By Carolyn Krasnow, Ph.D
In recent years, urban planners and community leaders across Canada have turned to “Smart Growth” planning approaches like Complete Streets and New Urbanism to help communities address common challenges associated with downtown planning in the era of the automobile. After decades of urban design focusing on the primacy of the auto, approaches focus on creating communities and streetscapes that provide, among other things, better integration of multi-modal transportation and better walking environments. The point of these planning approaches is to create healthier, less congested and ultimately more livable communities that also foster economic and commercial development.
Arising in the U.S. but quickly becoming international movements, Smart Growth-influenced developments and streetscape upgrades have cropped up throughout Canada. Canadian cities including Mont-Saint-Hilaire in Quebec, Whitehorse in Yukon, and Markham, Ontario have made their communities more walkable and bicycle-friendly, and improved the quality of life for residents. UniverCity in British Columbia and McKenzie Towne in Calgary were created as new communities with sustainable and/or new urbanist principles.
Creating urban environments that have a better balance of transportation modes isn’t as easy as it sounds. Critics of New Urbanism contend that it still accommodates “car culture” more than is desirable, and many people would like to see greatly reduced parking requirements for new developments and cities alike. And given the aging population, decreasing car ownerships trends among younger people, and the rise of car sharing, there is plenty of reason to plan parking with reduced needs in mind. But on the flip side, in most places cars are still the primary form of transportation for most people; not taking them into account adequately can hurt existing businesses and new ones.
A developer we worked with on a transit-oriented development in a vibrant Canadian city came up against this problem as they planned their…
By Ben Smith, B.E.Env
Multi-story parking lots are unique buildings, one in which all elements of the structure are normally exposed to the public. These structures face unique challenges as well as exposure to niche stresses as well as physical and chemical abuse.
Although often underestimated, the correct specification of waterproofing and surfacing materials is critical, within parking environments, to delivering a long-term, structurally protected and safe facility for parking operators and vehicle owners.
The most suitable deck coating material will largely depend on where within the multi-level or underground parking facility they are to be installed as well as the conditions to which the material will be subjected.
This can range from slip-resistance, durability and service life requirements through to temperature cycling, UV exposure and any problematic existing substrate conditions as well as any anticipated movement within the structure.
Parking has become a vital part of today’s mobile world with more vehicles on the road than ever before. As a result, the demand for parking is at an all-time high with vehicle owners searching for secure and safe environments to house their vehicles when they are without them.
The parking lot is often the first point of call for a visitor to any public, private or commercial venue. It is the “front door” of the building, while at the same time serving its primary functional role. There is no doubt that initial appearance, ease of use, signage, bright lighting and clear directional marking all help to make a parking development a more positive and safer environment.
As new build multi-story and underground parking structures are more frequently adorning the urban landscape so too are older structures being renovated to meet both modern design and safety requirements.
One critical design consideration is the deck coating material chosen to protect the reinforced concrete structure, in order to protect…
By Sharon Lewinson
Cities across North America now recognize the indisputable connection between health and the built environment. Change is happening, the pieces are coming together… but we can do more. And, specific to this article, people in the parking industry need to be involved active participants in the movement towards integrated sustainable mobility.
Parking – a connected piece of the integrated mobility solution
Over the years ACT Canada has delivered annual inspiring Summits on sustainable mobility – showcasing examples of leading policy changes, TDM strategies, programs, innovations and collaborative efforts to increase the use of sustainable travel options. Since the inception of ACT Canada almost 15 years ago, the Canadian Parking Association (CPA) has been a strategic ACT Canada partner, recognizing even back then, the critical role of parking in the integrated sustainable mobility puzzle. Each year CPA takes on a key and visible role in the Summit helping to address and raise awareness of parking related factors influencing urban mobility.
This year ACT Canada will be delivering Canada’s first ever integrated transportation – health focused summit, Sustainable Mobility & Healthy Communities Summit to accelerate the health-driven shift away from car-first communities toward a new emphasis on walking, cycling, public transit, ridesharing and efficient car use. We’re at a ground-breaking pivot point in addressing sustainable mobility and we need parking industry stakeholders at the table.
ACT Canada’s sustainable mobility wheel includes parking in many segments and understanding how and where parking fits might better influence increased engagement by parking stakeholders. Here are just a few examples of how critical parking is to the sustainable mobility equation, and how it impacts each and every segment of the sustainable mobility wheel.
TRAVEL PLANNING
TDM tools, resources, strategies and outreach initiatives typically focus on workplaces, schools or neighbourhoods. Employer organizations…
By Sharon Lewinson
A glimpse into what is happening now & what the future may hold for Accelerating Innovative Parking Strategies
Online rideshare matching started out over ten years ago as a mechanism to help people find carpool partners. They were launched by a few of the most forward thinking municipalities and private sector companies to help their residents or employees choose an alternative to driving alone.
