Following our post on Wayfinding Forum in January, the parking landscape in the ACT’s Parliamentary Triangle is about to change forever, but it may not be to everyone’s liking.

In last week’s budget, Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan announced 9,000 pay-parking spaces will be introduced in Parkes, Barton, Russel and Acton from July next year. At an estimated cost of $6m, the initiative will return $73m over the next three years. In the government’s plan, one hour on-street parking will remain free but short pay parking will cost $2 an hour and previously free all day parking will now cost $11.

The National Capital Authority is providing public consultation through its website, but says paid parking in the parliamentary zone is needed because a lack of parking spots is affecting visitor numbers to Canberra's national institutions. Meanwhile, the public service union isn’t happy about the change, initially complaining that the ongoing closures of parking spaces in the area, they view the latest developments as effectively delivering workers a $2,500 per annum pay cut. Many public servants that say they have no alternative but to drive to work will now be charged more than $50 a week for the privilege.

ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher has called for funds to be funnelled back into the cultural institutions affected by the change, but perhaps a concurrent goal of improving public transport options might help quell the fears of the local working population.

One thing is certain, Canberrans have enjoyed free parking for a long time and this move simply brings the capital in line with all of Australia’s other major cities.

India is the world’s second most populous nation and traffic on the streets of Mumbai reflects this. In fact, the number of cars in Mumbai has increased by 51% in the last six years, meaning not only is pollution and congestion on the rise, but the fight for parking spaces is too.

As a result, Mumbai’s BMC (The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) is attacking traffic and parking management head-on with measures aimed at alleviating the growing problems.

The Times of India is reporting a series of initiatives to curb the issue, including a scheme where local residents will need a permit to park vehicles on one side of the road adjacent to their homes. This will be to the exclusion of all other vehicles. Over time, barcodes will be introduced to assist police enforcement.

But that’s not all. To increase the city’s capacity, the BMC has approved dozens of public parking lot proposals creating space for up to 30,000 more vehicles. The BMC will investigate models from abroad to better manage peak times, charging for parking depending on the demand in that area at a particular time of the day

Finally, and probably most controversially, the state transport commissioner is pushing for vehicle registrations to be blocked if an owner does not have sufficient parking space available at their residence.

Of course all of these measures may have some impact on the parking struggles faced by the community, however enforcement and a strict adherence to the new regulations may only be the tip of the iceberg as one of the world’s largest cities grows and develops at a rate of knots.

 The Grattan Institute has this month released a report entitled, Productive Cities: Opportunity in a changing economy offering solutions to help increase economic productivity and efficiency in Australian cities.

The report analyses housing, income and transport data in Australia’s four largest cities to show that while highly paid and qualified workers are living close to city centres, workers with trade skills and low skills, and people on low incomes, are living further from the centre.

Amongst its recommendations, the institute advocates building more homes in established areas of cities and improving urban transport. Wayfinding Forum wrote about the benefits of transport oriented developments in established urban areas last month.

However, of most interest to our subscribers, the report also recommends consideration of road-user charging to ensure that road space is preserved for the most productive uses and as a way to raise funds for public transport.

According to the report “in order to address traffic congestion, it is not enough to rely solely on building new roads without also paying attention to managing the demand for road space. A more efficient use of road space could be achieved by introducing a pricing system such as road user charges, congestion charges or time-of-day tolling.” It notes that this was a recommendation of the 2010 Henry Review into Australia’s Future Tax System.

Recent research by our PTC team relating to the time-of-day tolling introduced a couple of years ago on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Tunnel had practically no impact on congestion and use of these roads. The reduction of vehicles between 2008 and 2009 of 1.6% was more than compensated by the increases in cars using the Ryde Bridge ( 5.2%) and Gladesville Bridge (+2.7%) with an overall result of +0.7%.

Chicago City Mayor Rahm Emanuel is attempting to make up for what he describes as the mistakes of a previous administration by renegotiating its 75 year deal with the private company now responsible for running the city’s parking meters.

