Following in the steps of the November 2010 Convention, the Parking Association of Australia held its 13^th event at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre earlier this week.

The event was characterised by a high level of local and international speakers that had the delegates particularly riveted to their seats. The exhibiton, in Hall 6 was sold out with 77 booths occupied by over 50 suppliers of services and equipment which showcased the best in show. Comments from some international visitors indicated that the quality of both the speakers and the exhibitors was equal if not greater than some other events held abroad.

At the AGM, our Managing Partner Cristina Lynn was re-elected to the PAA committee, and at the first committee meeting she was elected Vice President of the PAA. Cristina has demonstrated her continuous commitment to this industry by spending the last four years as Treasurer for the Association and Chair of the organising committee for the 2010 and 2012 conventions.

A new initiative she spearheaded during the convention was a Women In Parking breakfast which was attended by around 50 people (mostly women working in the Australian parking industry). Cristina is confident that this group, linked to the US based Women in Parking association set up a couple of years ago, will continue to grow and prosper over the coming years.

See attached some photos of the event.

It seems that some of the more aspirational car park exterior designs around the world are starting to see recognition in the mainstream commercial design world.

An article recently published in Commercial Design Trends magazine (see their website at trendsideas.com) explores how car park façades are being used to disguise and shelter car park buildings whilst simultaneously enliven the streetscape.

The article focuses on three car parks in particular, citing the new Brisbane domestic terminal car park, whose exterior was designed by Urban Art Projects, as a great example of how a beautiful design can minimise the visual impact of the car park. With 130,000 suspended, perforated aluminium squares that move in the wind, the building appears to ‘ripple’, creating a direct interface between the built and natural environments.

The Auckland City Hospital car park was recognised for its design, with the façade featuring folded metal panels with four million large and small perforations forming a tree pattern, and creating light and shade. The panels were also designed to ventilate the building.

In the US, the City of Santa Monica has set about improving the look of its downtown area, with one of the key targets being the eight parking garages around the popular 3^rd Street Promenade and refurbished Santa Monica Place. Brooks & Scarpa were commissioned to design improvements to the garages, including new façades, improved pedestrian access, enhanced lighting and ground-floor tenancies. Read more about the project on the article online here.

Innovations in the design of car parks – both to their frontages as well as the design of the interior of the structure – have a huge impact on how people interact not only with the car parks, but the public spaces that they are in. For more information, we recommend reading the article in full here. 

One of the areas that is often overlooked or taken for granted in car parks is signage. From exterior signage that attracts customers, to interior signage that helps drivers and pedestrians navigate quickly and easily through a car park, the importance of good signage to a positive customer experience is crucial.

We would like to refer you to a blog posted by Christchurch Council’s Kevin Warwood where he explores how signage can affect a parking business. From the number of signs, to the fonts, to the amount of information contained on the signs, to the frequency that they are changed, and the location and shape of the sign, Warwood draws on his experience to provide recommendations for better signage. 

At Parking & Traffic Consultants, we take signage very seriously and we are always keen to assist our clients in ensuring that it is correctly designed and installed in order to maximise safety and efficiency in the movement of vehicles and pedestrians in and around the car park. We attach here a few real “beauties” we have come across in recent projects – we are sure our readers will be able to add many more of their own. 

Car parking faces a continuing squeeze in downtown Auckland streets, following a 20 per cent reduction in spaces over the last five years. Auckland Transport says 843 street parking spaces have gone since 2007, leaving 3417 bays compared with 4260 previously.

According to the NZ Herald, the trend is set to continue as more CBD streets are turned into "shared spaces" – used by cars, bicycles and pedestrians. The business association ‘Heart of the City’ considers the lost spaces a necessary price for improving central Auckland’s urban environment, putting more emphasis on the need to build a better place for people, not just for traffic.

Auckland Transport claims a 26 per cent increase in patronage on key central bus routes, such as the inner and outer link services, since these were re-designed last winter. This is a trade off in return for a 20 per cent reduction in parking.

Cars are still a major consideration and access method for many, with cars last year bringing about 34,500 people into central Auckland each morning compared with 36,500 who arrived on buses, trains, ferries, bicycles or by walking.

A report prepared by the New Zealand Transport Agency has recommended that the government investigate changing the fringe benefit tax to include employer-subsidised parking.

The proposed additional tax is being considered to address concerns that employees are undermining attempts to ‘encourage more efficient commuting behaviour’. According to Stuff.co.nz, more than half of the country’s workforce is estimated to have access to free parking provided by their employer.