Fast forward a decade and everything has changed. The internet and associated rapid technology advances, along with private and public sector demand (mostly south of the border), have resulted in a few of these systems being fully integrated multimodal transportation portals – and they include parking!
Streamlined integration with a multimodal focus are the fundamental elements that have resulted in the increased effectiveness of these rideshare systems and their growing use worldwide. Understanding how parking stakeholders can use or integrate with this technology can be a vital business strategy for parking organizations. A glimpse into the state of rideshare technology today and where it’s going might help you with your business decisions or open up opportunities for collaboration and engagement with other transportation stakeholders.
What are the high level components included in an online rideshare system today?
While there are many hosted rideshare systems on the market, there are really only a very small few who can provide the enterprise level services demanded from cities and organizations today.
Multimodal systems include matching for not only carpools, but for bike, walking and transit buddies. They include online transit, bike and walking planners, links to transportation agencies, park & ride lots, shuttle routes, EV charging stations, carpool parking and more. They can be the key online resource offered to the public or employees for transportation or commuting information.
Other key attributes:
- In general the core functionality of rideshare matching is also available in…
By Bern Grush, VP Innovation, PayBySky
Any municipality wishing to manage parking access in its commercial district(s) usually considers the parking meter as a management mechanism. This is almost always an uneasy solution—especially for small to mid-sized municipalities—and has been so for 80 years. Established digital technology provides a new way out for such municipalities—flexible, friendly, voluntary and free to shoppers.
In several publications predating 1927, support for parking restrictions were voiced “by some downtown businessman and property owners, who feared that traffic congestion, for which they thought the parked car was largely to blame, raised the cost of doing business and reduced the volume of business done.”1
Not long after, in 1935, the mechanical parking meter was invented to address this. While deployment spread rapidly, the parking meter has always had more enemies than friends and continues to draw ire from both parkers and merchants.
Smaller cities like Huntsville, Sarasota, Springfield, and Windsor, with populations ranging from 20,000 to 210,000, have meters going in and out as downtown merchants who compete with others on the outskirts see parking meters as a threat.
Huntsville, Ontario
In the spring of 2012 Huntsville replaced all parking meters in the downtown core with “signage…posted in certain downtown areas, limiting parking to no more than a two-hour period.”
According to an article in a local paper,2 the backstory for the Huntsville decision is that its town council had decided a few months earlier to “expand paid parking in the downtown core”. This “met with opposition from argued pay parking and parking tickets create animosity among downtown patrons as well as a competitive disadvantage when compared to other commercial areas in the municipality”. The mayor and council offered two alternatives: full authority over the policing of downtown parking, or replacement of the meters with 2-hour free parking. Characteristically,…
By Ralph Bond
The recent Ontario provincial election saw the high price of hospital parking for patients and visitors pop up as an issue.
As the population ages and more of us utilize hospital services and the cost of providing parking in rapidly urbanizing areas continues to increase, this hot topic is likely to keep sizzling over the next decade. The issue is more complicated than it first appears.
Historically, the province has funded approximately 75% of hospital capital and operating costs and relied on the local hospital to fund the remainder by generating surplus revenues from services like parking, retail stores, coffee shops and cafeterias. This has lead over time to the standard practice of parking facilities at hospitals being self- financing.
Perhaps the best way to start a conversation about hospital parking is to understand what it costs to provide it. This includes development costs, operating, maintenance and capital repair costs as well as replacement cost over the long term life cycle of the facilities. The cost of construction will vary significantly depending on whether the parking is in surface lot, above ground parking garage or an underground garage or some combination thereof.1 In the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), a surface parking space would likely cost approximately $15,000 per space to build including land costs. An above ground parking garage would likely cost approximately $35,000 per space while underground parking would be about $50,000 per space. The general trend is towards less surface parking and more garage parking as land becomes scarce and hospitals continue to expand into the surface lots. This means the cost of providing parking is likely to increase significantly into the future.
One also has to consider the cost to operate the parking which would include items like hydro for the lighting, parking access and revenue…
By Chris Mckenty
Canadian airports, unlike most of their American counterparts, are operated by non-share, not-for-profit airport authorities and are mandated to operate as self-sustaining businesses. This gives them greater freedom to adopt new technology pricing and marketing strategies that help them reach their goals. This is especially the case in commercial areas like parking.
Canadian airports, unlike most of their American counterparts, are operated by non-share, not-for-profit airport authorities and are mandated to operate as self-sustaining businesses. This gives them greater freedom to adopt new technology pricing and marketing strategies that help them reach their goals. This is especially the case in commercial areas like parking.
In the past few years, this technology has included the ability to give their customers the option to book and pre-pay for their car parking online via the Canadian’s Airports website or mobile app. You might be surprised to learn that last month alone (June 2014) nearly 10,000 fully prepaid parking bookings were made at just 3 of Canada’s airports generating an additional $750,000 of revenue for the airports. Edmonton Airport is predicted to grow its pre paid parking by 40% annually over 2015.
