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. 

By Paul Barter

This post is about how to promote Walkable Parking. But, first, I had better talk about what it is, since the term is not (yet!) widely used.

Planning for Walkable Parking basically means working to create more park-once-and-walk districts where much of the parking is open to the public, even if it is privately owned. It means enabling local ‘parking pools’ and not caring if any particular site has enough on-site parking.

By Tegan Worrall, CV Media & Design

As the first touchpoint with your business, it is essential to eliminate the frustration that often accompanies finding a parking space. Research by Columbia Business School has proven that a relaxed and happy customer is willing to spend more money and more likely to become a repeat customer. Avoid making potential customers irritable through focusing on creating an easier and more convenient parking experience.

By Paul Barter

Can on-street parking fees really help places with poor public transport?

I was asked this many times in Pune, India, while I was there three weeks ago*. Parking is a hot topic in this Maharashtra city of about 5 million people because many Pune streets have extreme parking problems and because the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has a new and progressive draft parking policy awaiting approval.