In and around Atlanta, a new scheme putting a price on convenience is being introduced as a way to manage traffic congestion. According to the New York Times, transit lanes are now able to be accessed by solitary motorists, on a user-pays model.

In addition to the usual occupants (car pools of three or more, eligible alternative-fuel vehicles, motorcycles and an expanded fleet of buses), the lanes now also accommodate private single drivers who pay through an electronic transponder. According to the Georgia Transportation Department the ‘value pricing’, which varies according to the amount of traffic in the restricted lane, is between 1 cent and 90 cents per mile.  

It appears that the system has not achieved the intended effect of improving commuting time, with some local users claiming that commuting time in buses using the free lane have doubled since the introduction of the scheme.

According to the New York Times, a number of states who have introduced the ‘High Occupancy Toll’ lanes (HOT lanes) are considering a range of criteria for which vehicles are able to access the lanes. In both California and soon-to-be in Virginia, air-quality regulators ended single-occupant privileges for many types of hybrid vehicles, excluding older hybrids like the Toyota Prius in favour of plug-in hybrids and battery-electric cars.

It’s certainly an interesting concept, but as the author points out, reward is given for two different (and opposing?) methods of controlling congestion: free-market and economic-based methods against desirable behaviours such as car-pooling or driving a less polluted car. And is it really proving to be effective? Should governments be encouraging anyone to drive alone?

Students at James Cook University in Cairns this week have staged a protest against the university’s parking situation, insisting the university needs to boost the number of spaces and make them free of charge.

According to Cairns.com.au, about half of the campus’ 979 parking spaces have been restricted to permit holders this year, meaning students have to pay $63 for an annual parking permit. Drivers with a permit however are not guaranteed a spot. Assuming that students attend the university 150 days a year this would equate to all of $0.42 per day! No public transport could possibly compete with this and therefore it is not surprising that students would rather drive!

The university said it is supporting greener commuting by promoting public transport, through subsidising student bus travel and investing in infrastructure to encourage students to use public transport more often.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed a concept car that is not only small and compact, but when parked, it folds to reduce space further.

The Hiriko City Car was designed by the MIT’s Changing Places research group to solve the growing congestion problems in cities. The City Car takes up approximately one-third of a normal parking space, meaning you can fit around three and a half City Cars in one conventional space.

The electric car can travel around 130km on one charge, and features electric wheels that are able to spin side to side, allowing the car to spin on the spot.

Below is a video from The Boston Channel, showing the Hiriko City Car in action. The first assembly plant is reported to begin production next year, with 9000 vehicles planned by 2015. Is this a look at the future of parking?

We came across a great video this week on TreeHugger, showing a hooded bandit’s unsuccessful attempts to steal the handlebars from a locked bike in New York. Watch the video below. 

Fairfax media published an article this week exploring the range of benefits that a car share scheme is able to provide to residents, developers and councils of a city.

The car-sharing model is one that’s growing rapidly in many countries, and reflects a shift in the way that people are using their cars. In recent years, the increase in car ownership has slowed in Australia, and the distance we drive in each vehicle has begun to decline. Meanwhile, public transport usage is on the rise.

Car sharing is a key player in greening cities, reducing congestion and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Operators of the scheme tend to purchase energy-efficient vehicles – as petrol is included in the cost of the hire, there is an added incentive to run the cars as cheaply and efficiently as possible.

Research by consultants Frost and Sullivan in the US found that in 2009, every shared car replaced 15 private cars, and car sharing members drove almost one-third less than they would if they owned a vehicle. Widespread growth of these schemes would mean fewer cars, used more efficiently.

Car sharing company GoGet says that the penetration of their ownership in Sydney’s Surry Hills has now reached 2 in every 10 license holders. The company is increasingly providing shared utility vehicles at residential developments, working with councils and developers to reduce the minimum parking requirements through the provision of access to a shared vehicle. 

Meanwhile, in Townsville, the City Council has won a battle with the State Government to force developers to allocate more car parking spaces for multi-unit developments.

