Posted by admin pci,Wednesday, July 27, 2011
This is another step in the project announced earlier
this year by the City of Melbourne to employ modern technologies to more
effectively manage its on-street parking bays and improve customer service by
providing additional ways of paying for parking. You can read more about the
range of technological advancements planned by the City of Melbourne, including
in-ground sensors, license plate recognition systems, and a hand-held device
update for enforcement officers on our previous post ‘New car parking technology for City of Melbourne’ here.
The program will be fully implemented by the end of
October, and will see none of the existing meters, tariffs and rules changed
during the pilot period.
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Posted by admin pci,Wednesday, July 27, 2011
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 were more
expensive, making Sydney and Melbourne more expensive for daily parking than
many of the world's biggest cities including London, Paris and New York.
The relative strength of the Australia dollar will
have had a significant affect on the comparative rates, but despite this
Australia has consistently ranked highly in terms of daily and monthly parking
rates, driven by high demand and occupancy rates in CBD buildings, government
levies imposed on parking, combined with a desire from councils and governments
to reduce the number of cars in the cities themselves.
In Brisbane, the daily parking rate is US$41.09, while
in Perth it is US$32.66 and in Adelaide US$24.44.
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Posted by admin pci,Wednesday, July 27, 2011
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?’
The article goes on to discuss a number of alternative
transport methods; and the lack of them that Los Angeles has. With no real rail
service in the region of the 405 and buses travelling just as slow as cars, the
author laments the lack of viable alternatives.
However, they go on to propose that the Government can
have a hand in driving a shift from cars to other transportation methods,
including measures such as increasing the tax on petrol, and using the proceeds
to pay for public transit improvements; employing congestion pricing to make it
expensive to drive solo during rush hour to employment hubs; closing major arteries to cars and opening
them to bicycles, or turning them into dedicated bus lanes; and stopping businesses
offering free parking to their employees. Great ideas, but a significant shift
in thinking for a city that’s almost wholly dependent on the car for personal
and commuting transport.
Another piece we found this week from The Washington Post reinforces the underlying issues, claiming that ‘not only do we love
owning and driving cars but we are addicted to being able to park them as close
as possible to building entrances, and at little or no cost. It will be at
least a generation before Americans believe convenient parking isn’t an
entitlement.’ Written by architect Roger K. Lewis, it shows the range of issues
that planners, architects, developers, transportation engineers and public
officials face.
To close, back to another article we came across this
week via idea site PSFK, showing how ‘Carmageddon’ also created a rare
opportunity for artistic expression and articulation of varying visual
perspectives. In the video below, videographer Ross Ching captures the very
essence of a car-less metropolis and the peace that appears to come with it.
Great viewing.
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Posted by admin pci,Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Christchurch’s rebuilding process is underway, with
one retail hub, the Palms shopping centre, announcing a September 8 re-opening
date.
Following the smaller earthquake on June 13, further
damage has been done to the centre and more remedial work has been required,
including re-checking the car park and the centre columns, flooring and
plastering repairs, travelator repairs and re-fixing damaged guttering between
buildings.
Substantial work involving the addition of
carbon-fibre wraps to support 400 columns in the centre started after the
February 22 earthquake, and has held up well, according to Stuff.co.nz.
A shortage of supermarkets and petrol stations in the
eastern suburbs of the city means that the reopening of a supermarket in the
mall would be welcomed by local residents.
We have clients in Christchurch and we wish them, and
the residents of Christchurch generally, well as they rebuild their city and
their lives following the devastating event of 22nd February.
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Posted by admin pci,Thursday, July 21, 2011
The new parking strategy is being driven by increased
congestion in the city, and includes an extension of paid parking until 9pm, as
well as the introduction of more on-street paid parking zones throughout the central
business district.
The variable parking system is based on the
installation of in-ground sensors and a centralised electronic monitoring
system, adjusting the parking prices based on demand, with the aim of ensuring
the availability of at least one parking space on any given block – reducing
congestion and hopefully aiding customer turnover for city businesses.
