Fears over fees for parking at work calmed. Both Leeds City Council and City of York Council were named in reports that claimed a number of authorities across the country were considering using the levies in an effort to raise funds and cut congestion. The scheme would see employers charged hundreds of pounds for the spaces they offer to their staff.  Although both Leeds and York have looked at the controversial fundraising measure in the past, both said they are not considering such a move at the moment. For the full article from the Yorkshire Post click here

Ultimatum to top parking norm violators in city. HYDERABAD: Police and GHMC officials have identified 195 top parking norm violators and cracked the whip on them. There will be a joint inspection of these commercial establishments in a week's time to decide on individual deadlines to rectify violations. As a part of implementing the Lok Ayukata's orders, the Hyderabad traffic police and GHMC have identified top 10 parking norm violators in each traffic police station limits of the city and called representatives for an interactive session to bring awareness among them at FAAPCI auditorium on Thursday. For the full article from the Times of India click here 

Builder’s new project to ease Borivli school’s parking woes. A public parking lot will soon rise on a Borivli plot previously used as a leisure club. A state-appointed high-powered committee has cleared a proposal for setting up a public parking facility on a private plot at Devidas lane in Borivli. Owned by the Wadhwa Group, the plot was previously a leisure club — Club Acquaria. The owners recently closed the club, and had proposed premium residential projects in its place. In order to claim additional buildable area, the owners proposed a public parking facility on a portion of the land. For the full article from the DNA.com click here

Gray & Fenty on Parking. Vince Gray and Adrian Fenty did a DC mayoral debate today of which, unfortunately, there seems to be no transcript. There is, however, a Dave Alpert has spent so much time trying to reassure urbanists about Gray. Here’s Austermuhle’s writeup of their back-and-forth on the crucial issue of parking. 12:33 p.m.: Audience question on … parking. Really? Ugh. Fenty says you need to find balance between cars and other means of transit, cites Gabe Klein’s work at DDOT. This is actually a winning point for the mayor, at least from the urbanist perspective.Gray calls parking rates “outrageous,” firmly appealing to the car lobby. Boo! Does express concern over loss of business due to expensive parking, but also supports looking at alternative modes of transit. For the ful article from Yglesias click here

Parking areas cannot be sold as flats/garages: SC. New Delhi, Sept 1(PTI) The Supreme Court has ruled that builders/promoters cannot sell parking areas as independent units or flats as the same is to be extended as "common areas and facilities" for the owners. A Bench of Justices R M Lodha and A K Patnaik in a judgement rejected the argument of a real estate development company that they are entitled to sell garages/stilt parking areas as separate flats to owners who intend to use it as parking facilities.  For the full article from the Press Trust of India click here

Grieving man fined for parking for three minutes too long at East Wittering. A man who parked in an East Wittering car park to make funeral arrangements for a relative was stung with a hefty £120 parking fine – for being three minutes late. Nolan Spratt has hit at out Shoal Enforcement for issuing the ticket after he parked at New Parade car park by Shore Road on August 19. He was visiting funeral directors FA Holland and Sons to make funeral arrangements for his father-in-law – who had died the day before.  For the full article from the Chichester Observer click here

Dubai Customs plans to increase the parking lots designated for customers at its main building in Port Rashid to 513 instead of 258 lots to foster clients` needs and meet the growing increase in the number of customers and visitors. The move comes in conjunction with the imminent completion of the multi-storey parking project being constructed by Dubai Customsin area of 15.7 thousand square meters accommodating 600 vehicles that intended to be designated for employees while the current 255 staff parking lots would be allotted for customers and visitors use. For the full article from the Zawya click here

Melbourne's parking peculiarities is a local obsession. An odd thing happened the other day in Dudley Street, West Melbourne, when I put $5.20 in a parking-ticket machine. There was whirr, a clunk and a bit of paper rolled out of the slot. But it wasn't a parking ticket, it was some sort of tally of coins, of amounts received. "Total sum $6066.30," it reported. "Number of coins: 203. Amount: $136.65." For the full article from the shm.com.au click here 

