Drove past the PMs XI today at Manuka Oval and noticed a Parking Inspector slapping down dozens and dozens of fines in the vicinity (wih no exaggeration).
Checked out the official parking which was fronted with a sign: PARKING FULL. Whats the use of updating the Oval if it cant even accomidate people parking first?
The whole suburb was chockerblocked, every piece of dirt was covered. Understandably, its an old suburb thats quite well developed… so really, the worst bit is isn’t that a dirty piece of revenue raising from the parking office?
Name and Shame. Maybe people should have events here exempt from fines.
There is no option provided, because let’s be honest- who would ride an Action bus?
[Ed - Well I rode my bike]
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Options
1/ Park and ride on the shuttle from nearest bus interchange
2/ Park in nearby suburb and catch a bus or taxi to and from the car (even a taxi back to your car would be only about $10)
3/ Park legally about 250-500 metres (or, heaven forbid, 1km) from venue (I always find it funny that people will walk over 1km to get around places like civic but then whinge about walking a couple of hundred metres elsewhere)
4/ Park in nearby suburb and cycle to and from venue (an old 2nd hand rack and bicycle will set you back about $30 or $40)
5/ Get a friend to drive, set down and pick you up afterwards (or at least drop your passengers off and then do options 1, 2, 3 or 4).
6/ Park illegally, cop a ticket, contribute to ACT revenue, help keep taxes down for others and then whinge on Riot Act.
I’m sure there are other options available with five minutes forethought……
There are two multi-level carparks in Manuka. Where they really full? I think not.
Do you have to walk 5mins, sure.
Got to admit, mid-strength beer is pretty poor.
Has the ACT government decided that we’re too f***ing stupid to make up our minds about whether we drink light, mids or standards?
It would seem so…
dungfungus said :
You’re right, I had to promise to submit to the tyranny of government in order to board.
(I believe they were actually chartered by the event, so substitute “free” with “subsidised by all the other cricketgoers who didn’t use the bus” if you like).
I have never attended an event at Manuka Oval. I don’t follow any of the sporting codes that use it and I think I would be in the majority after a poor crowd that turned out to watch the cricket match on Tuesday. I have always thought of it as a quaint precinct but with limited potential due to it being landlocked and there being no provision for parking. Certainly, the cost of installing the 6 floodlight towers was not justified. We already pay huge amounts of ratepayers’ money to attract AFL teams to play on the turf there, a decision that has mystified me and a lot of ACT residents.
I was at the Manuka Theatre on Monday night to see Argo (great movie BTW) and while waiting in the foyer I looked at the light towers and thought how much out of place they looked. They remind me of giant fly swatters and they would be better sited in the NGA sculpture garden.
If anyone from the Manuka Theatre is reading this take note that the area between the stairs and the windows is disgustingly filthy with garbage and discarded building materials caught on ledges under the stairs.
Looked like a good crowd to anyone who was there
dungfungus said :
Has the inter-tubes made us all brain dead? If you think the theatre is dirty and needs a clean then perhaps you should let them know directly.
dungfungus said :
The official crowd figure was 9500, for what equates to a pre-season warm up match. Not too shabby. I expect the ODI next week will be comfortably over 10,000.
Not sure what the official capacity is for cricket matches, but I reckon it’d be 13,000 or so. That would mean the PMs XI crowd had the ground at almost 75% capacity.
Poor crowds at sporting events certainly aren’t consigned to Manuka Oval. We’ve got Katie’s nice green turf and restrictive rectangular stadium out in Bruce to point the finger at as well.
Thumper said :
Pretty much all sporting events and even festivals have gone mid strength now. And you’ll note that they haven’t had the decency to reduce the price to a realistic level either.
More profit for organisers whilst hiding behind a community safety argument, It’s complete crap.
*Insert whinge about the nanny state here*
dungfungus said :
long way to say “you like movies, while others like cricket”
muscledude_oz said :
Hey muscledude_oz, do you ever run into Roundhead89 during your visits to the beachside gym?
davo101 said :
I’m pretty sure Dungfungus was brain dead long before the inter-tubes were invented.
AndrewW said :
Nah, but they both get their steroids from the same bloke.
dungfungus said :
What mystifies me is how often I read people saying ‘I never have attended an AFL or cricket match at Manuka Oval but in my imagination of an event I didn’t go to, the crowds were small’. Just to clear it up for everyone that doesn’t go to AFL or cricket matches, the crowds are usually quite big and close to sell outs if not sell outs like the ODI game next week. The fact people are talking about how difficult it is to find a park might give you a big clue about this.