This looks to be the first use of an electronic
monitoring system in Australia to be used to set the pricing based on demand
and supply. Previously, we have reported on the installation of sensors in Port Macquarie and Melbourne, however the aim of these is that they are used to
alert enforcement officers when cars overstay their limits; as opposed to setting
a variable pricing system with the objective of achieving a steady supply of
parking spaces.
Watch this space for more information on the Newcastle
flexible parking pricing roll out here.
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Posted by admin pci,Thursday, July 21, 2011
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 mobile apps delivering a greater
certainty of service, and increase the likliehood of people using public
transport. In addition to this, the performance of the services would be
publically benchmarked; transport interchanges would be improved, and free Wi-Fi
would be provided on buses, trains, trams and ferries.
Additional, more ‘radical’ ideas have also been
proposed, including the option of paying more for premium carriages which
guarantee a seat, refreshments and services like newspapers; and the
introduction of ‘quiet’ carriages, where school children and mobile phone
conversations would be banned.
The model is inspired by the popularity of Sydney’s
Metrobus system – frequent services running without a timetable – and will be
sent to the NSW state government to offer short-term, affordable solutions to
help fix commuter and congestion problems.
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Posted by admin pci,Thursday, July 21, 2011
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 up from the freeway to surface streets and other freeways,
causing a domino effect and paralysing much of Los Angeles.
However, the fears of ‘epic’ traffic jams were
avoided, with only light weekend traffic seen throughout the city. Los Angeles
Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, who coined the term ‘carmageddon’, said that ‘I
think everyone has realised that we can get out of our cars once in a while and
survive’.
For a city that has been built based around reliance
on the car, it’s refreshing to see an event that actually demonstrates to the
residents that a car is not an essential but a luxury, and that a day without
using a car is not a calamity.
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Posted by admin pci,Thursday, July 21, 2011
Willoughby Council has announced plans to install the
biggest council-owned solar farm on the rooftop of Chatswood’s Albert Avenue
car park. The project, which will see 140 solar panels installed on the rooftop
of the car park, is the first part of a three-year plan to build a 300-kilowatt
energy system that will provide power to three council-owned buildings.
The council's director of sustainability projects,
Sally Hamilton, said the $4 million project would pay for itself in energy
savings over the 25-year life of the solar panels. The use of the rooftop space
is model being used in the US, where the rooftop of parking lots next to large
consumer malls is commonplace.
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Posted by admin pci,Thursday, July 14, 2011
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.
PSFK (a ‘go-to source for new ideas and inspiration
for creative professionals’) reported that recent surveys carried out in the
area found that 9% of New Yorkers and 27% of visitors admitted being lost in
the past week. 13% of New Yorkers weren’t familiar with the area they were
surveyed in and 27% of visitors couldn’t name the borough.
With 31% of all trips in NYC made by foot, the
Department of Transportation believes the city is an ideal location for
launching a comprehensive pedestrian sign system to encourage walking and
relieve overcrowding on public transport. Read more from PSFK here.
While on the topic of walking in New York, we came
across an urban renewal project that is breathing new life into the act of
‘walking’ in the city. Called ‘The High Line’, the project has converted an abandoned
elevated railroad in Manhattan into a park and walking track above the city
buildings. It’s breathing new life into the borough that it is situated in, and
is a great example of innovative thinking that is improving not only the
transport alternatives, but the urban life of the nearby residents. Our traffic engineer, Andrew Morse, was lucky
enough to walk the length of the High Line and says ‘it's such a different and
beautiful way to see this part of the city and it connects well with the
popular Meatpacking district’.
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Posted by admin pci,Thursday, July 14, 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 of
0.8%, with Colliers attributing this to a return to more driving patterns and
the need to go into the commercial districts.
For the most part, the demand for parking seems to be
slowly returning to pre-recession levels. Colliers expect that next year will
likely see a modest increase in car parking fees, assuming that the economic
recovery in North America remains on track.
Internationally, London again ranked as the most
expensive in USD terms (as represented by median monthly rate) with London –
City leading the way ($1,084) followed by London – West End ($1,014), Zurich
($822), Hong Kong ($745), Tokyo ($744), Rome ($719), Perth ($717), Geneva
($705), Sydney ($695) and Oslo ($612) rounding out the top ten. All amounts are shown in USD and are as
calculated by Colliers.
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