By Stuart Norman, CEO – Parking Australia

On 2 April the Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg handed down the budget which included significant funding for roads, rail and commuter car parking. In total the government has committed $500m to create or improve commuter car parking at 12 public transport hubs in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Six of the commuter parks are in Melbourne’s east and south eastern suburbs with four pledged for New South Wales and two in Brisbane.

By Peter Damen, Level 5 Design

Car sharing has the potential to make a major contribution in the transition away from Australian’s dependence on private cars. Using private cars is one of the most carbon intensive ways to get around and car sharing will increasingly become important for a nation that is edging progressively closer to accepting the benefits of partially and conditionally automated vehicles.

By Peter Damen, Level 5 Design

For some time, our advice at Level 5 Design has been that parking lots specifically designed for self-parking cars have the potential to take up 60% less space than traditional lots. Savings can be made on parking footprint, aisle widths, ramps, ceiling heights, finishes, stairs, elevators, lighting, security, boomgates, etc.

By Sharon Prior, President of Parking Australia

My recent trip to Intertraffic Amsterdam confirmed in many ways that Parking Australia is talking about all the right topics as an association, and keeping them central to our dialogue, for the benefit of our members and stakeholders. The focus at Intertraffic 2018 was primarily on the harvesting and sharing of big data, smart mobility and the need to focus, more than ever, on improving the customer experience through the provision of information – all topics that we have covered in recent times at conferences, in panel sessions, and through our newsletter and website.

Day 2 at OUTLOOK 2017 marked the start of the delegate-led component of the event, with topics suggested by delegates themselves and facilitated by Knowles Tivendale from Phillip Boyle and Associates. Trending topics were put to a vote and delegates disbanded into small groups for some peer-to-peer learning and work-shopping of the topical subjects.  The sessions proved to be a forum for information sharing with popular topics such as smart cities, car ownership, electric vehicles, and planning for the future of on street parking – being well attended.