22 November 2009

Canberra Centre Parking System installation

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At the Canberra Centre today, workers were installing a parking sensor system in the carpark closest to Big W.

Basically, when a carpark was occupied, a red light appeared above it on the roof, and when the space was free, the light was green.

Looked like a great idea to me!

(sorry, no photos)

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This new parking system has only been installed in the past few weeks and they are still in “testing phase” rumour is it will be all working by mid december including a space count on the exterior of the car park and for each row.

anonymous gungahlian6:04 pm 24 Nov 09

niftydog said :

Apparently the toilets that wipe your bum for you are still being installed.

I want one!

Hmm, I was in there yesterday and it didn’t look like the system was working wonderfully well. There were cars parked in (quite a few) spots that still had the green light on over them.

I’m sure it works and is quite handy, but I would rather they had just dropped the price of parking instead of wasting time, energy and money on something so trivial.

It’s not going to stop people snaking spots, and is probably going to lead to little car park drag races when the lights go green, which sounds absolutely delightful.

To all those bagging it, wait till you use it – it becomes quite handy when you’re looking for a car space.

icantbelieveitsnotbutter3:24 pm 23 Nov 09

Catch the bus!

Seriously though… why not throw an orange light in as well. Then find some way to link each bay with the ticket machine, so when someone pays to leave… the light above their bay will turn orange while they make their way to the car… actually, after reading this back… stupid idea

DarkLadyWolfMother2:40 pm 23 Nov 09

Traffic lights are easy for those colour-blind: Red is at the top; green is at the bottom.

Bike/bus lanes are both appropriately marked in ways other than colour.

I would have thought ‘light/no light’ would work as well. After all, you don’t care if a parking spot exists if someone is already parked there.

Simo the point of having them as LEDs is that you can see them from right down the other end of the row and they use very little energy, if you’re close enough to see an X or an O, you’re close enough to see if a space is occupied the good old fashioned way.

Given that most drivers have to distinguish between red and green on a daily basis (traffic lights, bus lanes/bike lanes) I think the red/green system is probably the best fit.

The ones in Doncaster are fantastic, you can look 360 degrees around you and go straight to the end of a row or skip a few lanes, works a treat. My understanding of the ones at the Canberra Centre is that certain sectors haven’t had their sensors activate yet, which is why they are staying green.

Apparently the toilets that wipe your bum for you are still being installed.

Are the lights just green and red circles? I can’t tell the difference between green and red (colour blind). They should have symbols like X = taken and O = available.

Yeah, I saw them last week. At first I thought they were Christmas lights as they are green and red. I think it’s a great idea if is works correctly. I did also see some filled carparking spaces that still had a green light.

what annoys me is you can’t see the parking cast until your are at the top of the entry ramp = too late

i hope they are solar powered or something.

there were a few green lights on full spaces today, but hopefully bugs will iron out before the crush hits.

Liked how it told you where there were parks and no parks with the arrows 🙂

my Happy Snaps of the setup:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phonakins/4123727839/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phonakins/4123726793/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phonakins/4123725385/

On the parking costs – as I was leaving today it crossed my mind that maybe it was no longer $2 for the whole day brief panic, put ticket in. $2, all was well. (life’s full of big issues)

The system is great as it saves you having to drive around and around looking for free spaces. Just follow the signs (I hope Canberra centre are putting these in too) to point to the right floor and row.

Holden Caulfield7:22 pm 22 Nov 09

Never let it be said that Canberra is anything but a hive of activity!

Saw it today when i was there,
Did not seem to be working very well.
Good in theory though.

Yes, it’s definetly got the potential to be one of those ‘handy’ additions. Not sure if it justifies the cost of the parking tho. The flat rate of $2 on Sundays and Public Holidays at Canberra Centre means a quick trip into the supermarket and parking for just 30 minutes means you are hit with a fee of $2! And during the week the cost is out of control. Regardless, the new parking lights might still need some adjusting yet – the rows of car parks I entered yesterday showed half a dozen green lights (indicating an available park) yet all were occupied….odd but might just be a temporary bug.

Oh, so the reason it’s f’ing impossible to get a car park at the mall near Xmas is not because there are not enough spaces, just that I can’t see them.

Nice. Saw this system in action in Portsmouth, England a few years back. Very handy as it’s possible to simply glance down an isle to see if a space is spare.

I’ve seen this at Doncaster in Melbourne.

The one there also has signs telling you the exact number of spots in a certain row/section of the carpark, so you don’t need to drive in when it’s already full.

It’s a very good system 🙂

They have that in Westfield Parramatta. I am not sure of the value of it as it only tells you when the carpark is actually vacant not when it is about to be.

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