An article recently contributed to Parking Today by Andrew Hill caught our eye. The article was called 'Consultants are… “Useless,” “A Waste of Money”’, and in it, Andrew asks about one of the greatest challenges that consultants face: responding to accusations of over-charging for services or under-delivering on common sense solutions.

He goes on to say that “sometimes the most consistent part of this job seems to be the perpetual task of justifying your existence. If you are not doing it during the proposal process (“Why should we hire you?”), you will be doing it during the project (“Why should we listen to you?”), or the final presentation (“What did we get for all those fees?”) It seems that for every client or stakeholder left marvelling at the depth, breadth and insight of your analysis, there is at least one muttering “I already knew this.””

Andrew discusses why, with the economy struggling and a tightening marketplace, now more than ever it may make sense to bring in a professional. Key advantages he mentions include time and attention, experience, objectivity, credibility and political cover. You can read more on each of these points on the Parking Today website here.

He concludes by saying that good parking consultants are able to provide a value to a project that can be the difference between the development moving forward or going on hold. Hiring a consultant can ensure a successful project in an economy where failure is no longer an option.

Thanks to Andrew Hill, Senior Consultant at Desman Associate’s Boston office for granting permission to reproduce this article.

A fleet of ‘probe’ vehicles has been developed as part of a system designed to monitor peak-hour traffic congestion, warning road users of delays in traffic.

According to SMH.com.au, the vehicles, often hire cars, taxis or delivery vans, can relay their speed and location via satellite to a central hub that sends traffic warnings to motorists within 30 seconds.

The system is then able to inform drivers of any traffic issues on any given road at any given time, through their SatNav devices, providing more relevant and accurate information than previously, which was based on data sourced from traffic lights and road cameras. The data from the ‘probe’ fleet overrides any other information if the situation seems unusual.

According to BAA’s Commercial Press office, the pod system consists of 21 low energy, battery powered, driverless, zero emission vehicles capable of carrying four passengers and their luggage along a dedicated 3.8km guide way. The pods will carry 500,000 passengers each year, giving them a smooth and virtually silent five minute ride.

The journey is on demand and non-stop from start to destination at the touch of a computer screen, choosing between each of the various Heathrow stations at the selection of the passenger. Heathrow Airport has released some facts and figures on the projected benefits of the pods:

• The pods are expected to eliminate 50,000 bus journeys on the roads around Heathrow each year
• Journey time to and from the terminal is congestion free and  around ten minutes less for the average passenger (compared to the original buses)
• 95% of passengers are served in less than 34 seconds, compared to 5-8 minutes by the previous bus system
• The pods can travel at up to 25 miles (40kph) per hour
• The pods use 70% less energy than it takes to power a car, and 50% less than a bus
• The service runs 22 hours on weekdays, 21 hours on Saturdays and 20 hours on Sundays
• More than 100,000 passengers have used the pods since the service started on 18 April
• The system has taken six years to develop at a cost of 30m

The benefits that the Heathrow pod offers are significant: predictable service, reduced waiting time and reduced journey times, as well as being an environmentally sustainable form of transport that ensures reduced emissions.

We came across an interesting piece this week which attempted to analyse the economic impact (and benefit) of using bicycles over cars, given the increasing uptake and supporting infrastructure being implemented in cities in Australia and around the world.

In theory, it’s a good idea – bicycle-related infrastructure is relatively cheap to install compared to new roads or transit systems. Furthermore, it’s easier to interact with local businesses when travelling by bike, according to This Big City blog.

But bicyclists can’t carry as much as vehicles. Smart Planet therefore asks - does that lessen the economic impact that bicyclists have on businesses? Assuming a high demand for bicycle usage, bicyclists have the advantage of being able to fit more people into a small space than cars, even though they might spend less per trip.

A study from Australia attempts to put some figures behind this thinking. Based on data from more than 1,000 survey respondents, Alison Lee found that, even though cyclists spend less on average, improvements to urban bicycle networks still bring retail benefits. Lee suggests that by replacing one car parking space with six bicycle parking facilities, the lower average spend of a cyclist could be multiplied, offering improved revenue opportunities for nearby businesses. Of course, this simple mathematical equation, whilst theoretically true, assumes enough demand to keep the bicycle parking facilities adequately full.

Despite this, Lee’s findings are remarkably similar to a study from the Dutch city of Utrecht which found that whilst bicycle-based consumers spend less per transaction, they make more visits and spend the most collectively. This isn’t the only connection – a German study found similar results, calling cyclists ‘better customers’ due to them making eleven trips per month compared to seven for motorists. And the Swiss are in on it too, where research into parking space profitability found that each square metre of bicycle parking generated €7500 compared to €6625 for cars. This seems to confirm basic logic – devoid of any significant storage space, cyclists are likely to spend less and shop more.

via Smart Planet.

The Parking Association of Australia is holding a Sydney Member Meeting on November 23, with a presentation on EMV credit card payment technology for the car parking industry by Glenn Caldwell, Parking and Traffic Consultants’ local government specialist consultant.

Glenn’s presentation will address the implications, obligations and responsibilities for parking suppliers, banks and card issuers, local government, as well as for the gateway providers of the EMV technology. Glenn is particularly well qualified to discuss this topic following 12 years’ experience across private sector operators, airport parking, consulting services and local government management, including leading the City of Sydney’s Parking Services Department for over 4 years.

The event will take place at the Waterfront Restaurant, Circular Quay West, Sydney on November 23rd from 5:30pm – 8:00pm. For more information or to book a ticket, visit the PAA site here.

