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Car park is not ‘in the vicinity of’ for FBT purposes

Posted by admin pci,Thursday, December 09, 2010



In July this year we reported on a ruling from the ATO requiring Virgin Blue to pay additional Fringe Benefits Tax on a subsidised employee car park located 2km away from Melbourne Airport’s terminal. The car park was ruled to be ‘in the vicinity’ of the airport, and thus liable for additional tax. Read more about this case here.

On November 30, Virgin Blue’s appeal was upheld by the Full Federal Court; dismissing the case on the basis that the Tax Office’s claim that the Car Park and the Terminal were in vicinity of each other was based on the use of shuttle buses (provided by Virgin Blue) to transport their staff between the two places (deemed by the ATO to be within the same “functional space”).

Virgin Blue’s victory means that they are no longer liable to pay the additional Fringe Benefit Tax and sets a precedent for other employers providing car parking in other airports in Australia, ensuring greater clarity around the interpretation of the Fringe Benefits Tax for the provision of employee parking.


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Perth Airport set for $500m upgrade

Posted by admin pci,Thursday, December 09, 2010



A $500m program is being deployed at Perth Airport over the next three years to meet growth in demand, giving the airport new and expanded passenger terminals, expanded aircraft parking areas, and greater public access to the terminal.

The resources boom in Western Australia has contributed to a 7.5 per cent increase in the 2009-10 financial year, to a record 10.4 million passenger movements. A number of key drivers underpin the higher growth in air service demand in the State, primarily due to population growth, relatively high disposable income and employment levels as well as reliance on air travel for both business and leisure.

Growing demand from the resources sector is demonstrated in the airport’s plans, which include a new ‘fly in, fly out’ terminal dedicated to workers heading from Perth to the State’s resource-rich north-west. The terminal, designed in consultation with BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, will be built on a single level so that workers can arrive from interstate and head out on regional flights without having to move between floors.

The first stage of the redevelopment will commence in early 2011 and include expansion of the international terminal, including facilities for Airbus A380 aircraft used by three airlines that fly into Perth. Aircraft parking and taxiways will also be expanded along with roads and car parking to provide better access to and from the airport.

You can view a photo gallery of the new Perth Airport on the Australian Business Traveller site here.


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Where will the cars and the parking spaces go?

Posted by admin pci,Tuesday, November 30, 2010



A guest post from PCI’s Managing Partner Cristina Lynn

A couple of days after the conclusion of the 12th Australian Parking Convention, a lively debate took place at the Sydney Town Hall as part of the City Talks 2010 series. Hosted by the Lord Mayor Clover Moore, the talk on Thursday 11th November was titled “World Class Streets – Transforming city streets into vital public spaces”. The guest speaker was Janette Sadik-Khan, Commissioner of New York City’s Transport Department. Her role in the transformation of New York City’s streets from congested, vehicle laden danger spots into pedestrian and cyclist oases, bordered by outdoor cafes and public seating is nothing short of miraculous.

Ms Sadik-Khan’s presentation was followed by a panel discussion on how the NYC findings could be applied to Sydney, which included the Hon. David Borger BEc MP Minister for Roads & Minister for Western Sydney, Matthew Moore, Urban Affairs Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, John Choi, Architect, Choi Ropiha Fighera and Gail Connolly, Executive Manager – Transforming Sydney, City of Sydney.

I strongly urge you to listen to the Lord Mayor’s introduction, Ms Sadik-Khan’s presentation and the ensuing panel discussion. All in all you will need to set aside around one hour of your time, although the talks can be downloaded to your favourite MP player so you can listen to them while you are stuck in traffic somewhere….

New York implemented many of the recommendations made in a study by Jan Gehl, a practicing Urban Design Consultant and Professor of Urban Design at the School of Architecture in Copenhagen, Denmark. It appears that Mr. Gehl went to New York following the completion of a similar study carried out in Sydney in 2007. While the New York project is already well into the implementation stage we in Sydney are still at the “talking about” stage, although a number of initiatives have been started, particularly the building of a 200km cycle network.

I was particularly struck by the fact that in none of the presentations there was any reference to where cars fit into the plans and changes for our cities. Even more interestingly, I wonder what will happen to the over 18,000 off-street public parking spaces and 30,000 tenant parking spaces in the Sydney CBD as more and more streets become closed to traffic. It seems to me that just by ignoring vehicles they will not just disappear and indeed will make congestion in the roads which remain open to traffic even worse!