According to the Townsville Bulletin, the council has approved amendments to the city’s planning scheme to require new developments to provide two car spaces for units of two bedrooms or larger on any new multi-unit development in the city.

The changes also require one parking space for every five dwellings in any development on the mainland and one dedicated car washing bay for all developments.

The changes were sought following complaints about the number of multiple dwelling residents utilising the roadway for long-term resident parking. Council claims that the residents of Townsville are more likely to need a car to commute than people in southeast Queensland, blaming a poor public transport system and high private vehicle ownership rates. 

After a strong pushback from the residents and business owners in neighbourhoods planned for parking meter expansion, San Francisco transportation officials have said that they will gather more data and work more closely with each neighbourhood to refine the parking management proposals.

According to SFGate.com, the plan to add about 5,000 new meters across a range of council areas appeared headed to quick approval as recently as last month, but organised neighbourhood opposition persuaded the council to reassess their approach, working on greater public outreach to explain why they think the meters are needed.

According to transport officials, the neighbourhoods were chosen due to poor street parking which could lead to further decline unless something is done to control the problem. Meters, they believe, will force turnover to free up the spaces more frequently, or get drivers to use alternative transportation.

We would venture that the transport officials from San Francisco are very welcome to refer to our recommended steps for introducing paid parking in local council areas. Likewise, for anyone interested, you can view our steps on our site at this link. 

A recent study by researchers at the University of Tennessee has explored the impact of electric vehicles on China’s air quality and particulate matter emissions (the most likely to result in health issues).

According to the study published in TreeHugger, the particulate matter impacts per passenger-km in most Chinese cities are greater for e-cars than for petrol cars (3.6x on average), lower than for diesel cars (2.5x on average) and equal to diesel buses.

The key reason for the increased particulate matter and environmental performance of the electric vehicles is highly dependent on the source of electricity. With around three quarters of China’s electricity coming from dirty local coal, fairly lax air-quality regulations, densely populated coastal regions (many cities are located near very dirty coal plants) and the life cycle impact of electricity, it is clear that electric vehicles in China are going to result in negative environmental outcomes.

The good news is, however, that China is very much at the extreme of the situation, and when compared to countries such as France and Norway, where almost all electricity comes from very clean sources, the results are very different, with electric vehicles having a positive impact on air quality and emissions throughout their life cycle.

The residents of two major cities in California have recently seen the introduction of car sharing and bicycle hire operations, thus increasing their choice of transport.

In Los Angeles, the US’s largest car sharing network, Zipcar, has recently opened for business, placing over 125 vehicles throughout the city. The ‘car capital’ of the US is already exhibiting adoption trends and usage patterns similar to the other major markets across the US.

Meanwhile, it seems that one of the biggest stumbling blocks to bicycle sharing in San Francisco has been overcome. The recent addition of electric bicycles to the City CarFleet’s existing car sharing service, will allow users to deal with the city’s steep hills and terrain without facing exhaustion.

According to TreeHugger, the program will be trialled to find out how many car-share trips will be replaced by electric bicycle trips, and what factors influence the switch. 45 e-bikes will be added to the fleet in 2012, with an additional 45 to be added in 2013.

Residents of Decatur in Indianapolis, US, have received approval to open a paid parking lot near the local airport, with revenues going to the community rather than the airport authority.

The private group of residents were successful in defeating strong opposition from the mayor’s office and the airport who claimed that parking is not the best use of land, with a significant portion of the existing airport’s parking facilities currently underutilised.

According to wthr.com, the parking facility will supply covered parking for over 3,700 vehicles, with the revenue being used to help fund the fire department, poor relief, and all township government entities.

This is a really interesting issue and raises a lot of questions: Who is going to fund the construction project? How much will it cost to park there as opposed to the car parks within the airport? How will passengers get from the car park to the terminal and back? How will this affect the already low occupancy of the airport’s facilities? According to the Airport’s website there are many parking options available on site so it will be interesting to follow how this project develops!