Green badges to encourage electric car investment
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has called for free parking for electric vehicles in an attempt to encourage UK drivers to switch to the more environmentally friendly mode of travel. An article published by the Guardian this week, explains that the concept is similar to the existing blue badge scheme for disabled drivers. […]
Electric cars to have a home at Highland Park, Chicago
The Chicago Tribune has reported Highland Park, a municipality of Chicago, will create areas in its downtown to accommodate electric cars. The city will consider priority parking spaces and reduced vehicle sticker fees to further incentivise electric car owners. The concept is hoped to be not only good for the environment, but also may help […]
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 […]
Hobart’s Bike Hubs turn drab into art
Bicycle racks are generally seen as a functional yet drab and unimaginative element of the urban landscape. In Hobart, recently commissioned bike hubs, have turned that idea on its head. The bike hubs are the vision of local architect and designer, Ken Betlehem, to whom they represent an understanding of international bike parking best practice, […]
National Cycling Strategy to make roads safer for cyclists
A report released late last year by Austroads entitled Cycling on Higher Speed Roads will dovetail into the agency’s National Cycling Strategy 2011-2016. Leon Patterson, National Director Infrastructure Management for the IPWEA says the report provides options for public works professionals to consider when seeking ways to accommodate bicycles on Australian roads. The latest report is only […]
Car park design – an interesting beast
In any development, there is a fine line between the interests of the engineer, the developer, the investor and the end user. Ultimately all are after a solution which works, but it can be the age-old battle between cost and benefit which dictates terms. In a previous post entitled Why Simple Design is Often […]
WA Labor’s election pledge to trial satellite car parks
Western Australia’s Opposition Leader Mark McGowan has pledged a series of measures to reduce Perth’s traffic congestion. The plan improves direct rail access to Perth Airport and would add an extra 17,000 parking bays around the rail network over the next eight years. The pre-election commitment comes as part of Labor’s $3.8B Metronet Plan aimed […]
Jakarta’s off-street parking tariff hike to “cover loss insurance for car owners”
The doubling of Jakarta’s off-street parking tariffs to Rp 4,000 per hour (AUD$0.41) prior to the last year’s gubernatorial (City Governor) elections will be challenged in an Indonesian court. Lawyer David Tobing has filed a lawsuit against the Jakarta Legislative Council over the higher parking tariffs, claiming the unannounced hike by the former regime led […]
Free Weekend Parking Trial Halted for Gold Coast Light Rail
A trial to provide free weekend parking in Southport and Surfers Paradise has now been permanently quashed following a review which found that the cost to the city outweighed the benefit to retailers and shoppers. The parking trial was proposed early last year by Councillor Tom Tate as part of his Mayoral election campaign and […]
More parking required for rail project success: Springfield, Brisbane
The site of the Springfield railway station due to open this year. A new rail link south west of Brisbane, spanning The Darra to Springfield will reportedly deliver a major capacity upgrade for the Western Corridor’s transport needs. The project is on track to be delivered by Queensland’s transport Minister on or ahead of time […]
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 […]
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, […]
Minimum parking requirements in Sacramento
The City of Sacramento, California, has announced a reduction in the number of parking spaces that new commercial and urban housing projects will be required to build. According to the Sacramento Bee, city planners say existing parking rules cause some would-be business owners to back away. For some apartment complexes and residential buildings, parking requirements […]
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 […]
Hola from Santiago
A guest post from Parking & Traffic Consultants’ Managing Partner, Cristina Lynn Hola to all our blog readers! George Burton, Grant McLean and I are in Santiago, Chile to kick start a project for a major shopping centre owner. The project will include design review, signage and wayfinding and external traffic issues. I thought you […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]