Parking woes in Singapore. Night parking charges will double from $2 to $4 at more than 1,300 carparks islandwide from November 2010. The new $4 charge is part of moves to tackle a space crunch in parking spots around Singapore. That's not all. A survey last month found that it costs $30 a day on average to park in prime areas such as Shenton Way and Orchard Road. In fact, Marina Bay Sands has the distinction of having one of the most expensive parking rates in town. If you park at the integrated resort, it'll cost you $8 for the first hour, followed by $2 every half-hour after that until you hit a maximum of $28. For the full article from the Straits Times click here

 

Parking Mandates in Toronto. New zoning code for Toronto’s largest city: “Council also adopted common parking standards, cutting up the city into five categories. New buildings that go up near subways or streetcars will now require fewer parking spaces than those that are far from rapid transit.” For the full article from the Yglesias Think Progress.org click here

Parking charge is axed. Shoppers in Swinton have won a five-year battle to reinstate free parking in the town’s shopping centre. Trade at the centre, known as Swinton Precinct, has dropped by a third since the meters were implemented in 2005. Now the original owner of the site, GVA Grimley, has regained control of the land and parking meters were removed from the centre last week. The company has decided to waive charges for the first two hours of visiting the centre. Traders and shoppers have welcomed the move. For the full article from the Salford Advertiser click here

 

Parking woes for Sungai Long folk. Parking woes for Sungai Long folk. “Although there are parking bays across the street, people will double park along Jalan SL 1/4 to go to the restaurants and banks.“The enforcement officers should do their job to reduce the indiscriminate parking here,” he said.  Foo Nyet Yee, who lives at the Scot Pine Condo near the commercial area, said a few months ago, the drain covers were removed so that the drains could be cleaned. She was unsure who was responsible for cleaning of the drains. For the full article from the The Star Online click here 

At the invitation of the UN Project on Governance, Timothy H. Haahs, PE, AIA, President of Timothy Haahs & Associates, recently spoke at a UN conference in South Korea hosted by its Ministry of Environment. The forum, featuring the theme “City Development for Green Growth,” gathered representatives from 37 countries, including Russia and China, as well as from throughout Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Sectarian fight had roots in dispute over parking. BEIRUT The worst violence to hit Beirut in more than two years started innocuously – a dispute over a parking place near a mosque, just minutes before the breaking of the Ramadan fast.  Yet it quickly turned a religiously mixed neighbourhood into a battle zone, as both Sunni and Shiite militants exchanged machine-gun and rocket fire, and Lebanese security forces watched helplessly from the fringes of the area. For the full article from the National click here 

Parking officers blasted for using disabled spot. Melissa Goncalves was getting a late-night coffee at a Tim Hortons near Caledonia Rd. and Lawrence Ave. W. on Tuesday when she witnessed something “totally unfair” — a Toronto parking enforcement vehicle pulled into a designated wheelchair-accessible parking space.“There were many spots available next to it — the whole row was empty, basically,” Goncalves, 18, said, adding she doesn’t understand why the officers chose the wheelchair-accessible spot. For the full article from the Toronto Star click here 

Fury over disabled man's parking fine at Birstall Tesco. A MAN who struggles to walk due to his suffering of multiple sclerosis is refusing to pay a parking fine for parking outside Tesco in Birstall. Stuart Rhodes has been registered disabled since he developed the disease - a serious illness of the nervous system that can cause partial paralysis - in 2002. He finds it hard to walk without using an aid as his legs wobble and cause him to lose his balance. For the full article from the Batley & Birstall  News click here

Beijing: World’s Biggest Parking Lot. China’s love affair with cars seems increasingly to be turning its capital into a giant, nightmarish, gridlocked parking lot. Following news of a 10-day traffic jam outside Beijing that has stretched up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) long, state media on Tuesday reported that average driving speeds in the capital could drop below 15 kilometers an hour if residents keep on buying at current rates of 2,000 new cars a day. At that pace, Beijing will have 7 million vehicles by 2015, according to the head of the Beijing Transportation Research Center, and the pace of movement will slow to what it was a decade or more ago when China was still the Bicycle Kingdom. For the full article from China Realtime Report click here

Salisbury traders raise fears over parking charge plan. Proposals to increase parking charges in parts of Wiltshire have angered traders in Salisbury. The county council is consulting the public over its "car parking strategy" which is being reviewed. The authority wants to help cut reliance on cars and raise money to reinvest in transport services which could mean a 50% rise to some charges.