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Criticism against Sydney Council's car share program

Posted by admin pci,Tuesday, November 30, 2010



We have recently focused on the emergence of Car Sharing, both in Australia and across the world, from a planning, development and parking perspective. For the most part, our coverage of car sharing programs has concentrated on the benefits of car sharing programs, and how the City of Sydney in particular has enthusiastically embraced them.

However, as can be expected, not everyone is in favour of these schemes. Bayswater Car Rentals, for example, claim that the scheme effectively ‘subsidises their competition’, providing car sharing operators with free on-street parking whereas they are still required to pay commercial rates for parking spaces. The car-share companies do not pay rent for their car spaces, on the grounds that they are used mostly by residents, but they do pay the annual parking permit fees for each of their vehicles that residents also pay - $49 a year.

The council also bears the cost of enforcing the exclusive use of the spaces through its rangers, however, it has said it would impose charges for the partial or full cost of installing onstreet car spaces from 2011/12 onwards.

Resident groups in inner-city Sydney claim that the car sharing schemes have lost a large number of car spaces (they claim a number of around 50 spaces), being replaced by car-share vehicles that sit for days unused, reducing availability in busy urban areas.

Interesting to see the other side of the story! Obviously car sharing will be at its most effective given high utility rates. But have Sydney Councils gone too far?


Paul Barter commented on 03-Dec-2010 12:49 AM
There have been US studies by Susan Shaheen and her colleagues and students. They have looked at best practice at the intersection of parking and car-sharing. These might help judge how many spaces would be justified and on what terms.

See for example:
MTI Report 09-09
Carsharing and Public Parking Policies: Assessing Benefits, Costs, and Best Practices in North America
http://transweb.sjsu.edu/mtiportal/research/publications/summary/0909.html

CARSHARING PARKING POLICY: A REVIEW OF NORTH AMERICAN PRACTICES ...
by SA Shaheen - 2010
www.carsharing.net/library/TRB10-2921final.pdf

There is also an item in the latest edition of ACCESS, the magazine of the University of California's transportation studies folks but i can't make the link open right now to check the details.
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China’s record jam and examining traffic math

Posted by admin pci,Tuesday, November 30, 2010



In China last August, a massive traffic jam on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou highway in Huailai, caused by road construction in Beijing, stretched for dozens of miles and lasted for over ten days. The stretch of highway has been frequently congested, especially since large coalfields were discovered in Inner Mongolia.

It prompted the Wall Street Journal to write an article exploring the advances being made by mathematicians, engineers and planners in assessing and explaining traffic congestion. Whilst radar and GPS devices help pinpoint cars and relay traffic data in real time, sophisticated models can explain maddening phenomena such as phantom jams, when cars slow down even without congestion. But traffic mathematic's strides in reducing congestion are modest, simply because the number of cars often exceeds roadway capacity.

The article explores a number of different groups grappling with research on traffic and ‘urban mobility’, and how traffic engineers are working to mitigate the challenges of ever-increasing traffic. It’s a thought-provoking read and gives an insight into the challenge of traffic modelling and planning. Read the article in full on the Wall Street Journal site here. 




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A good indicator of retail spending in the USA?

Posted by admin pci,Tuesday, November 30, 2010



In the US, ‘Black Friday’ is the Friday following Thanksgiving which marks the beginning of the Christmas Shopping Season and is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year with many stores opening from 4am!

In the weeks approaching 2010 Black Friday, and as evidenced by satellite images of parking lots (taken by Remote Sensing Metrics), it appeared as though more Americans have been out shopping than in the previous two years.

Their data, which uses satellite images of parking lots to determine occupancy, shows that 35% of shopping mall parking spaces were filled this year compared to the 31-32% of the previous two years. And on Saturday November 20, the last weekend before Black Friday, parking lots were 42.3% filled, compared with 36.5% in 2009 and 30.6% in 2008.


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Dallas Fort Worth Airport - Parking Consultant recommendations

Posted by admin pci,Thursday, November 25, 2010



With the NPA’s survey showing that parking operations in the US, and particularly at airports, are reporting decreasing revenues, we thought that recently published recommendations of a parking consultant at Dallas Fort Worth Airport would be interesting to our readers.

