Government tightens loophole validating airport parking fines
In April, PCI reported on a legal requirement in airport parking fines resulting in fines being issues by unauthorised people, with fines potentially dating back to 2004 becoming invalid. Read more about this in PCI’s blog post ‘Flaw in airport parking fines’. Last week, Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese moved to pass a bill called […]
Councils defend parking fines rise
Office of State Revenue figures released last week reveal parking-related notices in NSW increased by more than 200,000 in the five years between 2004-05 and 2008-09. The cost to drivers in this time jumped from almost $95 million to more than $140 million. The Local Government Association insists it is motivated by the public good, […]
Parking matters
As the International Parking Institute (IPI) International Parking Conference & Expo begins in Las Vegas, the official kick-off of a major new initiative for advancing the parking profession will commence. Called ‘Parking Matters’, the program is a focused public relations drive to educate and increase awareness of the value of parking professionals amongst target audiences […]
Ash cloud airport parking refunds
Last week, as the first flights from Europe started taking off, both Brisbane and Sydney Airports announced that they would refund any parking charges incurred by passengers and air crew delayed overseas by the volcanic ash cloud crisis. Sydney Airport also announced that they will refund or allow free rescheduling of the pre-paid long term […]
Cost of owning a car in the UK goes through the roof
Over the past month, car owners in the UK have been hit with a ‘double-whammy’ on the cost of running their cars. Petrol prices have hit a new record high in April, with drivers in many parts of the country paying more than the previous peak of 119.7 pence a litre, set in July 2008. […]
Australian construction industry to shrink
Economic forecasting group BIS Shrapnel has projected that Australia’s civil construction industry, including roads, transport, utilities and mining, will shrink over the next few years. In its latest report, the company says civil construction growth has more than doubled in the last five years, and further growth of 9 to 10 per cent is expected […]
Electric charging infrastructure and roll-out in Adelaide
Adelaide City Council officially opened the first electric car charging station in the CBD’s Grote Street UPark. Adelaide Lord Mayor Michael Harbison said that if the infrastructure were in place, demand for electric cars would grow. “With these new charging points, we’re encouraging residents and City commuters to take a fresh look at their travel […]
So long suburbia
A new study published by the Environmental Protection Agency in the US has indicated that construction in urban cores and older suburbs of US cities is beginning to catch up with the pace of home construction in the outer suburbs – meaning that the ‘suburban sprawl’ may be beginning to slow. In a study of […]
San Francisco parking sensors
The San Francisco trial of a wireless smart-parking sensor system is now underway, allowing users to tap into a centralised network with either a computer or smart phone to find available parking spaces. For the driver, the benefit of the smart parking system is not just the increased efficiency in finding free parking spaces. If […]
Flaw in airport parking fines
Australian airports have been under increasing pressure of late in respect to the pricing of parking, following the release of the ACCC’s report into pricing and service levels in March. Last week, Transport Department officials discovered that about 70,000 parking infringements were issued at airports around Australia that are invalid, because the parking officer authorisations […]
Wollongong on-street meter follow up
Last week, PCI posted a report on the installation of paid parking meters in the NSW town of Wollongong (see post Wollongong introduces paid parking in city centre here). Indeed, the local newspaper, the Illawarra Mercury, has seized on the emotion-charged topic with Spanish-inquisition-esque zeal; publishing at least a story a day to their website […]
Electric cars are coming to Australia
Over the past month, electric car promoter Better Place has announced that it expects to start rolling out infrastructure to support electric cars in Australia late next year. As PCI reported in August ’09, Canberra has been earmarked as the first Australian city to receive the infrastructure, with a national rollout to follow in 2012. […]
The pitfalls of the bicycle in Sydney
In a timely follow up to last week’s post ‘The benefits of the bicycle’, John Pucher, a US academic from Rutgers University in New Jersey, says that Sydney is one of the world’s most hostile cities for cycling. Prior to publishing a paper in the Journal of Transport Geography, Dr Pucher claims that Sydney motorists […]
Australian Parking Convention update
The Parking Association of Australia announced recently the key note speaker for its 2010 convention – Donald Shoup, Professor of Urban Planning at the University of California, and author of the landmark book titled ‘The High Cost of Free Parking’. As supporters of the ‘Shoupian’ theories of parking pricing (increasing the cost of on-street parking, […]
Davis Langdon construction sentiment findings report March
During the past three months, Davis Langdon’s Construction Sentiment Index fell by a surprising 5 points to reach 61. Davis Langdon attributes the decline in the index to a concerned property industry that is being impacted by a combination of planning and industrial relations issues. According to David Langdon, this is unexpected, and suggests a […]
The benefits of the bicycle
Bicycle Victoria, a self-funded community organisation, has been working with the Victorian Department of Transport to integrate infrastructure for bicycle riders with the public transport network in Melbourne. As a result, the Department of Transport has recently rolled out free, undercover bike parking cages at stations across Victoria.Secure access is provided by a card system […]
The cost of congestion
The State of Australian Cities Report released on Friday March 12 concludes that the cost of congestion in our cities will rise to around $20.4 billion by 2020, impacting adversely on Australian productivity. The report is not, however, just concerned with the economic impacts of congestion, but with the social impacts including, for example, the […]
Are car park bays good investments?
