Where will the cars and the parking spaces go?
A guest post from PCI’s Managing Partner Cristina Lynn A couple of days after the conclusion of the 12th Australian Parking Convention, a lively debate took place at the Sydney Town Hall as part of the City Talks 2010 series. Hosted by the Lord Mayor Clover Moore, the talk on Thursday 11th November was titled […]
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 day one photo gallery
With day one of the Australian Parking Convention 2010 complete, Parking Consultants have sourced some photographs of the event and activities of day one. In the below slideshow, you can see several of the keynote speakers from day one, the opening address from Larry Schneider, the presentation of the Awards For Excellence at the Convention […]
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 […]
Parking Consultants employs Traffic Engineer Andrew Morse
As part of our long-term growth strategy, we are pleased to announce that we have engaged a qualified and experienced traffic engineer. Andrew Morse is a qualified Traffic Engineer and is a member of the Australian Institute of Traffic Planning & Management (AITPM). He will be leading the traffic planning division of Parking Consultants, drawing […]
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 […]
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 […]
Cheap parking phone application
Another phone application has recently launched: ‘Cheap Parking’ is designed specifically as an independent car park comparison app for Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. It covers all private operators including Secure Parking, Wilson Parking, Interpark and Grimes, as well as council, shopping centre, hotel and hospital car parks. The app allows you, the user, to factor […]
Why simple design is often complex
Parking World magazine has recently published an article penned by George Burton, Parking Consultant International’s design guru. The article, called ‘Why simple design is often complex’, explores the path a design process usually takes in order to arrive at a desirable product and to present an overview of the relevant factors that influence the process […]
City of Sydney trials electric vehicle within fleet
Last week (Tuesday Sept 7), the City of Sydney announced that it is trialing a new electric car as a potential component of its council fleet. Whilst Council currently has 43 hybrids in its fleet of 150, this is the first fully electric car. Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore sees the car trial as ‘a […]
British Parking Association publishes Hospital Parking Charter
Last weekend I was catching up on a backlog of industry publications and read an interesting article by Peter Guest in the June 2010 edition of Parking World which reminded me of a related article we recently posted in our blog. The subject of Peter’s article was Hospital Parking and the on-going discussions about whether […]
Burwood Council sells car park for $22.5m
According to the Australian Financial Review, Burwood Council in Sydney’s inner west has sold a public car park to an Asian property developer for $22.5 million. The public car park, on the corner of Belmore Street and Wynne Avenue in Burwood, covers an area of 5,469m² ($4,114/m²) and has a 60m height limit. The property […]
APC2010 Early Bird Deadline closes on Friday 3rd September
With the Australian Parking Conference approaching quickly (only 66 days to go!), a number of delegate and exhibitor opportunities are approaching their limits. The ‘Early Bird’ delegate ticket purchase deadline is this coming Friday September 3, saving $150 off a full delegate registration price and $100 off a day registration. To register now before this […]
94% drive off after car park damage
A recent survey by Suncorp Insurance indicates that Australian car park etiquette is at an all-time low, with 38% of people surveyed reporting some form of damage to their car last year. In 94% of cases the culprit did not leave a note. The bad manners don’t just stop at hit and run, however, with […]
Parking rangers continue to be the targets of public abuse
In June 2010, following statistics published in July 2009, the United Services Union of Australia sent a survey to each council in NSW relating to council rangers, parking patrol officers and animal control officers. The survey requested a range of information, including the number and role of the officers, whether risk assessments have been carried out […]
Widespread misuse and abuse of parking restrictions
This week we have seen a number of articles about people deliberately abusing parking systems, the most prominent being one about Sydney Hotelier Fraser Short, owner of the Keystone Hospitality group of hotels, who was found guilty in court this week of possessing a stolen parking permit last year. Mr. Short purchased the permit from […]
Parking Availability at the University of Wollongong
The University of Wollongong has recently launched a web page showing the current number of available parking spaces, and their locations on the university campus. This is an extension of the project which PCI was engaged to carry out with the University to design and install dynamic signage throughout the campus advising parkers of which […]
Sydney public transportation use increases
Last week (June 28), the Sydney Morning Herald reported that despite increasing car ownership levels in Sydney, public transportation use was on the rise. The NSW Government’s annual household travel survey found that rail travel was up 3 per cent and bus travel up 2.5 per cent in 2008-09. Car trips fell by almost 1 […]
Sydney Airport kiss and dash parking
On June 30th Sydney Airport announced the introduction of a 15 minute free parking period at the International Terminal. This is a really welcomed change at the airport, which has a reputation for high fees. Still, it seems that satisfying the media is an impossible task! According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the change in […]
Parking embraces new mobile technology
PCI has recently noticed the emergence of several new mobile, location-based and social media applications designed to benefit the car parker. In some cases, these applications are designed to manage the parking demand – such as the San Francisco smart parking system – giving users the option to use one’s mobile phone to add time to […]
Australian Parking Convention – only 128 days to go!
The Australian Parking Convention is fast approaching with the event, scheduled for November 7-9, shaping up to be the biggest event hosted by the Parking Association of Australia. The program of local and international speakers is almost finalised, with the Keynote Speaker none other than Professor Donald Shoup of UCLA, author of the best seller […]
Car sharing feedback and information
We recently posted our blog article on Car Sharing to a few LinkedIn discussion groups in order to obtain feedback on what is going on in other parts of the world in terms of car sharing. We received strong response and a lot of interesting information was provided by professionals in various parts of the […]
Canberra car park revenue tops $1m per month
A breakdown of car park revenues in Canberra has revealed that the total monthly revenue has topped $1m between July 2009 and February this year. Chief Minister Jon Stanhope claims that Canberra has “some of the best roads and cheapest parking in the country”. A planned increase of between $0.30 and $1.50 per day, designed […]
Research ranks Australian cities as best and worst to drive
In research undertaken between December 2009 and January 2010, Virgin Car Insurance analysed Australian capital cities and Regional Centres on a number of key criteria to determine a ranking system for the ‘friendliest’ cities to drive in. Key criteria differed slightly between capital cities and regional cities, but both included data such as the average […]
Bondi Beach parking spot sale expected to set another record
Car park costs reach new levels across Australia’ blog post in March 2010 in which we noted that a single car space in North Bondi sold for $240,000, this weekend sees two more single space car parks go up for auction in Bondi. There are two spaces available, situated at the southern end of Bondi […]
Car sharing takes off in Australia
According to an article in the Australian Financial Review on June 1, several companies that offer car sharing and renting in Australia have seen the usage of car sharing services increase significantly in the past twelve months. Convenience and cost are the main driving factors for people joining car sharing companies, as well as consumers’ […]