According to the Dallas News, the highlights of the consultant’s recommendations are:
 
• D/FW should launch a loyalty program and start a "premium reserved parking product" in Terminal D that would guarantee a space near the front of the terminal to anyone who wants to drive up and pay a premium.
• Start an advance reservation system, and build a dedicated website for D/FW parking
• Raise prices for terminal parking by an additional $2 per hour next year, and $1 per hour every three years after that.
• Raise prices at Express and Remote parking by $1 per hour, and try to find ways to fix the Remote product, which isn't making any money for the airport.

The recommendations are projected to increase revenue from $95 million today to $166 million. You can read more on Dallas News here. 


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Australian Parking Convention 2010 wrap

Posted by admin pci,Friday, November 19, 2010



It seems hard to believe it is all over! The 12th Australian Parking Convention – APC2010 – has closed its doors and the general consensus has been a positive one for all involved.

The technical program was action-packed with many delegates finding it difficult to choose between the concurrent sessions. Great presentations were made by our overseas invited guests including Professor Don Shoup, Dr. Barbara Chance, Millie Yang and Ms. Muriel Hugosson, who unfortunately was taken ill and could only participate in one of the planned sessions.

The Congestion Debate illustrated the different approaches used in cities such as Perth and Stockholm, whilst City of Sydney Transport Strategy Manager Terry Lee-Williams highlighted the growing pressure on city streets between public buses, cyclists, pedestrians and motor vehicles. This is a debate which will only grow in intensity and importance.

Interesting presentations were also delivered by local representatives including Glenn Caldwell (Pay by phone technologies), Marc Elliot (On-line parking reservation systems), Michael Julian (Security in Car Parks) and so on. Delegates will be able to download the presentations via the Parking Association’s website.

One of the most exciting aspects of this convention was the representation of other international parking bodies including the International Parking Institute and the Canadian Parking Association. By strengthening our ties to our sister organisations in North America and Europe we will be able to raise the level of the profession for the benefit of all who work in this huge sector of the economy.

Our exhibition occupied the entire Hall 6 at the Sydney Exhibition Centre, with over 2,200 square metres of space and 45 separate exhibitors. They all went to great lengths to provide interest and variety in the products and services available and gave delegates the opportunity to touch with their own hands a whole series of new technological developments. Independent observers awarded a certificate for the best large stand to TMA Group and for the best small stand to Beonic.



The Convention Dinner provided around 340 guests with the opportunity to network amongst old friends and new acquaintances. The Excellence Awards, presented during the dinner, recognised the efforts of four projects in the fields of design, management, technology and innovation.

Delegates came from many areas including local government, universities, airports and property owners. We sincerely hope they left with a lot of interesting information in order to assist them in improving their parking assets.

The city and site for the next convention in 2012 is not yet determined, however you can be certain that we will be building on the lessons learned and the feedback received from all who participated to ensure you have an even better experience to look forward to.

Thank you
Cristina Lynn
Chair of the APC2010 Convention Organising Committee


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Boomburbs: documenting Sydney’s urban sprawl

Posted by admin pci,Friday, November 19, 2010



The Museum of Sydney is currently running an exhibition entitled ‘Boomburbs’. It is a look into rapid population growth and urban sprawl, showcasing a range of aerial photographs of ‘new suburbia’ in Sydney’s rapidly growing western suburbs. 

Photographer Andrew Merry's vibrant photographs capture the eerie calm of new, high-density housing and ‘McMansion’-dominated suburbia from the air. The Lego block-shapes of the houses and rooftops, cartoon-bright colours, empty streets and freshly landscaped gardens are quite surreal in the angles that he has captured them from.

Whilst the photographs are strangely enticing and compelling, more than anything else they are a visual reminder that Sydney’s population is growing at an enormous rate, set to increase by 1.5 million by 2036. These new developments in Sydney’s west are totally reliant on the motor vehicle for its residents to do anything from going to work, shopping or any other activity. It’s a sobering thought for transport planners and environmentalists alike.


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Australian Parking Convention day one photo gallery

Posted by admin pci,Tuesday, November 09, 2010



With day one of the Australian Parking Convention 2010 complete, Parking Consultants have sourced some photographs of the event and activities of day one.

In the below slideshow, you can see several of the keynote speakers from day one, the opening address from Larry Schneider, the presentation of the Awards For Excellence at the Convention Dinner, as well as two of the finalists in the ‘look-a-like’ competition at the convention dinner. Any guesses as to who Donald Shoup’s doppelganger is?

Day one was a great success at the Australian Parking Convention 2010, and we are looking forward to day two and several of the keynote speakers for today. View our slideshow gallery of images from day one below. 




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