Civic parking fees go up up up

Um, isn’t it just about supply and demand? If noone paid the prices, they wouldn’t be able to charge them. But seeing as everyone will bitch a bit then pay the new prices, there’s not much you can do about it.

And quoting, I suck at it, again.

That sounds quite extraordinary. Could you tell us the departure and destination suburbs?

RatsNest said :

la mente torbida said :

Used to use the bus, getting to work was a 1 hour trip (15 min drive in peak hour)… and to get home, 2 hours over 3 busses.

That sounds quite extraordinary. Could you tell us the departure and destination suburbs?

la mente torbida said :

Okay…hands up. Who has actually used the buses, rather than just bitch about them? Have been catching the bus recently from inner south to Tuggeranong…two buses and 35 minutes door to door (takes me 20 minutes in the car) and the new $3.80 fare covers all bus travel over a ninety minute period, not just a single section.

Used to use the bus, getting to work was a 1 hour trip (15 min drive in peak hour)… and to get home, 2 hours over 3 busses. Seriously, how is that considered viable? I can choose to spend 30 mins a day in the car and do any errands that are needed or i can spend 3 hours on the bus / waiting at bus stops.

If the ACT gov wants to call the busses an option, maybe they should have to catch them for at least a week!

Hmmmm an hour riding buses to get to work, an hour riding buses to get home…plus wait time….yeah right! I’d rather drive the 20-30 mins each way and pay parking. It’s just so much more convenient.

la mente torbida said :

@photoetext

Yes, I know the $3 fare covered the 90 minutes, but I was replying to the earlier posts suggesting it was for a single ride.

And the travel time, I was surprised by the speed as I used to catch the reverse bus from home to Civic – single bus 30 minutes (and only 8-10 minutes by car).

Am I lucky? I suppose so. Very lucky? No, I missed out on on lotto the other night.

I catch the bus when I have to. i don’t enjoy the idea of standing in close proximity to members of the human zoo who missed the announcements that wiping your nose with your hand will help to spread the flu, or that you should cover your mouth to cough, or sneeze into a tissue or hanky. every flu season, i have caught the flu just by discovering the plusses of buses. I am fortunate that the business i work for has paid parking spaces at work, the use of the bus is to avoid trying to find a park in civic. There isn’t much of a problem for me to find a park, I am prepared to trek from the carpark to my destination when it isn’t raining, but the last couple of days have been downright miserable.

perhaps the car park area next to the LA could become more parks with the removal of the permit parking, the gardens, and the trees. must be at least 10 spaces wasted by concrete.

random said :

I thought the fare increases were advertised more than adequately, too.

Also which bit of ‘my kids didn’t know about it’ don’t you understand?

Adequately for you, maybe. Obviously inadequately for several other posters who were unaware of the changes.

I really wonder why businesses and departments choose to locate themselves in Civic and Woden, it would seem that how their workers are to get to work isn’t something that rates highly in the decision-making process. Particularly with departments and businesses that have recently decided to re-locate to these districts… I know that many people will decide not to seek positions with them based on their location.

Nearly four bucks for a bus trip. It’s cheaper for me to drive. Much cheaper. And easier, and more comfortable.

So get a 10-ride ticket for $25 (up from $22). Good grief.

I thought the fare increases were advertised more than adequately, too.

Putting an increase on ACT public transport is strange, considering the annualised CPI was down 8 points or 5% for transport in Canberra.
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6401.0Mar%202009?OpenDocument
The charge like bulls on cyclists is also odd, since their major selling point to cyclists last election was that the “Bring a bike, ride free” program would continue.
Then again, “Keep it free\low cost until dependence kicks in” is a proven and effective strategy…

apologies for the bad grammar above… this crap just makes me angry!

In response to la mente torbida – I have used the bus – many times. When I had a child at a childcare centre close to where I lived it was fine (sort of), but as soon as she started going to school I had to start driving again as I had to get to work quickly – plus the bus route changed!

Driving saves me an extra 15min and I only live 15ks from work.