Throughout last year, a number of real estate analysts and economists advocated investing in car parks, due to their stability in pricing and ongoing increase in demand, essentially regardless of the market conditions (see old posts Car park values remain strong and What are the key things investors look for in a car park?). PCI […]
Council admits heavy reliance on parking income
Swindon Borough Council’s chief executive, Gavin Jones, said this week that despite the Council’s desire to reduce its dependency on parking income, at this stage the money generated from parking underpins vital services in the town. Jones claims that “It is the common aim of a number of local authorities to reduce the amount they […]
On-street parking sensors in Port Macquarie and San Francisco
The Port Macquarie-Hastings Council has recently announced the introduction of on-street parking sensors, which electronically monitor how long the vehicles are parked in the bays and alert rangers when they over-stay time limits. The sensors are planned to be introduced for a 12-week trial under 50 parking spaces in the Port Central Shopping Centre area, […]
What do your car and your steak have in common?
NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies published the results of a study into the earth’s climate on February 18, analysing the impact of different industry sectors on it. They have discovered and described certain airborne chemicals that can trap incoming sunlight and warm the climate, while others cool the planet by blocking the Sun’s rays. […]
Karma for bicycle road rager
Our favourite Green website, TreeHugger, has delivered one of the best (or rather worst) stories we’ve read thus far in 2010. A driver in the UK recently had an attack of cyclist road rage. And attack he did! The teenage driver pulled up alongside the cyclist, sounded his horn and yelled “Get off the road. […]
Melbourne’s CBD parking demand grows and grows
Melbourne City Council recently released figures (Feb 3) on the state of parking in the Melbourne CBD area, analysing increases in demand and supply over the past four years. The number of people working in the city has grown by 40,000 in that time, and the resident population has increased by more than 4,000. In […]
NSW Government releases Transport Blueprint
As anticipated, the NSW Government released their Transport Blueprint on Monday February 22. Not flawlessly, however, with a minor glitch accidentally placing a number of documents outlining key announcements on a public website on the Friday prior. The 10 year, $10 billion plan sees the cancellation of the metro network with funds diverted to the […]
Manly on-street parking limit under review
In Manly, Sydney’s busiest Northern Beaches traffic centre, the local council has attempted to manage their growing demands for parking with a reduction in the time limit for on-street parking to 30 minutes, with the intention of providing more ‘drop-in, drop-out’ spaces, and uniformity across the entire area. The limit, however, seems to be too […]
Christie Report on Sydney’s Transportation Development
On Saturday February 13, the Sydney Morning Herald published the first synopsis of the recommendations of the ‘Christie Report’, an independent inquiry headed by the State’s former rail and roads boss Ron Christie, and backed by the Herald. PCI has previously reported on several of the interim recommendations of the report (see Sydney’s Traffic Solutions? […]
Australian Parking Convention – guess who is coming to town?
A guest post from PCI Managing Partner Cristina Lynn Dear Subscribers, The Parking Association of Australia is organising its next biennial convention which will be held in Sydney (at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre) between 7th and 9th November 2010. As the chair of the Organising Committee and Treasurer of the PAA I would […]
Preferential parking for hybrids
The Sydney Morning Herald reported on February 6 that parking operators are introducing preferential parking for owners of hybrid vehicles. According to the report, “three Sydney Westfield shopping centres now have hybrid-only parking spots, while councils such as Randwick offer priority places for hybrids and Mosman waves its $55 residential parking permit fee for the […]
Man charged with more ‘ticket rage’
In November, PCI reported of an attack on a Sydney parking officer, resulting in a broken hand, a punch in the head, and a deep bite mark to the cheek (see post Car owner bashed ranger and bit his cheek).News.com.au reported on February 2 that the perpetrator has since been charged with two additional assault […]
Is New Zealand ready for a parking levy?
Following many blogs relating to the issue of parking levies in some cities of Australia, we came across a post on the Auckland Transport Blog, discussing the Auckland CBD Rail Tunnel, and what means might be implemented to fund this massive infrastructure project. The author proposes that Auckland should consider a flat rate parking tax […]