In 2008, the Chicago Parking Meters group paid $1.15 billion for the lease to monetize about 36,000 street parking spaces. It is the third-biggest street meter system in the U.S. and the largest to be privately administered.

The agreement was endorsed by the then Chicago alderman to the tune of 40 votes to 5 in just two days, with the money received said to be used by the council to address a budget deficit.

According to the Chicago Tribune the deal “stands as one of the dumbest and most despised decisions in the council's history.” It is believed that the city greatly underestimated the real value of the meters as a stable revenue source for city coffers.

To make matters worse, the private company was last month seeking an additional $49 million from the city as compensation for lost revenue caused by street closures. This amount was the result of a two year audit undertaken by the company itself, and has been questioned at all levels. The current Mayor subsequently refused to pay, forcing both parties back to the negotiating table.

Under terms agreed to this week, the Mayor has obtained control over the processing of data to determine whether the city owes or is owed money from future adjustments to available street parking. This arrangement is hoped to save tax payers $1B over the remaining lifetime of the lease.

In further negotiations the city agreed to extend metered parking by one hour in most areas of the city and until midnight in other areas. In return, the private company will allow free Sunday parking in neighbourhoods outside the city’s core.

Terms of the revised agreement and legal settlement were put before Chicago’s city council on May 8, who now have 30 days to review it.

CBD parking levies are still a hot topic of discussion around Australia following last week’s blog reporting on the Victorian government’s plans for an increased parking tax.

This week has seen South Australia’s Opposition ramping up its fight against their state government’s planned parking levy for Adelaide’s CBD. The controversial plan is fast becoming a key election issue ahead of the March 2014 vote.

As we reported on Wayfinding Forum in March, several influential industry groups have attacked the plan as a slug on locals and businesses. The levy, purportedly a $52m injection for ‘transport development’ projects over two years, will be charged at $750 per space and most likely affect property owners who are sure to pass on the increase to their customers.

The opposition leader Steven Marshall has gone to the extraordinary length of releasing a television commercial almost a year out from the election slamming the plan and vowing to scrap the tax should he win government. View ad here:

Mr Marshall said, "At a time when cost of living pressures are rapidly rising, the Labor Government is reaching into the pocket of South Australians to repay the debt."

The Property Council has welcomed the opposition's promise, which it said recognised the concerns of city’s retailers. The PCA has since released a survey showing the levy could scare off “almost 60 per cent of motorists” from the CBD.

A good result for congestion says the SA Premier, but at what cost? At PTC we conducted some research as to how the parking levy revenues in NSW and VIC had been spent and what correlation could be found to prove or disprove its impact on congestion. Sadly neither question was able to be answered satisfactorily.

Earlier this week the Sydney Morning Herald reported on the State Government’s imminent plans to extend clearways on Sydney’s most congested roads to include weekends.

The report tells us that there are up to 200,000 more cars on Sydney’s roads on Saturday mornings when compared with weekday mornings, and less people are using public transport. This has led to traffic chaos across the weekend on some of Sydney’s key arterials such as Victoria Rd, Parramatta Rd, Military Rd and Bondi Rd, to name a few.

The proposal to remove on-street parking will anger local businesses that insist their customers need a place to leave their cars while they shop. Pre-empting this backlash, the Roads Minister Duncan Gay has already slated plans to construct parking facilities using a combination of tax payer revenue, parking levies and contributions from the local businesses; an approach that is sure to enflame tensions with the local provedores.

Predictably, Opposition Leader John Robertson has criticized the strategy, suggesting that it is a ‘half-baked’ plan. He pointed to the desperate need to improve NSW transport network.

The NSW Coalition will have thought long and hard about this potentially unpopular, but ultimately necessary parking ban. Their Victorian colleagues reversed a similar decision taken by that state’s previous government to extend clearway conditions to weekends. In a 2010 media release, the new government described their decision to reverse the weekend ban as much needed relief from “onerous and damaging clearway restrictions”.