The other point to make is that no matter how high parking is there are a lot of Canberrans that will have to pay it anyway due to family or other commitments -the point here that Sonic got himself in the (**expletive**) due to crap budgets and now expects everyone else to pay for it… and I still think all the MLAs should have to pay and park in the same place as everyone else – they probably wouldn’t get in to the city early enough in the morning to get a park!!

“Very lucky? No, I missed out on on lotto the other night.”

Me too dagnabbit. 🙂

@photoetext

Yes, I know the $3 fare covered the 90 minutes, but I was replying to the earlier posts suggesting it was for a single ride.

And the travel time, I was surprised by the speed as I used to catch the reverse bus from home to Civic – single bus 30 minutes (and only 8-10 minutes by car).

Am I lucky? I suppose so. Very lucky? No, I missed out on on lotto the other night.

The first we knew of the rise in busfares was when our daughters came home from school not having had enough money. Fortunately they did take them home, but it was stressful and unnecessary. They could at least have had signs up somewhere you couldn’t have missed them letting the kids know the fares were rising in a couple of days.

“and the new $3.80 fare covers all bus travel over a ninety minute period, not just a single section.”

Which the old $3 fare did too.

“two buses and 35 minutes door to door (takes me 20 minutes in the car)”

Your very lucky then.

Okay…hands up. Who has actually used the buses, rather than just bitch about them? Have been catching the bus recently from inner south to Tuggeranong…two buses and 35 minutes door to door (takes me 20 minutes in the car) and the new $3.80 fare covers all bus travel over a ninety minute period, not just a single section.

Parking up? don’t whine just stop parking there – its pretty basic – If the price was actually too high you would stop using it, wouldn’t you?

Thumper said :

N

LG said :

Nearly four bucks for a bus trip. It’s cheaper for me to drive. Much cheaper. And easier, and more comfortable.

I doubt that

Also – when are they going to remove that ridiculous car-park on the lake near the old “footsall fields” ?

PigDog: It’s a bit of a task determining the parking requirements of a site. These requirements must be met for the development to be approved. Basically they’re based on the forecast demand for car parks in that area. In a built up area, where you’re making a bigger building that will be used by more people, you will generally be required to put in more car parks than were originally there. In the case of the Woden Tradies development, 172 public long stay parks may have been lost but they would have been replaced by private car parking spaces in the development.

You can find the general code for parking and vehicular access here

And, erm, how’s this for hypocritical:

“From 1 July 2009, cyclists who use an ACTION bike rack will be required to pay a passenger fare to travel.” – http://www.action.act.gov.au/changes_to_bus_fares.html (NB: prior to July 1st it was free for cyclists who use the bike rack to travel on busses..).

So our wonderful Government are encouraging people to cycle, etc. but if they live too far to cycle to their destination (or are not fit enough, elderely, so on) they’ll still have to pay an exorbitant fare for busses. Brilliant.

Nearly four bucks for a bus trip. It’s cheaper for me to drive. Much cheaper. And easier, and more comfortable.

ditto

G-Fresh said that “Planning requirements are such that when you construct a building in a busy area you will be required to have more vehicle spaces than were originally there.”
Then how come the new Tradies Club in Woden will result in a loss of 172 parking spaces?

Mr Paul said that “It continues to support the sustainable transport goals of the Government, in encouraging people to look at alternate means to using a car such as taking the bus, riding and walking.” Well, Mr Paul, I’ve looked at the alternatives, and none are practical. Does this mean I get free parking?

As a side point – anyone know how much the parking at the ACT Government building car parks is rising by?

This thread was the first I’d heard cash fare was going up.

So demand is about to spike for non-expiring multi-ride bus tickets, or is price going up too?