Salisbury City Centre Management is worried shoppers will turn to other retail centres nearby. For the full article from the BBC.co.uk click here 

Traders, civic body clash over parking space in CP. NEW DELHI: Traders in Connaught Place and NDMC are once again at loggerheads over the redevelopment plan in the area. On Friday evening, traders protested against the ‘green belt’ being made along the parking lots in front of each of the 16 blocks after NDMC attempted to tow away cars parked on the belt in D-block. Traders claimed the green belt was eating into parking space without serving any purpose. For the full article from the Times of India click here

Huddersfield emergency staff flaunt parking rules. LOOKS like they’re just nipping out for a copper coffee. But these two officers could find themselves in hot water after they were snapped parking up in a pedestrians- only zone in Huddersfield town centre. The pair – thought to be operational support unit or firearms officers based in Wakefield – might normally be seen taking part in stakeouts. But it was a take-out of the caffeinated kind that they were more interested in yesterday when they popped into Caffé Nero at King Street. Their high-speed car pulled up between two clearly marked "Pedestrian Zone" signs. The signs read: "No vehicles except for permit holders and for loading." For the full article from the Huddersfield Daily Examiners  click here

 

Government concern over councils' parking charges plan. Charging motorists hundreds of pounds a year to park at work was not what the government meant when it told councils to find new income, sources insist. A "handful" of councils in England are looking at introducing workplace parking levies, according to the Local Government Association (LGA). For the full article from the BBC.co.uk click here

 

 

Shopping spots cause parking woes. CHANDIGARH: The coming up of shopping complexes in Industrial Area without adequate supporting infrastructure has resulted in parking problem with cars parked alongside the main roads. Though UT allowed conversion of industrial plots for commercial use, the lack of parking space is leading to chaos outside the malls, shopping complexes, automobile agencies and offices that have come up in the area. For the full article from the Times of India click here 

Shoppers demand parking lot at G-6 Sunday bazaar. ISLAMABAD: The visitors to the G-6 weekly bazaar have demanded that Capital Development Authority (CDA) arrange parking lot at the bazaar. Talking to Daily Times, The visitors said they were facing difficulties due to unavailability of parking area near the bazaar. For the full article from the Daily Times click here

Auckland City discovers lost funds. A local candidate vying for Auckland's Super City council is hoping for better council management after the discovery of a forgotten-about $3 million fund. The money has been tucked away over the last 30 years, collected from developers who paid into a fund instead of making parking provisions in their developments. For the full article from TVNZ.com click here

 

 

Tel Aviv to gain 1,000 parking places. The parking places will be on four underground stories, and also serve a future shopping area planned for the Givon complex. Tel Aviv is about to gain some 1,000 new parking places as retail-cum-real estate giant Blue Square joins forces with development company Gindi Holdings. For the full article from the Harretz.com click here

 

Protest site in Moscow to become a parking lot. Moscow authorities have said Triumph Square, a frequent site of opposition demonstrations, will be closed off within days for construction of a multi-level, 1,000-space underground parking garage. Kremlin critics cried foul, saying the closure was meant, at least in part, to prevent them from demonstrating on the square on the 31st of each month - a date symbolising the right to free assembly guaranteed in Article 31 of Russia’s constitution.“The authorities have a panicked fear of citizens gathering to demand that the government abide by the constitution,” said prominent human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva. For the full article from the Gulf Times.com click here

