Perth airport introduces Park & Wait short-term facility
Perth airport has introduced a new Park & Wait facility in a bid to discourage illegal parking by the main entrance to the domestic terminal. According to The West Australian, despite all short-term car parks at the airport being free for the first 10 minutes, approximately 63,000 motorists are illegally parking around the precinct waiting […]
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 […]
Which lane today?
A guest post by Andrew Morse, our senior traffic engineer. A question was posted on a Linkedin group recently asking “does the ‘Keep Right Unless Overtaking’ rule still apply in the US?”. This got me thinking about the situation in Australia, where like other countries that drive on the sensible side of the road, the […]
IBM launches city parking analytics system
IBM has announced the launch of a system designed to help ease parking congestion, collect more parking fees, and help motorists find parking spaces more easily in crowded urban areas. According to PCWorld, the system is being offered in conjunction with Streetline leveraging their remote sensor technology, combined with IBM’s analytical software which aggregates the […]
For heaven’s sake can we stop queuing through intersections?
A guest post by Andrew Morse, our senior traffic engineering consultant There, I’ve said it and I feel much better. Well not really because every day I am astounded by the number of drivers who think it’s perfectly acceptable to enter an intersection (typically on amber) knowing full well that they can’t clear the intersection […]
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’ – […]
SA Transport Chief calls for reduced CBD car parking
The Advertiser reported this week that the chief executive of Adelaide City Council’s Transport Department has called for a reduction in the number of car spaces in the CBD, and an increase in parking pricing. Rod Hook, Transport Department chief executive, was reported by The Advertiser as saying that Adelaide commuters had become too used […]
Airport car parking prices and performance
According to a recently released Productivity Commission draft report, Australia’s five major airports have been found not to be misusing their market power in setting car parking and land access rates. The report, entitled ‘Economic Regulation of Airport Services’, differed from the findings of the report into airport parking prices by the Australian Competition and […]
Mobile cashless payments by card and phone
Following our recent blog post about the launch of ‘Google Wallet’ and the emergence of secure payments by mobile phones using ‘Near Field Communications’ (NFC), one of the UK’s largest transport operators announced this week that it will be fitting contactless card readers to its fleet of approximately 5,000 buses across England in 2012. FirstGroup aims […]
Bendigo considering LPR monitoring technology
The City of Bendigo is considering following Melbourne’s lead and introducing electronic parking monitoring technology. According to the Bendigo Advertiser, the proposed system uses license plate recognition technology to electronically ‘chalk’ vehicles, automatically detecting vehicles that have overstayed the time restrictions in the area. The technology is part of several recommended amendments to the parking […]
Canberra developers call for review of parking requirements
Following our recent post on the establishment of the Car Parking Advisory Committee to review changes to the car parking provisions (refer to our previous article here), Canberra is the latest Australian city to be reconsidering their minimum parking requirements. Developers are offering lower priced residential units and less traffic congestion in return for fewer […]
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 […]
Victoria reviews car parking planning provisions
Victoria’s Department of Planning and Community Development (DPCD) has established the Car Parking Advisory Committee 2011 to review proposed changes to car parking provisions in the Victorian Planning Provisions and planning schemes. According to the Property Council of Australia, the proposed changes made by the DPCD are based on the recommendations of a final report […]
Are helmet laws reducing Melbourne’s bike share usage?
We recently published an article entitled ‘Why is Melbourne’s bike sharing scheme underperforming’, which explored a range of possible reasons as to why the sharing scheme is seeing underutilisation and lower than projected rider numbers. One of the reasons suggested was the compulsory helmet laws. An article published on The Conversation on August 9 by […]
Sydney bus study finds no end to the congestion
The Sydney Morning Herald published results from a report on Sydney’s bus terminus at Wynyard and the resulting congestion across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. According to the paper, released to the Herald, the report shows that the York Street bus stops, used by thousands of commuters from the northern areas of Sydney, were already operating […]
Does parking supply influence transport planning?