With this greater freedom the incentives and drivers for change can vary depending on the dynamics at each Airport,however common factors are apparent. These include:
- Increasing competition from off airport car parks
- Under budget achievement for car parking revenue
Spare parking capacity or very limited capacityin the car parks - A desire to improve customer service
Another significant factor in the decision to adopt this new technology is the lack of specific information on who the passengers and Airport customers are. Airlines have long since had access to this data but for many reasons have been either unable or unwilling to share this detailed traveller data. By offering an online reservation solution for their car parks, the Airports…
By Sarah Levy Sarfin
Typically when governments wish to raise revenue, they tax the population. One common tax is the federal and provincial fuel tax. The proceeds of this tax have funded municipal infrastructure needs across Canada. However, continuing to rely on a fuel tax to pay for infrastructure is not an eternal solution. According to a study commissioned by the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario (RCCAO) written by Professor Harry Kitchen of Trent University, a number of factors will lead to a decline in fuel revenues. Kitchen offered alternatives to a fuel tax: road pricing and parking taxes or levies.
While the RCCAO study focuses on the greater Toronto and Hamilton areas (GTHA), it has implications for the rest of the country. Kitchen pointed out that the push for energy-efficient vehicles, the proliferation of electric and hybrid vehicles, the decrease in the number of young adults (especially in urban areas) and Baby Boomer drivers will all negatively impact revenues from a fuel tax.
“Road pricing” refers to creating toll highways. Kitchen believes some form of road pricing in the GTHA might be an effective option to raise revenues that will fund infrastructure development and maintenance. He pointed to research that shows that road pricing can generate significant amounts of money. However, his recommendations about parking taxes and levies offer food for thought to the Canadian parking industry.
The Economics of Parking
Kitchen examines parking through the lens of economics. In his study, he asserted that parking is inefficiently priced. In economics, efficiency refers to the optimal allocation of resources. The economics professor explained that on-street parking in high-demand areas is priced far below its scarcity value. “Scarcity value” means that when something is in limited supply and high demand, there will be a mismatch of the desired supply and demand equilibrium….
By Rachel Levy Sarfin
Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) will come into force on July 1st, 2014. The law has been gaining attention long before it will go into effect, though.
Critics claim it is too broad and overly complicated. Once it comes into force, the law will have an enormous impact on every commercial electronic communication within this country. Robert Burko, president and founder of the marketing firm Elite Email, shared his tips on how to navigate the marketing landscape in the wake of this legislation.
Burko explained that the most important thing to know about CASL is that you must obtain consent from the people with whom you plan to communicate. “Gone are the days of being able to email whoever you want, whenever you want, without caring about whether you have permission to contact that person,” he stated.
Elite Email’s president emphasized that communicators need to obtain consent according to the law’s specifications. Burko added that there are two types of consent: express and implied. “The best type of consent is ‘express consent,’ which is when the person you are emailing has explicitly said ‘Yes, I want to receive your emails,’” he remarked. “The other type of consent is ‘implied consent,’ which is when someone has paid you or entered into a contract with you and a two-year window is created where you can email them.”
Violating CASL will result in hefty penalties. Fines for breaking this law can reach up to $1 million for individuals and up to $10 million for companies. Even non-Canadians can be found guilty of breaking CASL’s rules. The law applies any time someone uses a computer or mobile device in Canada to access a commercial electronic message, which includes emails and text messages. That means that an American business can be liable for penalties if a…
By Jay Gajiwala, Faculty of Science, B.Sc., Spec. Hons. Biology (Biomedical Science)
Tom Arnold Scholarship in Parking Industry Advancement at York University 2014 recipient
To observe how our cities and communities change as time passes is a duty of every resident. As a resident of Canada, I would like to document what I have observed over the years in the transportation and parking industries and the direction that I hope the industries will take in the future for cities and communities across Canada.
Over the last 50 years, the impact transportation has had on our societies is phenomenal. Cities and communities have been built with transportation in mind. At the root of the transportation is the parking industry. In the time when automobiles were a rare commodity, space was vastly available for use. However, as the population owning an automobile grew, the realization came that parking space is not unlimited. This resulted in parking facilities and technologies becoming more important than one could have ever thought.
For a long time, the goal has been to park as many automobiles in as little space as possible. To achieve this goal, we see vertical parking garages raised from the ground so that the limited land in urban areas can be utilized with more efficiency. The importance of the management of parking space is also evident in any downtown core of a city. For example, avoiding on-street parking during rush hours is a great way of using space to its full capacity. These and many other innovations have been geared towards efficient use of space.
In a growing city where parking is limited, many drivers find themselves needlessly wasting time going back and forth for parking spots. To address this, over the past decade parking spot counting systems have evolved in heavily populated areas where parking spaces…