Wembley: Parking row victory. A pair of self-styled parking crusaders had a £3,565 fine revoked after they barricaded themselves in a car for 28 hours, writes Kate Ferguson. Haroon Zafaryab, from Salmon Street, Wembley, and Fazan Munir, from Hampton Close, South Kilburn, holed themselves up in their black Toyota after a parking attendant threatened to charge them £365 to remove a clamp. Mr Zafaryab, who works as a wholesaler of surgical equipment, said he was on his way back from praying at Wembley mosque on Wednesday last week when he spotted that his car, in Copland mews, had been clamped.For the full article from the WBTimes.com.uk click here

City coffers drained by parking meter loss. The proposed introduction of pro rata parking fees in the Wollongong CBD will cost Wollongong City Council an estimated $405,000 in lost revenue this financial year. Council administrators will decide on Tuesday whether to abandon the $2 flat fee for CBD parking in favour of pro-rata fees and a raft of other changes, including turning meters off at 4.30pm on weekdays and all day on weekends. Motorists will be able to insert as little as 10c into the meters, with parking to be charged at $1 an hour, or 50c for half-an-hour), in 30-minute, one-hour and two-hour parking zones. For the full article from the Illawarra Mercury.com.au click here

 

Motorists welcome wheel clamping ban. HAMPSHIRE motorists have welcomed the news that a clamping ban is to be imposed. Wheel clampers are set to be banned from operating on private land in a bid to tackle rogue operators who exploit drivers by charging hundreds of pounds in release fees. The Daily Echo has reported on a series of incidents in which motorists received getting fines of up to £500 after parking for just minutes in the wrong place. For the full article from the Daily Echo click here

Anger over street parking permit fee in West Bridgford. Some homeowners have displayed posters protesting against the scheme. Some residents in a part of Nottingham are opposing plans to charge for on-street parking permits. Nottinghamshire County Council wants to introduce a parking scheme in the Edward Road area of West Bridgford. It said it was in response to a request by people who complained some motorists were using the area because of a lack of parking around Central Avenue. For the full article from the BBC.co.uk  Click here

Pay parking scheme returning to Baguio. BAGUIO CITY—A pay-parking scheme, which cost a former Baguio mayor his office, is being revived by Mayor Mauricio Domogan, who said such a system would restore order to the city’s snarled traffic. “How can we call ourselves a tourist destination when all tourists complain about is the absence of parking spaces?” Domogan said. For the full article from the Inquirer.net click here

Supercar Parking Tickets Go Unpaid: Westminster Dismayed. Westminster council is getting in a parking tizzy again, this time over drivers of supercars registered outside the UK parking illegally and then refusing to stump up the cash for tickets. An estimated £4m is outstanding because the council have no powers to trace the drivers so they've resorted to publishing the registration plates of the offending motors - an impressive roll-call of Bugatti Veyrons, Rolls Royce Phantoms and a Lamborghini Murcielago - to shame their owners into coughing up. Only last month, two more supercars belonging to the new owners of Harrods were clamped outside the shop by Kensington & Chelsea council. Westminster are asking the government to change the law, but somehow we think parking offences might be low on Cameron and Clegg's list of priorities. For the full article from the Londonist.com click here

 

 

Canadian cities going green on roads and in buildings. MONTREAL — Vancouver has vowed to become the greenest city in the world by 2020. New condos in Toronto are going up without any parking spaces. Regina is doing away with one-way streets to improve public transit access in a revitalized downtown. And in Montreal's trendy Plateau Mont-Royal borough, Mayor Luc Ferrandez is doing his best to bring a little more country into the city."We're looking at streets and asking ourselves, 'Is it really useful'," he said in a recent interview. "We've identified about 20 streets that are not useful, that can be taken out and retransformed into green spaces." For the full article from the Toronto.ctv.ca click here

Free-for-all for Delhi traffic police. Intense security arrangements and traffic diversions put in place by the Delhi Police caused massive inconvenience to Delhites on Sunday morning. Even families with valid invites en route the Red Fort to witness the Independence Day Celebrations complained of harassment and prolonged, unnecessary vehicle checking procedures by Delhi Police personnel. For the full article from the Hindustan Times click here