We have personally experienced the improvements to the trip from the Spit Bridge up to Mosman on weekend afternoons in the summer months when clearways apply!

Time will tell.

Toronto’s transport authority Metrolinx has big plans to solve their city’s congestion troubles, but the question remains, how are they going to pay for an ambitious list of proposed investments?

To better engage the community and help inform policy decisions, the authority has released an online interactive simulation where the public can select the projects they would like built and decide what revenue tools to pay for them. It’s called The Big Move. The revenue raising options include increased road, fuel and sales taxes, an increase in transit fares and a car parking levy.

However, according to The Toronto Star, City Mayor Rob Ford has dismissed a report delivered this week recommending that Council support the various tax hikes, saying that his constituents simply can’t afford it. Mr Ford believes the revenue can be achieved through cost cutting and bureaucratic efficiencies.

City Councillor and Toronto Transit Commission Chair Karen Stintz said that whilst she didn’t agree with all of the recommendations, she conceded the projects needed to be funded. However, Cr Stintz cautioned against using the parking levy as a tool, remarking that the impact on commercial centres and small businesses may not be not fully understood and could be detrimental to economic growth.

Metrolinx will release its final recommendations for funding tools on May 27. It says the region needs $2 billion annually to fund transit expansion.

Namibia’s capital Windhoek is close to finalising a futuristic transport master plan, focusing on safety, aesthetic and environmental concerns, as well as traffic efficiency by integrating the road network of the capital, including surrounding regions and the international airport.

The Sustainable Urban Transport Master Plan is a collaborative effort between the City of Windhoek and the Namibian Government, and is being conducted with the assistance of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The plan is expected to produce a clear and realistic vision for the development of a sustainable urban transport system for the next 20 years. According to the city's website, within twenty years Windhoek would have to cater for the mobility needs of close to one million people.

A key condition of the plan is to ensure developers wishing to set up businesses in the CBD would need to make provision for parking spaces for both employees and the general public.

The master plan has been sent to the city's management for consideration, and it is expected that a final draft plan would be ready by the end of May.

Phase two of the Federal Government’s study to construct high-speed rail (HSR) spanning from Brisbane to Melbourne via Sydney and Canberra was released this week to a lukewarm reception.

The ambitious infrastructure plan would be the largest investment of any national project, eclipsing the NBN many times over. The HSR network, comprising over 1,700 kms of track, could be completed between 2056 and 2065 at a cost of $114 billion, but it is more likely to be delivered in stages... assuming it is delivered at all. The report can be found here.

However, criticism towards the project has been leveled at the Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese. The Daily Telegraph says it’s too expensive and cheekily intimates the technology may be superseded ‘by flying cars’ midway through the century, while a transport reporter from The Sydney Morning Herald mocks the government suggesting they are more interested in paying for multi-million dollar reports than committing to hundred billion dollar projects.

The theory is great: Sydney to Canberra in just over an hour; Sydney to Melbourne and Brisbane in around three hours. Commuters would embark and disembark at the city centre without having to worry about airports, taxis, queues, etc. The Pacific, Hume and Federal Highways would experience a reduction in traffic. Road safety and the environment would be winners too. But is this just a pipedream that has no chance of being realised?

Whilst the federal government’s high-speed rail project caters specifically to passenger transport, it is worth noting that the conveyance of freight by road contributes significantly to congestion on our highways and greenhouse gas emissions. See this piece published by the ABC on the case for improved rail infrastructure for freight.

Should the commuter rail project proceed, it could change the way Australians think about interstate travel, where we live and where we work. 

This change in mindset may also impact how we use our cars and where we choose to park. The government will need to think more about planning for this eventuality, including improved park-and-ride facilities with access to railway stations. Perhaps another feasibility study is required?