Yes, I know it isn’t the ACT government’s problem that thousands of people commute in from Murrumbateman, Yass, Queanbeyan, Bungendore, Tharwa, Michelago, Goulburn, Collector, Gundaroo and Sutton…

Ant has the solution. We should double parking fees for these interstate interlopers who soak up our scarce parking resources but don’t even have the decency to vote here. It should be triple for Tharwa so they can help pay for that nice bridge we all built for them so they can get home to marry their daughters faster.

dommie said :

When I called the wonderful people on the ACTION helpdesk to enquire how this fare rise had been advertised there was no mention of any written print ads or posters.

Come on ACTION communicate with your clientele.

+1

On Tuesday night there was a printed flyer on my bus home with the new fees – the first and only one I saw. Too late for me to race out and get a couple more ten ride passes.

3.80 for a bus trip is ridiculous. They pretend they want more people to use buses, but they clearly don’t. Didn’t Jon pretend to consider free bus travel duriung the election? What happened to that?

Re post 31.

Yep, was a surprise to me too this morning. Poorly communicated to their passengers indeed.

There is a shopfront in the city – I stumbed across it by accident yesterday. It’s in the Civic library, at the back corner down the stairs. Sort of like it’s being hidden in the basement.

“Well, that’s one way to ensure people use buses.”

Bus fares have gone up too.

From $3.00 to $3.80

Bit of a hike.

Can’t see any updates on the TAMS site – except a short note saying that prices would increase (but no details).

Solid information sharing there Jon…

http://www.rego.act.gov.au/parking/parkingpaypark.htm

free all day parking if you buy lunch at the holy grail

Wait, can you prepay for Section 63 parking ?!

As long as they don’t do anything to affect my parking strategy then i’m all for it!

Currently going on a year of not paying for parking in the city (legally) and getting away with it. And no, i’m not sharing 😉

Bus Fares went up 80c in one day!! I don’t get to watch the news very often and usually don’t pay much attention to the local stuff on tv. When I called the wonderful people on the ACTION helpdesk to enquire how this fare rise had been advertised there was no mention of any written print ads or posters. This was a complete surprise to me … yeah maybe I should get my head out of the sand but … when you stumble out of the house at 7.15am with three kids in tow with your cash in hand (and your paying daughters in hers), the last thing you want the bus driver to do is to look at you and say “your $1.20 short love, fares went up”. Communication in Government is abysmal at the best of times because they’re scared of wasting taxpayers money on advertising that won’t be appreciated. But this is something that affects many of the most vulnerable .. how many people were turned away from buses today because they didn’t have the right money?

Come on ACTION communicate with your clientele.
(I’ve said it twice now … I feel better)

How typical that the Stanhope government, while claiming to be communicative, failed to let the people know these increases were coming.

Well, that’s one way to ensure people use buses.

but didn’t buses go up from $3 to $3.80 single trip (realise it would be less for a fare10 or whatever but still) today?

Gin02 said :

Whoa $9 a day – been paying that for donkey’s years! Does this mean section 63 is going to go up in price too?

The Govt sold s63 saying that the owner could get $14 per day for car parking once it was built – that will make city west look cheap!

LG said :

So the $7.50 / day spots in Civic (eg Nara building) stay the same? Is there a hike in the prepaid monthly parking tickets?

ALL government parking fees will rise. The Government Civic $7.50 will now be Civic $9, which will be exactly the same as the current rate of $9 for the Section 63 carpark.

I think the reporter or the person giving the information for the story was wrong, parking anywhere in the middle of the City hasn’t been $5 a day for at least 5 years.

I like the quote in the article of:
“It continues to support the sustainable transport goals of the Government, in encouraging people to look at alternate means to using a car such as taking the bus, riding and walking,”

Firstly, they have also jacked up the price of bus fares and removed some concessions from July 1, why would putting up both convince anyone to change? Also, Nobody is going to walk to work unless they live within 5 minutes, and most people don’t have a death wish, and can’t take the kids to school or pick them up on the back of a bicycle. It’s just another non-tax tax the help boost the Government’s coffers and an another excuse for the lack of common sense and planning for parking and public transport.

