Colliers global parking rate survey 2011
Following the release of the North American parking rates two weeks ago, Colliers this week released their global parking rates survey results. Melbourne has now overtaken Sydney as the world’s third most expensive place to park based on daily rates, at US$69.53 ($64.23) a day, while Sydney was fourth at US$67.42. Only Copenhagen and Oslo […]
How many parking spaces are enough if your development is in Wynyard?
The developers of a new building at Sydney’s Wynyard station are clashing with the City of Sydney over parking requirements. According to an article published by the Daily Telegraph, the developers want 177 parking spaces for the 3,500 employee capacity building, claiming that the building needs that number of spaces to attract high-profile tenants. On […]
…as India also considers their car parking requirements
The Wayfinding Forum’s ‘shadow author’ recently visited India on a fact finding mission to examine the parking situation in Mumbai. Both the photo above and the video below were captured by our correspondent whilst on location. As you can see, both traffic and parking are growing problems in the city, and we expect that this […]
Sydney car parking rates set to rise
Sydney City Council have released detailed income forecasts showing that on-street parking costs are set to increase from $6 to $7 per hour, delivering an additional $1.9 million next financial year, alongside plans to increase revenue from car parks by up to 30 per cent to $58.8 million in 10 years. According to a news […]
Manly Council – great parking developments!
Manly Council (in Sydney’s Northern Beaches) announced last week plans to build a two storey car park underneath Manly Oval, as part of a plan to reduce the number of cars in the village area. The 800-space underground car park will allow Council to demolish two other at grade car parks with a combined capacity […]
How much parking is enough?
Following the lead of Sydney and Melbourne Councils recently reducing the minimum parking requirements in both residential and commercial buildings, Wollongong City Council announced last week that they plan to reduce minimum parking requirements in the CBD by almost 20 per cent. The Illawarra Mercury reported that the first instalment of a three-stage review of […]
Honk For iPhone
The parking app business is booming at the moment, with the release of another great parking application for iPhones, called ‘Honk’. It includes a range of features to help with the management of the parking process – from a timer which can be set when parking, with minute by minute updates of remaining time on […]
Davis Langdon’s Construction Sentiment Monitor update April 2011
The April release has seen the Sentiment Index drop by three points from the previous release in September 2010, down to an index score of 60. Key findings from this quarter’s Sentiment Monitor include: workload expectations dip into negative access to finance remains greatest obstacle tightening of competition Health and Civil & Resource sectors most […]
Issues regarding safety in car parks
A car with its driver fell six stories in Melbourne CBD on Monday, after it drove through the safety rail at a car park off Anthony Street, between Elizabeth and Queen Streets. Despite the huge fall, the driver, a 41-year-old woman, was found alive, hanging sideways from her seatbelt. The car fell into the side […]
Useful tips for reviewing Councils’ parking strategies
The recent volume and variety of articles appearing on the media locally and internationally with regards to parking management, parking strategies and revenue generation has caused us to stop and think about these important issues. On-street parking controls are often introduced by local councils to improve management of available spaces as a response to regular […]
What’s the cost of a parking spot?
The value of parking spaces is one of our blog’s favourite topics. We published a story recently about a stand-alone garage in Bondi, Sydney, selling for almost a quarter of a million dollars. This week, we have come across an article about the impact of an off-street parking space on the value of a private […]
Electric storm on the way
An opinion piece published in the Sydney Morning Herald’s ‘Drive’ section (written by Top Gear’s former ‘Stig’) explores and reports on test drives carried out on electric vehicles and sports cars. The article contains interesting comments on the technology and supporting infrastructure of the electric car, but we were mostly struck by the apparently inevitable […]
A car park minus the cars
A new Federally-funded car park in Fisher Street, Cabramatta, in Sydney’s West, is top of the range – with electronic parking displays, well-lit, polished and coloured interiors, landscaped gardens, native hardwood exterior panelling, and a 200-panel solar system feeding into the electricity grid. However, according to a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald, it […]
Colliers 2010 Global CBD Parking Rate Survey
Colliers have released their Global CBD Parking Rate Survey for 2010, with Australian cities again featuring high in the rankings. According to the survey, Sydney is now the fourth most expensive city to park (USD $51.18 daily), behind Oslo, Tokyo, and London (City), but ahead of major centres including London (West End), New York and […]
Urban planner Jan Gehl discusses Sydney’s potential
The City of Sydney recently hosted a series of ‘City Talks’ at the Sydney Town Hall, exploring how the city can become a better place to live in for all residents. This included a presentation by Janette Sadik-Khan, Commissioner of New York City’s Transport Department; as well as a panel discussion and debate on how […]