Research developed by a Ph.D. student has resulted in a computer simulator that will hopefully help drive greater efficiency in parking.

Nadav Levy, from Tel Aviv University’s Porter School of Environmental Science, along with his supervisors, Prof. Itzhak Benenson of the Department of Geography and the Human Environment and Dr. Karel Martens of Holland's Radboud University, have built a simulator that models the real-life parking challenges of a particular district or city, identifying different strategies for improvement and testing the impact of new policies before they are implemented on the roads.

The simulator, called PARKAGENT, takes into account real parking policies, drivers, and parking inspectors for an exact replication of any given city, including roads, buildings, and parking lots. Recently published in the journal Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, the software has already been put to the test, evaluating the potential impact of parking policy changes in Israel and Europe.

The software assesses key values such as drivers' cruising time, how long they park for, and the distance from the parking space to their destination. Levy analyzes the resulting data to determine whether a policy would decrease the time the drivers would spend to find a parking place near the destination.

With researchers estimating that up to 30 percent of cars driving in the centre of a city at peak hours are looking for parking, Levy’s model may assist in taking a big step towards reducing unnecessary congestion, wasted fuel, pollution and noise.

A more detailed overview of Levy’s work can be found here.

Nadav attended the recent World Parking Symposium in Canada (June 2011) and presented a prototype of his program to the attendees. He can be seen second from the left in the photograph above, with people from left to right:

Shawn Conrad (Executive Director, IPI0), Nadav Levy (Tel Aviv University), Carine Abrahamsson and Gustaf Grapengiesser (Swedish Traffic & Public Transport Authority), Cristina Lynn (Parking & Traffic Consultants), Maurice Anderson (President WPS) and Sjoerd Stienstra (Stienstra Adviesbureau stedelijk verkeer).

An opinion piece published on The Canberra Times site this week discussed the reaction of the Canberra community to the news that parking inspectors increased the number of infringements by 20% during this past year, reaching a value of $7.5 million.

According to the newspaper article, Canberra’s layout is such that it makes car ownership almost mandatory, with the bus system costly to run, inefficient and frequently unreliable. We republish a section from the article below:

The amount of parking in Canberra is indeed shrinking due to planning decisions, but not out of any desire on the part of Government to trap unwary motorists and stiff them with steep fines. When land values rise, as they have in Canberra in the past two decades, the redevelopment of large blocks formerly given over to public car spaces becomes inevitable. The effects of this tightening of supply will tend to be exaggerated if more motorists are out and about looking for car parks, as has also been the case in the ACT. It is not in the interests of any community to subsidise parking for motorists. Not only does it impose costs on those who don't drive but it distorts transport choices, encourages urban sprawl, makes housing more expensive and blights the urban landscape. Studies suggest governments should be aiming to achieve (through price signals) a balance of parking, both on-street and off, so that at any given moment 85 per cent of spots are occupied and 15 per cent are available. This is easier said than done, however. What is certain is the era of cheap and readily available parking in Canberra is passing, and motorists need to adjust their behaviour accordingly.

Spoken like a true Shoupista!

The next couple of weeks will be very interesting for Cristina Lynn. She is bound for South America to attend a couple of challenging conferences.

First stop is Brazil where a former organiser of the Intertraffic event in The Netherlands started a series of trade events in Sao Paulo, called TranspoQuip. This year, in addition to traffic and transport, they have a parking component. This is a particularly active time for parking in Brazil and the rest of South America since the World Cup AND the Olympics will be held there in the next five years.  The entire infrastructure of the country is being refreshed.  Brazil is the booming economy in the western hemisphere.  This will be the third year for the event, and it is growing every year. Cristina’s presentation is titled “A Parking Management Guide for Local Governments” and is being presented in conjunction with a team put together by John Van Horn which also includes Sandra Smith (Canadian Parking Association) and Dennis Cunning (DLC Consulting).

Second stop is Argentina, Cristina’s country of birth. Buenos Aires is hosting the first Airport National Conference hosted by “Aeropuertos Argentina 2000” which manages 33 airports in that country. Cristina’s presentation “Airport parking: a business or a service?”  will be delivered, for the first time, in Spanish – which will add a new component of excitement to the occasion.

Cristina will be reporting on both conferences and her impressions on these two huge cities on her return to the office in early December.    

At the risk of sounding like all we do at Parking & Traffic Consultants is attend conferences, Kelvin Worthington will be presenting a paper at next week’s Campus Parking Workshop organised by the Parking Association of Australia on the topic of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) as they apply to hospitals and universities. He is presenting in conjunction with Paul Attwood of Macquarie Capital Advisers with whom we have collaborated on a number of such projects including the Gold Coast University Hospital Car Park development.

The keynote speaker for the event is Dr. Barbara Chance of Chance Management Advisors in Philadelphia (USA).

The Parking Association of Australia has announced the 13^th Australian Parking Convention to be held once again at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, on November 11 – 13, 2012.

The program will be designed to appeal to a broad range of individuals working within the parking industry, as well as providing a number of networking opportunities and social events. The Convention will continue the tradition of combining international and local experts in a relatively informal environment to discuss advances and future developments important to the parking industry.

The APC has released a ‘Mark your diaries’ flyer, which includes contact details and allows interested parties to enquire about the convention in general as well as sponsorship, exhibition and speaker opportunities. You can view this flyer here.

With the Sponsorship and Exhibition Prospectus due to be released later in November 2011, we have no doubts that the Convention will be on us quickly! Parking & Traffic Consultants is looking forward to an ongoing and involved relationship with the APC, with our Managing Partner, Cristina Lynn, once again being appointed Chair of the Committee for the 2012 Convention.