The report has calculated the value for the potential tax benefits in $675million annually, based on the value of car parking in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch at around $2,700 per employee.

The NZTA report also recommends that the government explore introducing variable fringe benefit tax rates for company cars based on their size and greenhouse gas emissions.

We came across a great piece written by Kevin Warwood, from Christchurch City Council, who writes the “Parking It There” blog about his recent experience at a New Zealand Hospital:

“I was walking along one of the main floors in the Helipad car park building at the very busy Auckland Hospital one Wednesday morning, when I saw a large SUV drive through the entrance and swing down the lane towards me.  I was just doing a walk through the car park to see how the day was turning out and noticed that the SUV was driving on the wrong side of the road.  As the SUV got closer, I could see that the driver who was a female, had a cup of coffee in one hand, resting on the steering wheel, and the other hand was touching up make up on the face in the rear view mirror.  Absolutely staggered to see this I motioned for the vehicle to stop.  I leaned toward the driver side window and said, “You should watch how you drive your vehicle in here, it’s a Hospital car park and some people may not be able to get out of the way as fast as I could”.  The lady promptly scowled at me and said, “I am a doctor and I work here. If you don’t watch what you saying I will report you to the Chief of Surgery!” and drove off, leaving me with an open mouth.”

Like at any other property, be it a shopping centre or an airport or a commercial building, the customer’s experience of a hospital often begins from the moment he or she enters the car park.  Warwood goes on to point out that in the US, as the hospital system matures and in the face if increased competition, hospitals are actively seeking to attract patients to their facility. An environment such as this would put the customer back in its rightful role of key player in the success of a hospital, and not just another number in a queue.

We do understand that attracting good staff (particularly doctors) is also a very important consideration for hospitals as without them there would be no patients. Therefore the skill in car park management in these institutions needs to consider all the different users and, where possible, allow for specific allocations to their different needs. Everyone wants the spot right next to the lift or the entrance and most have a good reason for that, and it’s up to the person or team responsible for parking management and operations to ensure the good spaces are allocated in a fair way and that sufficient space is provided overall to satisfy reasonable demand, whilst providing for incentives to use alternative transport options. 

Another year, another summary. In what has become an annual tradition, we try and distil the key news and trends from the Wayfinding Forum blog. It’s no easy job, with just under 200 posts published every year…

Parking rates and sentiment

In 2011, Australian parking rates and the construction industry sentiment were inversely proportional. Sydney announced another on-street rate hike, and Australian parking rates continue to be amongst the most expensive in the world; due to both policy and appreciation of the Australian Dollar.

The value of car parks continues to soar, with an off-street private park adding up to $200k-150k in Sydney, and up to $100k in Melbourne and $80k in Brisbane. It seems the lesson here is to invest in ownership of the space, not in parking your own car!

Meanwhile, the construction industry grows gloomier, with Davis Langdon’s quarterly sentiment monitor declining every quarter throughout the year, and painting an increasing negative outlook on the industry for the future. Gosh, we’re a miserable bunch.

Innovation and technology

In what is most likely the most significant event in the industry this year, the SFPark program in San Francisco was switched on in April, as the world’s first large-scale application of demand-based parking fees. Later in the year, Los Angeles also announced that they would trial demand-based parking fees, to commence in April 2012.

Unlike the sentiment monitor however, on the technology front it appears to have been quite the ‘appy year. Mobile technologies exploded throughout the parking industry in 2011, with apps launched for probably almost anything you can think of. There are now apps for reporting on the misuse of disabled parking spaces; find nearby parking stations, to connect people who want to seel their private off-street parking, show locations of electric recharging stations, probability of getting a parking ticket, remembering where you parked, finding available spaces, to play car parking games, and more.

Another technology to take note of for the future are in ‘near-field communications’, with Google announcing the launch of their ‘Wallet’ product (allowing users to pay bills by tapping their phones to a device); and the emergence of EMV credit Card technologies. Both of these will have a significant impact on how payments are made in our industry into 2012 and beyond.

Government regulation and policy

One of the biggest shifts in policy this year was around minimum parking requirements in inner-city buildings and constructions. Both Sydney and Melbourne led the charge, reducing the minimum required car spaces for new residential and commercial properties, and were followed by Canberra, Adelaide, Wollongong and more. It’s not just governments who see this as the future – apparently the users have also reduced their demand for inner city parking spaces, instead being replaced by increased demand for shower facilities and access to public transport.