Parking Consultants: 2010 in review
2010 was an exciting year for us and, although it seems to have flown by, when we look at what we have achieved it looks like at least we were not idle! Working back, we close the year with a new name “Parking & Traffic Consultants” to reflect our additional service offering. As you may […]
Perth Airport set for $500m upgrade
A $500m program is being deployed at Perth Airport over the next three years to meet growth in demand, giving the airport new and expanded passenger terminals, expanded aircraft parking areas, and greater public access to the terminal. The resources boom in Western Australia has contributed to a 7.5 per cent increase in the 2009-10 […]
NPA Third Annual Parking Survey
The National Parking Association (USA) released their Third Annual Review of Parking Rates in North America this month. Key findings of this year’s study include: Parking facilities in and near airports were hit hardest, with 56 percent of on-airport and 44 percent of off-airport facilities reporting a decrease in 2009 revenues. Municipal operators and facilities […]
Debate continues over high-rise Barangaroo developments
In contrast to the residential sprawl of Sydney’s west, the development of Sydney’s urban precinct Barangaroo is only going up and up. Last week, developers Lend Lease released the plans for the first of three giant office towers for the East Darling Harbour development, known as ‘C4’. According to developers, C4 will be the ‘greenest business address in the […]
It’s not an art installation
Last week, a SAAB parked in a Darlington parking station was the innocent party in a parking mishap. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, it had been simply sitting there, parked, minding its own vehicular business, when it was accidentally rammed by a learner driver in a Toyota Camry, sending it through the boundary brick […]
Australian Parking Convention day two photo gallery
Following the successful second day of the Australian Parking Convention 2010, Parking and Traffic Consultants’ resident photographer Grant MacLean has supplied additional photographs capturing all of the action from the Convention. In the below slideshow, you can see several of the keynote speakers from day two, including shots from the conference floor and exhibitors stands, […]
Australian Parking Convention starts in a few days!
The 2010 Australian Parking Convention is due to commence at the end of this week, and Parking Consultants would strongly encourage members of the parking community across Australia to attend and make the most of the global knowledge that will be shared at the event. Running from Sunday November 7 – Tuesday November 9, the […]
The Parking Lot Movie
The trailer for ‘The Parking Lot Movie’ has just come online, following screenings at a number of film festivals around the world. It certainly looks like an interesting take on parking and the ‘American Dream’. From the Parking Lot Movie website; a synopsis of the film: Hailed as the “most feel-good film” of the South […]
Automated car park in Birmingham
A new car park in Birmingham has been made possible by the installation of a sophisticated £2m robotic system that enables cars to park themselves. The car park is situated 20 metres (65ft) below ‘The Cube’, a canal-side office and apartment development, access to which is hampered by nearby shops and bars. The use of […]
Cuts to car parking allowances in residential developments
We noted two instances this week of development applications in Sydney and Melbourne being lodged without any provision for car spaces, highlighting the increasing attitude by Councils that car ownership is a luxury, not a necessity. According to an article in the Australian Financial Review on October 5th, research by the City of Sydney Council […]
Congestion charging back on the agenda
This week, the NSW State Opposition has called for uniform congestion tolling on roads, with per-kilometre charging as the basis of a ‘fairer deal’ for motorists. The leader of the Nationals and opposition spokesman on roads, Andrew Stoner, believes that the current system (all toll roads operating independently) is limiting the ability to develop a […]
Will hands free video help reduce parking officer abuse?
Following our recent blog post in regards to the ongoing and increasing violence, aggression and abuse towards parking officers in Australia (see our post ‘Parking rangers continue to be the targets of abuse’), one council has taken further action to try and combat the growing problem. The City of Holdfast Bay in Adelaide, South Australia, […]
The world’s 10 most beautiful parking garages
We came across a fantastic gallery this week of ten of the most beautiful car park designs around the world. Whilst there are some well known sites in the list, there are others which we did not know about. Our favourites include the Greenway Self Park, Chicago designed by HOK, the Michigan Theatre Parking Garage, […]
Parking Consultants interview APC speaker Colin Chodos
This week, we came across an article in the Australian Financial Review, called ‘Create a hook factor to keep staff motivated and thriving’. The article discusses the deeper reasons why people can engage with their employer and their roles. You can read the article in full here. Inspiring us to pursue the matter further within […]
Parking Convention Update – register to win a prize!
With the 2010 Australian Parking Convention fast approaching (only 38 days to go!), the APC has published additional information about the conference. The Convention website contains a detailed program, with abstracts on the following presentations: Barbara J. Chance: Is the meter running out on people in parking? Michael Julian: How to manage security in car […]