impossible, given that the mainstay of IKEA inventory is the DIY flat packs which could be rather difficult to carry home on the bus, train or […]
Record price for parking in NYC
Trendy SoHo in New York City is in the news for setting a record asking price for a parking spot. The new project at 42 Crosby Street was a former parking lot and is now being developed into 10 luxury apartments (architect Annabelle Selldorf’s rendering above), as reported in the NY Times. With apartments priced […]
Adelaide embraces Park(ing) Day 2014
Hats off to the City of Adelaide, putting Australia on the map as one of the southern hemisphere’s most enthusiastic supporters of World Park(ing) Day, set for September 19th. With its origins in 2005 in San Francisco, Park(ing) day is an annual event held on the third Friday of September, which sees parking spaces converted […]
QR Codes help locate travellers’ cars at US airport
Indianapolis International Airport is using Quick Response (QR) Code technology to help travellers locate their parked carswhich can be challenging in large lots, especially for infrequent travellers. As reported on the QR Code Press, QR Codes have now been added to shelters throughout the Economy lot (8,000 spaces), and also on pillars on upper […]
Innovative car park with roof-top sports ground
The latest addition to our list of “Alternative uses for a Car Park” will now include “sporting field”. The University of Colorado in Colorado Springs has recently completed a new car park which doubles as a sports venue, as reported in The Gazette. With its ribbon-cutting ceremony this month, the USD $23M project will simultaneously […]
They didn’t even bother to pave this paradise!
The land of my forebears never ceases to amaze me… Sicily is a land of contrasts. On the one hand you can book a hotel in Palermo for around 100 euros a night and find yourself in a room with this ceiling: On the other, where else could a beautiful beach like the one above […]
A brief history of the much-maligned parking meter
Parking meter technology has changed considerably in the last 10 years, but not much in the 70 years before that! In case you were wondering (and even if you weren’t), here’s a brief visual history of the parking meter, as told by JNL Parking in the US. The parking meter was first conceived in 1932 […]
Realigning public perception of parking meters
In a recent article from SFGate, Donald Shoup suggests that parking meters could be made more attractive politically by utilising technology which gives cities the option to offer discounts to local residents. By using pay-by-license technology (linking payment information to license plates), municipalities can now structure pricing systems which recognise and favour their residents. Smart […]
Parking people adapt well to GenFlux
We have had permission from US-based Vanessa Solesbee to re-blog her recent article that appeared in The Parking Professional magazine on The Importance of People. The article explains why parking industry people seem to be adapting particularly well to the new paradigm, “Generation Flux”, where mastering change has become the defining characteristic of today’s successful […]
MonkeyParking App shut down in US
Beware: not all apps that come to market actually serve the common good, and some might even be illegal. Italian-based MonkeyParking found this out the hard way when it was told last week to “cease and desist” operations in San Francisco or face a lawsuit. MonkeyParking is (was) an app that allows drivers to auction […]
Dusseldorf airport employs smart valet robot
In a new twist on automatic garaging, Düsseldorf Airport is now offering travellers the latest in valet parking technology, as reported by the Washington Post. A self-driving robotic forklift, named Ray, manages the task with ease, utilising laser navigation and mapping software to gently deliver your car to its parking spot. The agile forklift technology […]
Journey to a Better Block
An enthusiastic group of Dallas residents recently transformed a busy intersection into a pop-up pedestrian plaza. The notable feature of the event, reported in Treehugger, was not just that they found yet another use for duct tape — the weekend event was actually an effort to revitalize a stalled community redevelopment project that had come […]
Melbourne’s worst parkers in the spotlight
For the last post of the financial year, we thought we would celebrate parking with a bit of light relief. As we all know, the days of anonymity are long gone since the advent of Social media and smart phones with cameras. Back in the day, you could do something really stupid and no-one had […]
Google Now finds your parked car
Losing sight of one’s car happens all the time, and not just to the memory-impaired! As reported in The Verge, Smartphone users can easily avoid the problem thanks to a recently added feature in the Google Now suite. The latest update takes the popular map app one step further, producing a “parking card” to remind […]
US operators adopting size-based parking charges
As an adjunct to our Madrid post, we note that some parking operators in the US are also adopting variable pricing measures, but this has more to do with a scarcity of space than any green initiative. According to the Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch, drivers of large SUVs are being charged extra to […]
Beware the bollard!
Last month, AAMI published its Annual Crash statistics including state-by-state comparisons of the most common types of events. The National averages have remained reasonably consistent year to year in most categories, with the most common cause, nose-to-tail collisions, hovering between 27% and 29%. Second on the list is the “parked car ding” which by contrast, […]
NYPD targets its own in parking enforcement blitz
The New York City Police Department’s Internal Affairs unit is on a mission – to curtail the widely-held view that certain government vehicles can park where they like without consequence. The NY Times reports that a small towing unit belonging to the IAB is charged with cleaning up No Standing Zones around the city being […]
Car park data helps US retailer improve bottom line
US DIY retailer, Lowes, is using data collected from its car parks to optimise staffing ratios and gain a competitive advantage against its rival, Home Depot. As reported by Bloomberg Business Week, hourly images of the car park are collected by satellite, and these are analysed to help paint a picture of the peaks and […]
Customer Service anyone?
Here’s a fabulous post from former chair of the International Parking Institute (IPI), Casey Jones which appeared last month in the IPI’s blog, Parking Matters. With Casey’s permission, we are re-blogging it to our network. The lesson is short and sweet, and compulsory reading for any business that thinks it offers GREAT customer service…just make […]
Tick of approval for safer car parks
The reputation of car parks is slowly evolving, but there is definitely more work to be done in ensuring that they are safe places for the people that use them. Unfortunately, they are still a common place for thugs to commit a crime, be it robbery, assault or even murder. The responsibility of owners and […]