Colliers International, in conjunction with Parking & Traffic Consultants, have released a white paper into CBD car parks in Australia.

The paper, entitled Australian CBD Car Parking – The Next Decade, examines the current trends and the expected future of car parks in Australia. With the number of car spaces in Australian CBDs increasing only marginally from 141,690 in 2006 to 153,400 in 2011, car parking is a finite product, with the supply of car parking expected to moderate over the next decade.

A key finding of the report was that the ratio of car parking to CBD workers is declining, along with the importance of parking relative to other forms of transport. Since 2005, proximity to public transport has remained the most important driver in attracting and retaining staff by tenants when choosing an office location and has steadily increased in importance over time.

Real estate and property yields for well-established commercial car parks are generally slightly above commercial buildings in the same price range in comparable locations, with a slight risk premium factored in to allow for increased uncertainty surrounding changes to Government legislation, casual parking as a discretionary spend which generally diminished in times of economic uncertainty, and a smaller market for car parking assets.

Parking & Traffic Consultants' own Managing Partner, Cristina Lynn, was a co-author to the report. Cristina said that with changes to technology and the cost of car parking on the rise, owners had to become more innovative in the services they provide. The benefits of new technology coupled with greater awareness of customer’s needs should ensure on going profitability and value maximisation for car park owners.

Click here to view the full white paper.

A recent paper published by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics has quantified an ongoing trend in Sydney – that drivers are driving less every year than the year before.

Since 2005, the average number of kilometres driver per year has been on the decline. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, in 1965, the average Sydney resident drove about 4000 kilometres a year. The figure advanced steadily past 6000 kilometres a year, by the late 1970s. By the mid-1990s, the average Sydney resident was driving 8000 kilometres a year. And by 2005, driving kilometres had crept up to about 8400 a quarter.

Since peaking in 2005, they have since slipped back to 1995 levels and are likely to stay for the next decade or so. The report shows that Sydney residents drive less than those in other capital cities. Residents in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth drive closer to 10,000 kilometres a year.

The NSW government announced last week that the Sydney Entertainment Centre, Convention Centre and Exhibition Centre at Darling Harbour will be closed for three years while they are expanded or replaced under a $1 billion upgrade approved by NSW cabinet.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the precinct will be expanded with a view to having facilities that are equal or better than those in other Australian capitals.

New facilities are expected to include:

• An upmarket replacement for the Entertainment Centre with seating for at least 8000 people
• An increase in size of the Exhibition Centre from 25,000 square metres to 40,000 square metres making it Australia's largest exhibition space;
• A convention hall with capacity for more than 10,000 people which can host multiple events simultaneously making it the biggest such facility in the country.
• Dedicated banqueting facilities for 2000 people, almost double the current capacity.
• A hotel with at least 300 rooms

Meanwhile, the government has opened the door for residential apartments, shops and restaurants to be built on Darling Harbour parkland as part of the overhaul. State cabinet has approved a 66 per cent increase in the area of Darling Harbour where developers will relocate and rebuild exhibition facilities and public areas as part of an upgrade expected to cost about $1 billion.

Due to be demolished to make way for the redevelopment of Darling Harbour, Sydney’s monorail has seen significant debate over what should happen to the structure once dismantled.

Landscape architect David Vago has drawn up a plan to take inspiration from New York’s famous High Line (see our blog post about the High Line here!), and turn the tracks into an elevated boardwalk and cycleway. His proposal would involve a three to five-metre-wide deck across the track, creating a 3.6-kilometre public walkway through the central business district.

The High-Lane, as he calls it, could be used by joggers, cyclists, office workers, parents with prams and tourists. The existing pylons would become vertical gardens and Monorail stations would be transformed into pocket parks, cafes and gallery spaces, taking around 12 to 18 months to build.

All the government entities remain non-committal regarding the project, with some scepticism and concerns given the proposed demolition to make way for the Darling Harbour redevelopment. 

An article published in the SMH recently explored what they considered a new phenomenon: parking space ‘squatting’, whereby drivers returning to their cars will sit in the vehicle to use their phones to talk, text or email.

On the one hand, it’s upsetting the normal ‘order’ of things – with the driver expected to vacate the in-demand space instead causing aggravation to other drivers looking for their own parking space. Following a driver back to their vehicle in a packed car park is now no longer a guarantee of securing the spot immediately.

On the other hand, however, safety advocates are pleased to hear that people are using their phones when the vehicles are stationary, saying that perhaps this is the first sign that attitudes are shifting around distracted driving. Driving and using a mobile phone without a handsfree unit is illegal in Australia, and more and more states in the US are banning drivers from texting, with private companies also forbidding employees to use their phone while driving. Drivers are instead pulling over to a safe place to talk, text and email.

It’s an interesting debate and it’s encouraging to see drivers adapting and becoming more conscious of safety. And besides, if the driver has paid for the time for the parking space, aren’t they entitled to use it in any way they wish?

The NSW government has recently changed legislation for on-street parking, paving the way for the introduction of ‘phone parking’.

After registering their details with a third party operator, drivers would then either use a smartphone application or call a toll-free number to send their car registration details to the system, advising of their arrival in the space. The “meter” is then stopped again by the driver on return, and the parking fees billed to their credit card. The system alerts the driver by text message 15 minutes before their paid parking time expires.

According to Fairfax Media, the NSW Roads Minister, Duncan Gay, said the change has been agreed to by Roads and Maritime Services, with the phone parking to complement existing payment methods.

The system should prove popular with local councils as it will reduce the costs of parking meter maintenance. Proponents of the technology claim that it benefits drivers by removing the risk of overpaying the meter, and reducing the risk of overstaying. 

The City of Sydney released its ‘Connecting the City’ Transport Strategy document this week. It includes a wide compilation of figures and statistics associated with traffic and transport movements in and around the city.

We came across a beautiful mural in a private Sydney residence, which brings the car park to life; it seems a shame to put cars in it! See more below and on the Craig and Karl website here. 

Last week, the Australasian Railway Association claimed that Australia was being ‘left behind’ as the only continent without a high-speed rail network.

The federal government released a study last August on the feasibility of a high-speed rail system on the east coast, linking Brisbane, Newcastle, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. The $20-million study said a 1,600-kilometre speed network could reduce travel time between Melbourne and Sydney to three hours, with customers needing to pay $99 for the trip.

The proposed Melbourne to Sydney high-speed rail network could cost between $61 billion and $108 billion. Due to the very high cost of the project, the government has commissioned a second study, due to be finished by November 2012.

Should a project of this scale get the green light, it would see major tunnelling construction work expected to begin in 2014. It would be the biggest transport infrastructure project in Sydney since work started 90 years ago on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and supplement the harbour and rail network system being put in place across Australia to serve the storage and rail and sea transport requirements of the country's booming resources sector.