Sareco, a Paris-based firm, recently published a paper that explores car parking management and transport policies, and their influence on greenhouse gas emissions. Notably, the paper claims that most urban trips (both for commuting and pleasure) are influenced by the parking conditions at their origin and destination. Further, a research paper by UK-based academic Adrian […]
Post-Carmageddon lessons
The Los Angeles Times published an opinion piece this week following Carmageddon, opening with a line that we think is great: ‘Now that we’ve finished freaking out about the weekend closure of 10 miles of the 405 Freeway, can we do something about the fact that it’s Carmageddon every single day in West Los Angeles?’ […]
Newcastle considers variable car parking pricing
Newcastle City Council is currently considering a number of new on-street paid parking measures, including the possible introduction of a flexible pricing strategy, similar to the SFPark system currently being trialled in San Francisco. The new parking strategy is being driven by increased congestion in the city, and includes an extension of paid parking until […]
Proposed revised public transport model for Sydney
A report released by the Tourism Transport Forum has recommended that Sydney’s complex and unreliable public transport timetables should be scrapped and replaced by frequent peak-period bus, train and ferry services. According to the Daily Telegraph, the report recommends a major investment in technology to provide real-time information for commuters, with simple SMS texts and […]
Los Angeles ‘carmageddon’ a non event
Last weekend, the closure of one of Los Angeles’ busiest freeways, the Interstate 405, was predicted to cause traffic jams of epic proportions. The partial demolition of a bridge requiring the freeway’s closure saw the authorities warning Los Angeles residents that driving over the weekend could lead to a significant congestion effect, with vehicles backing […]
New York to create a pedestrian wayfinding system
This week, New York City’s Department of Transportation announced that they were planning to add signage to the streets to help pedestrians navigate the city more easily. The wayfinding system will provide clear signs that tell people their location, how long it takes to walk to key locations and gives a map of the area. […]
Colliers North America car parking rates survey 2011
Colliers have just released their North America statistics from their car parking rates survey. As a whole, parking rates did not increase or registered little change over the past twelve months, reflecting the uneven nature of the economic recovery. This is across both daily and monthly parking rates, although daily rates saw a modest increase […]
Europe moves towards reducing cars in cities
Cristina Lynn, Parking & Traffic Consultants’ Managing Partner, is currently attending the World Parking Symposium in Canada, presenting a research paper on ‘How do Australian cities manage parking?’ Her research and presentation is in part based on a comparison with research developed by the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy in New York. You can […]
TED: Bill Ford discusses a future beyond traffic gridlock
We came across a TED Talk this week by Bill Ford, great-grandson of Henry Ford, who has spent over 30 years working for the Ford Motor Company. He recently delivered a speech at TED which discussed both his concerns about the impact of cars on the environment, as well as what, for him, is a […]
Melbourne CBD to install electric car charging stations
Melbourne City Council is currently in the process of voting on a plan to install charging stations for electric cars in 12 on-street parking spaces in Melbourne’s city centre. The program is being introduced by the Department of Transport, with Melbourne’s Lord Mayor Robert Doyle claiming that it is important to assist motorists with faith […]
Brisbane’s Westfield Chermside introduces paid parking
Last week, Brisbane’s Westfield Chermside shopping centre announced plans to introduce paid parking. The shopping centre, previously providing free, unlimited parking, will now introduce paid parking for parking durations of over three hours, in a bid to stop commuters taking up spaces meant for shoppers. According to the Courier Mail, this will be the first […]
Mackay introduces paid monthly parking permits
Mackay Regional Council has recently announced the development of an online paid parking system, allowing customers to pre-purchase their parking permits. The permits apply for off-street car parking in five car parks in the CBD, and are available for periods of one, three, six or twelve months. You can view the announcement on the […]
Barangaroo – errata corrige
During the week, we were contacted by Lend Lease in regards to our blog post last week about Barangaroo, titled ‘Sydney’s Barangaroo precinct faces transportation challenges‘. As a result, we would like to take the time to publish several points conveyed to us by Lend Lease’s communications team in relation to our post. First of all, […]