Holden Caulfield said :
The Manuka oval website states that parking time restrictions are relaxed on major event days and includes a map of the area affected. I know of people who parked on grass areas in preference thinking that the time restriction would result in a fine.
As this seems to be the place to connect with people who simply have to use a car for everything, the Arboretum has tweeted today that if you intend going to their opening day THERE IS NO ONSITE PUBLIC CAR PARKING.
But lots of free buses from all over, including from Bruce stadium for northsiders.
Righto. See you there maybe. On foot.
c_c™ said :
They were far from full. i had to go to manuka to the bank and forgot the cricket was on. Went into the car park and there were heaps of spots.
So rather than pay for convenient parking the option was still to illegally park to cut that walk down by 50metres.
Tnut said :
That’s good to know, thank you.
Gungahlin Al said :
No such thing as a free bus.
muscledude_oz said :
Photo caption…painstakingly translated… :
Koalas are bigger and thicker than I thought!
Looks like the grey ghosts had another productive day in the inner south, if the snippet on WIN News last night is anything to go by.
I arrived late so I parked at Kingston Oval where there were a heap of spots still left. That extra 7 minutes walk each way was well worth $80 or whatever a parking ticket costs.
Lots of unhappy people whinging about the grey ghosts on the Canberra Times website . suckos to them!
Boo Hoo….talk about ‘first world problems’ – (cue eyeroll) – plenty of parking at manuka shops, kingston oval or leave your car at civic/woden and catch a bus in as suggested….its a sign that your life is pretty comfortable when you have a whinge about something like this.
Manuka Oval … brilliant.
Dropped into Civic by my lovely daughter, took the bus in. Despite being full of the lower classes it wasn’t an unpleasant journey. Had a fantastic day at a great cricket match, Windies were as good as could be expected, some brilliant catches. Watson was outstanding. Drank more than a few beers (weak Aussie mid strength unfortunately.)
Was rather dismayed by the tuneless vacuity of the interval entertainment. The fireworks were rather good. Caught a bus back into Civic, and was picked up by my daughter.
A lovely day out at a very good cricket ground, made me glad to live in Canberra, let’s hope we get many more such class matches.
Lion 30 you are spot on !
I am blown away by the amount of people supporting the parking fines! This is the first one day international we have held…. I can guarantee the ACT government has made lots of additional money from hosting the event in addition to driving away any interstate travellers who came to watch the game. I certainly wouldn’t come back to canberra if I travelled all that way to find that not only is there no parking but I would be booked for finding any space available.
You can say all you like about people catching buses, walking, riding! Sometimes life isn’t that simple! It was held on a week day, where many people took half days and rushed to the game as soon as they were off work. Stuffing around running to the bus, powering your bike along, it’s impractical and in no way makes anybody lazy or ignorant!
I happen to live and work in Kingston and I drove telopea park road several times throughout the day. The traffic didn’t bother me, the illegal cars were never in my way. I simply felt excited that so many people had showed up to support an exciting game. Talk about being lazy, having to slow down and drive around some parked cars as opposed to forcing the entire cricket attendance to to hike across from the other side of Narrabundah! Anybody who knows the area well knows it is already extremely limited in parking, even more so of a week day.
There is no alternative parking… Unless you want to park up the other side of Narrabundah, as Barton is full of the public service and already is over parked.
Then all the drivers who are upset with the over population of cars around Manuka oval can enjoy the thousands of people walking across the roads all over the area instead of just the one place!
Think shit through people. It absolutely kills me to realise how many morons out there sit on their pedistools, telling the cricket supporters they deserve what they get if they park illegally. What do you expect them to do.
I say free parking, with no tickets until the act gov can provide alternative parking.
zorro29 said :
I agree with your opinions on illegally parked cars being a nuisance on a regular basis. But really come on, on a day where they are holding an event that is seating thousands? Somehow, I think you would probably cope one day. I live on telopea park drive, and I survived.
Emma29 said :
Um……where?
Enterprising brisbanites that live near the large sports grounds have taken to charging for parking on their front lawn.
Why not volunteer your own front lawn for these poor misguided citizens and ruin your own green space.
Pedistools.
Not quite as good as petal stools, which I’ve read in the past, maybe even on RA, but a good effort nonetheless.