Parking in Budapest, great idea

RosieJoe · 02-07-2010 11:31am #1

Yakuza · 02-07-2010 11:40am

Great idea indeed, but in this arse-backward country it would take years to get planning permission, take a multiple of the cost (that it would take anywhere else) to actually implement and end up costing €20 an hour to park.

Stevie Dakota · 02-07-2010 11:40am

That's insane, the enormous amount of engineering required for what they are gaining seems way out or proportion to me!

Alun · 02-07-2010 11:42am

Not a new idea by any means, these were invented back in the 1920's. I seem to remember reading somewhere that some of the older ones in existence from the 1930's are now protected structures. (I recall seeing one in Antwerp, but I'm not sure).

That having been said, the old ones were very unreliable, so maybe it's an old idea whose time has come with the improvements of modern technology.

http://www.stokesindustries.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19:history-of-mechanical-parking&catid=31:general-faqs&Itemid=66

Yakuza · 02-07-2010 11:52am

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

That's insane, the enormous amount of engineering required for what they are gaining seems way out or proportion to me!

I'd say comparing a conventional car park and one of those ones, for any given volume of space, there is much less wasted space in the automated ones (no need for public stairwells, lift shafts, access ramps, cars can be parked two deep from a central aisle), thus allowing more cars to be parked there.

There also no need for it to be underground in general, just in the case cited by the OP it saved a touristy spot from turning into an eyesore.

KTRIC · 02-07-2010 11:56am

Strange that the machine she was using to get her token was in German. Must be confusing for the locals. :rolleyes:

Alun · 02-07-2010 12:02pm

KTRIC wrote: »

Strange that the machine she was using to get her token was in German. Must be confusing for the locals. :rolleyes:

There was a choice of 3 languages on the machine .. Hungarian, German and one other that I didn't see. Woehr are a German firm, so maybe she was an employee of theirs. There are a number of German speaking minority ethnic groups in Hungary as well.

cjt156 · 02-07-2010 12:06pm

Huge amount of engineering for 404 spaces; can't be cost effective on that scale. Top marks for the totty, though someone should remind her to smile once a decade.

MidlandsM · 02-07-2010 12:10pm

she's H-O-T...!

PCPhoto · 02-07-2010 12:16pm

cjt156 wrote: »

Huge amount of engineering for 404 spaces; can't be cost effective on that scale. Top marks for the totty, though someone should remind her to smile once a decade.

even if she did - its too late to catch it on this video !!

as for the parking .... great idea - but would be very slow...and queues would block everything up, and in order to do it in this country ..... planning permission, backhanders, fronthanders, brown envelopes, government contracts, private investment.... they'd still mess it up with blueprints upside down or something.

Turbulent Bill · 02-07-2010 12:40pm

Yakuza wrote: »

I'd say comparing a conventional car park and one of those ones, for any given volume of space, there is much less wasted space in the automated ones (no need for public stairwells, lift shafts, access ramps, cars can be parked two deep from a central aisle), thus allowing more cars to be parked there.

There also no need for it to be underground in general, just in the case cited by the OP it saved a touristy spot from turning into an eyesore.

I get the impression that space saving was the main reason for doing this, given the historic area. Economically it probably only makes sense where demand is strong (enough to keep charges up) and/or the scale is massive.

It's a great idea with a limited application, though they probably said that about automatic warehousing systems in the past!

Rowley Birkin QC · 02-07-2010 12:44pm

So it's a cool car park/distribution centre robot type thingy competition you want is it?

In other news, I'd like to park her token.

T-Square · 02-07-2010 12:59pm

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

That's insane, the enormous amount of engineering required for what they are gaining seems way out or proportion to me!

Its not that advanced really.
Just a couple of elevators and sliding pallets.

I saw something like this when watch that boy racer movie "The Fast and the spurious"