Melbourne City Council has led the way with increased technological implementation and installation; this year introducing a number of automated technologies, including in-ground sensors, license plate recognition systems, pay by phone technology, and an electronic monitoring and enforcement system throughout Melbourne’s CBD and Southbank.

Around the country, Wollongong City Council introduced paid parking meters but repealed and amended much of their program, leading us to believe that they should have done their homework a little better before pushing go. Brisbane City Council expanded their on-street metered areas of the city and inner suburbs, and Perth’s announced that inner city churches were made exempt from paying parking taxes. Meanwhile, it was reported that the revenue from Perth’s parking levies were not being reinvested into public transport – the intended destination for these funds.

Politically, the NSW State elections saw a new government installed, with big promises to address transport issues in NSW. Sadly, (?) the No Parking Meters party failed to win a seat.

Transportation and planning

One of the key topics we explored in 2011 was the contrast between European cities and car policies, compared to Australian and American policies. We published a number of articles this year on how Europe is leading the way in moving their societies and cities from car-based to people based, instead investing in alternative means of transport and supporting infrastructure.

Car parking is integral to this process, however: a Parisian study found that most urban trips are influenced by the car parking conditions at their origin and destination; and a subsequent UK study found that effective parking management will provide impetus to shift drivers to more sustainable modes of transport; providing these options are available to them!

Back in Australia, congestion in Sydney in particular continues to increase, with six of the major seven roads to the city getting slower in peak hour commuting. Sydney’s main transport hub of Wynyard saw a lot of focus, due to both the Barangaroo development on the north-western edge of Sydney’s CBD, and the fact that the commuter hub is reaching capacity – for both the train lines and the bus lines.

Alternative and environmental transport

Whilst in 2010 we predicted that electric cars would be a key focus for 2011; it appears that this was shadowed by other non-car transport methods. For us, the most interesting news on electric cars this year came from lifestyle assessment studies published in May, examining not only the electric cars’ output, but the entire chain of powering electric vehicles from production to disposal, concluding that electric vehicles still have a long way to go to overtake the petrol-driven engines for energy efficiency.

Bicycling seems to have been the key focus for urban and transportation planners as an alternative transportation method in 2011. Most of the major (western) city centres have been investing in infrastructure to support bicycling. New York has led the way, implemented their bicycle lane infrastructre program to much press and attention, and it would seem, significantly increased demand. It has seen some teething problems in managing the balance between cars and bicycles, pedestrians and enforcement, but for the most part seems to be going well. London is also seeing significant success in their bike sharing programs, with the Boris Bikes scheme very popular and bicycling on the uptake.

In Australia, Melbourne’s bike sharing scheme was revealed to being significantly underutilised in June, with possible causes identified as pick-up points, poor weather, compulsory helmet laws, and a limited number of bike stations. It is still Australia’s leading city in terms of bicycle usage, and saw a significant police crackdown in June – trying to establish and teach bicyclists that they also need to obey the road rules.

Sydney opened their new dedicated cycleways in April, and has seen a significant increase in users since. We’ve also come across studies proving the health benefits of bicycling, with significant benefits for the population of cities with high usage. Aside from health, the new dedicated bicycle lanes have also seen apparent increased property prices for the houses on the cycleway routes, noted in Melbourne and Sydney.

Putting our bicycling money where our mouth is, PTC’s resident cycling nut Andrew Morse was very active this year, participating in the Sydney Tweed Cycle event in July, and blogged for us comparing the benefits of owning a bicycle to owning a Porsche.

Worth a mention

To wrap, there were some other ‘notable achievements’ in the industry we felt warranted a mention.

Congratulations to both Barbara J. Chance and Ronald Fleming were both named Parking Professionals of the Year.

The car parking structure at 111 Miami Road, Miami, has redefined architectural innovation.

We hope that Los Angeles residents and administrators are able to learn a lesson from LA’s ‘Carmageddon’, that ended up being just pure panic in a city that doesn’t realise it can’t do without a car for a day. 

And one of our favourite examples of parking enforcement for the year was watching the Mayor of Lithuanian capital Vilnius run over an illegally parked car in a tank. That’ll show them!

Over and out!

Thanks to all our readers for your interest and interaction with our blog this year. We hope that you’ve found it useful, inspiring, or entertaining! We wish all of our readers a happy holiday and we look forward to enlightening you in 2012!