 It's a story of colossal waste. In a city starved of road space, one would think that parking lots would be filled to overflowing. But Kolkatans, it seems, are by and large oblivious to such amenities, meant to make life a little bit easier on the roads. Reason: a mix of mismanagement and public indifference. For the full article from the Times of India click here

 

 

Dismal show, thanks to illegal parking zones. KOLKATA: The dismal show of parking lots in the city is symptomatic of a larger evil: illegal on-road parking across the city.  More than three years after its inauguration, the underground car park on Lindsay Street has failed to attract motorists. Thanks to illegal parking everywhere in the heart of Esplanade, the hi-tech facility is heavily underutilized. For the full article from the Times of India click here

Parking arrangements for guv's party. HYDERABAD: The city police have made parking arrangements in connection with the `At Home' party that will be hosted by the AP governor on the occasion of Independence Day at Raj Bhavan on Sunday.  Cars of invitees with green and yellow passes will be allowed through gate No. 1 of Raj Bhavan upto the alighting point in front of the Darbar Hall and shall be parked in the administrative block, according to a press release.  For the full article from The Times of India click here

 

Parking plaza construction work re-starts. RAWALPINDI: The construction work of parking plaza at Fowara Chowk resumed on Friday after a deal between Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) and the hotel owners. The construction work of the parking plaza project was halted just after it started some days ago, as the area hoteliers started protest against the project claiming that the land of the parking plaza belonged to them.  For the full article from the Daily Times click here

Fine print on parking tickets tells the story. So you’ve overstayed your welcome at the parkade in the bowels of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court building and arrive back at your vehicle to find a parking ticket tucked under a wiper blade. Although the infraction occurred at the highest court in the province, you won’t be ticketed by the city’s parking patrol but by Imperial Parking Canada (Impark), the industry giant that runs the lot. The company operates 12 lots in the Halifax area containing 1,300 parking spaces. For the full article from the The Chronicle Herald click here 

Two parking industry leaders form a joint venture. Tenix Solutions and Vehicle Monitoring Systems (VMS) are proud to announce that they have formed a joint venture for the sales and marketing of VMS’s innovative Parking Infringement Camera System (PICS). This partnership will see Tenix Solutions as the exclusive distributor of PICS in Australia and New Zealand. PICS is a pole mounted camera system that monitors dangerous parking areas and provides evidence of illegal activity. PICS provides greater visibility of red-zones and has been shown to reduce illegal parking activity by up to 85 per cent. PICS works by capturing images of potential parking infringements. These images are reviewed by Tenix Solutions’ staff prior to being made available to council. Council Authorised officers then review each event to determine whether to issue an infringement, send a warning notice or to take action. “PICS will revolutionise  the parking industry and enhance the delivery of enforcement services to our customers. Enforcing parking restrictions in safety blackspots such as no shopping areas, loading zones, clearways and schools zones is a serious challenge for our clients and staff,” says Rebecca Power, CEO of Tenix Solutions.  “Not only is the activity labour intensive, it is fraught with OH&S dangers for the officers. We have been searching for a solution that  enables our officers to deliver exceptional service to our customers without compromising  their own personal safety,” she added. “Illegal parking in red zones is a serious safety hazard that puts lives at risk. In these dangerous areas PICS fixes the problem by delivering enduring improvements in driver behaviour,” said Saxon Hill, Managing  Director of VMS. “Texis Solutions brings a wealth of relevant experience and resources to this exciting partnership. We couldn’t imagine a better partner,” he added. Tenix Solutions is Australia’s leading parking enforcement services provider to Local Government in Australia and New Zealand providing both on-street enforcement personnel and back-office administration services. VMS is Australia’s leader in parking enforcement automation. VMS pioneered the Parking Overstay Detection System (PODS) and maintains a single-minded focus on creating innovative parking enforcement solutions for local governments.

Jeddah: 46% increase in parking capacity at KAIA. MENAFN - Arab News The General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA), in cooperation with the private sector, has enlarged the parking lots at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) to accommodate over 4,500 cars. For the full article from the Menafn.com click here