19 September 2006

Qantas gear up for airport traffic chaos?

| johnboy
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So just how bad is traffic going to get around the airport when their huge new factory outlet opens?

The following email has crossed my desk this morning:

From: mwiddup@qantas.com.au
Sent: Tuesday, 19 September 2006 10:22 AM
To: mwiddup@qantas.com.au
Subject: Canberra Airport – Traffic Volume New Brand Depot factory

Good morning all

The Canberra International Airport has sent out the following email to alert travellers of the increase volume of traffic around the airport area this weekend.

Details as follows:

This email is to advise you that with the opening of the Brand Depot factory outlet centre next week traffic volumes to and from the airport are expected to be extremely heavy.

Whilst we have been working very closely with ACT Policing and ACT Government on minimising the impact on the roads surrounding the airport, the demand to and from Brand Depot is likely to be such that we are expecting substantial delays on roads to and from the airport at peak times.

The expected impact times are as follows:

Thursday 21 September: from 4pm to 9pm
Friday 22 September: from 11am to 9pm
Saturday 23 September: from 8am to 7pm
Sunday 24 September: from 8am to 7pm

Heavy traffic may also be evidenced on subsequent weekends, however probably not to the extent of the opening weekend.

Please advise your staff, and if practical your customers/passengers, of these potential delays, to minimise any impact on your regular operations. We suggest that staff/customers consider leaving at least half an hour earlier than usual to factor in any unexpected delays in accessing the airport.

Please also pass on as appropriate to your reservations/operations departments.

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They *do* actually check the carparks, sometimes. Last week, some eager beaver inspector had chalked tyres three times before lunch.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know the legalities of CAG staff issuing parking fines? In a previous life, I worked in the RG Casey bldg in Barton, and they were required to invite ACT parking inspectors onsite to issue TIN’s – would this be the case at Brindabella Park?

5.00 a day, 17.50 a week, 70.00 a month
or something like that
ant – they don’t park at pialligo cause its much easier to park in the 1hr car parks for the entire day, most of the time. just go out and check occasionally.. they never have inspectors here

i dunno – maybe the centre will be busy on its opening weekend, what with people wanting to check it out just because its new. but i think any interest will drop pretty soon after that. have you seen the list of stores that are in this place? it’s not exactly an exclusive club.

How much DO they gouge the Brindabella Park workers for a day’s parking there? Used to be hordes of them parking across the road near Rodney’s, but the people crossing the road are not so numerous now, so I wondered if they’d dropped the parking prices?

ant: there is SO infrastructure at brindabella park !

There’s TWO cafes ! and a subway !
and a Servo! and 2 ATMs !
and yes, excessively priced parking.
personally, i dodge the traffic cause i work on shift.
and, apart frmo the distance from home.. (20 minutes each way, wah wah) i think i prefer workin here to workin in civic.
of cuorse, we also get free use of the airport shuttle..

CAG ALSO sent out an email proclaiming some bullshit about a special night for Brindabella PArk employees, and, i kid you not, they sent it out to 10 pages (in word, font size 12) of email addresses.
They didn’t bcc, or in ANY way hide the email addresses.
Hello email harvesters..

Growling Ferret11:50 am 20 Sep 06

VY – there are 1700 free spots. See their website…

I know plenty of people from areas like the South Coast and Riverina who will come to Canberra for shopping trips – there are already Seniors and other group bus tours from these areas that go to Sydney DFO at Homebush and Essendon Airport in Melbourne. I can imagine that some may come to Canberra instead being half as far away – assuming the shops are selling half decent product instead of absolute rubbish (the stuff they could not get rid of in Sydney/Melb/or god forbid Adelaide DFO!) …

Cool, so the first 3 cars get to park for free, everyone else parks like a spaz wherever they can and gets a ticket. Yep, it’s Canberra all right!

It’ll be a debacle, yes. The roads out there can’t handle the normal weekday rush hour traffic. Brindabella Park is a schemozzle.
I checked out the DFO at Homebush one weekend recently, and the traffic was crazy there, too. And there were no bargains! It was a swizz.

In the US, there are these Tanger outlets everywhere, and they are rather useful. They have special stuff made for them, plus the stores will send stuff that’s leftover there. If you check them often, yes, there are great bargains. But mostly, it’s just heavy-duty retailing. Some are fooled into thinking that because it’s there, it’s naturally cheaper, You need to know your prices to be sure though.

and yes, the parking will be free. Unlike the poor buggers who have to work at Brindabella Park, where there’s NOTHING, no shops no nothing, and have to pay for parking! After being in traffic jams to get there, and to leave.

I flipped through Capital Magazine’s new monthly freebie that featured DFO in its launch issue and decided that it’d be worth a visit if only because they’ve got brands there that aren’t anywhere else in Canberra.

Does anyone know if the outlets will have free parking? This is the decider for me these days . . .

The cat did it8:01 pm 19 Sep 06

Note that this was a forwarding of an email from Canberra Airport- wouldn’t be a blatant piece of self-promotion, would it??? Brand Depot is facing a brief window of opportunity, until DFO’s Newcastle St complex becomes operational.

I got a bit of junk mail on this place – extolling the exiting retail opportunities that awaited the Canberra shopper if only they took the short trip to the airport and impending retail nirvana – looking at the list of retailers you can see why Snow is tetchy about DFO setting up shop down the road in Fyshwick – I suspect that the bulk of customers heading out that way will be homeboys looking for a bargain on white satin tracky-daks, baseball caps and silly sneakers – that and tho occasional suburban mum looking for a bargain bed spread.

What I want to know is why in the hell is it earmarked for late night shopping on Thursday nights when here in Canberra we have it on Friday?

I pity the poor bastards, like myself, who use that road as the “backway” to Gungahlin.

factory outlets….

my arse.

unless the outlets are in shanghai.

My experiences at the DFO in Melbourne at Morrabbin (If I recall?) was one that unless you had a specific need, it really was a waste of time. Most of the products there appeared to be cheaper then std retailing but the difference wasn’t significantly huge enough to warrant the time and hassle of travelling there..

I realise that Canberra is obviously smaller but once the shine wears off the DFO here will probably wither away – unless their product base is broad enough and the discounts are significant compared to std retails…

Canberran’s are a lazy bunch, so for people to travel from say tuggers or weston creek all the way to the airport will (I suspect) become more of a hassle than what its worth (unless you’re in fyshwick checking out furniture).

Spot on Smackbang!
And who pays for the retrospective infrastructure upgrades caused by Snow’s empire building? The poor old ACT ratepayers.
Let’s hope it’s just wishful thinking on Snow’s part…
Even if it does get a big bang first up, I’m sure it will be short-lived, and things will become pretty tenuous out there for the operators.

hmm, perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to build an outlet centre in an area where there isn’t the infrastructure to support it. but then why let common sense get in the way of making money for the owners of the airport…

blingblingbears1:47 pm 19 Sep 06

hmm… does that mean I will have to consider leaving at least half an hour earlier than usual to factor in any unexpected delays in accessing the new shopping centre for my long awaited dose of retail therapy??? hehe

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