I already park on the east side of the city and walk to the west because of Stanhopeless’ lack of planning/braincells, it saves me at least $1.50 a day. I was buying parking permits, however I am one of those people who need their car for work purposes so I was buying short 2 week permits as needed (saving me $2 or so from paying cash). However, trying to get them is difficult with the ancient systems and policies RUS use, where buying online you need to buy them more than a week in advance and then have it arrive 2 days later. Also with no shopfront in the city, you have little option to purchase one in person other than drive all the way to a shopfront elsewhere.

I have just bought a 3 month permit to avoid the price rise for a while, it will save me at least $60. I hope I don’t get sick tomorrow and waste weeks worth of money.

Oh great, just when I’m about to start working in Civic 🙁

So do we pay extra for parking fines? Newcastle don’t pay for parking! Yes working from home sounds a really good idea, I have been thinking about this for a least 6 months.

Ian said :

#23 – its great.

woops, #22 I meant …I’m clearly so relaxed I wasn’t concentrating

#23 – its great.

Makes working from home just more tempting

Glad I don’t work in Woden anymore. Parking there has been a joke for years. You get to work, find a spot and don’t dare leave it all day because you won’t get one when you get back. Totally ridiculous if you need to travel for business purposes and spend an hour of the companies time driving around to park your car. The government is trying to force people to catch the crap bus system by making it too expensive to drive. Unfortunately this doesn’t work and people will always find another way around it. ie – parking at Russell and catching a bus to civic. the government are just too stupid or ignorant (or both) to realise it and do something to make PT a viable option.

If the Government wants us to use alternative transport, they need to provide it. How many people are actually in a position to walk or ride into Civic ? Get real !

As others have pointed out, some people have kids to drop off, some come from out of town and some don’t work the hours which allow for the 7.30 am arrival usually required to secure a space (at least around where I work).

I am usually one of those who insists on catching the bus into Civic for work each day. But even I have stopped using the bus at the moment because I was sick of being crammed in standing up elbow to elbow with my fellow passengers in the cold and flu season.

Whoa $9 a day – been paying that for donkey’s years! Does this mean section 63 is going to go up in price too?

Park n ride…..isn’t that what people out at Brindabella are doing, parking at Russell for free then catching the bus to the office park.

Or so I’ve heard.

GRRR People who do this SHIT me!!! Word is that the Defence offices at Russell and Campbell park are looking at putting in boom gates to stop people who work in Civic parking there.

ACT Transport Regulation and Planning manager Rod Paul says
“It continues to support the sustainable transport goals of the Government, in encouraging people to look at alternate means to using a car such as taking the bus, riding and walking,” he said.

This statement reeks of bovine excretion.
For any (reasonable) price hike the first immediate response is descent of patronage, but then it gradually returns to the same level, just like last time.
It’s just another money grabbing exercise, I say.

P.S. How do I quote the original post…?

sezzle said :

Depends on who owns the carpark Toadstool. Government or private. I haven’t come across any “all day parking” in any part of City West that was $5 per day – but apparently it was there the whole time…

I think it was the earlybird rooftop parking in the “City West” carpark

this pic will help – http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2461/3677103539_3a7e87420e_o.jpg

words make me to angry!!!

Depends on who owns the carpark Toadstool. Government or private. I haven’t come across any “all day parking” in any part of City West that was $5 per day – but apparently it was there the whole time…

Now let me get this straight. If I work on the west side of the city near the ANU or Section 63 I have to pay $9 per day, but if I work on the east side of the city I pay $7.50 per day. Can anyone else see something not quite right here? Shouldn’t there be equity across the city for all parking?

Park n ride…..isn’t that what people out at Brindabella are doing, parking at Russell for free then catching the bus to the office park.

Or so I’ve heard.

I used to have a rule that I wouldn’t take a job in Civic. So I broke it to try a job there, and just got very sick of having to find enough coins every day for the machines. Paying was one thing, but why not have machines that take more payment options?

As for the pre-paid things, there’s no shopfront in Civic, and buying online had to be done for a period a week and a bit before.

So I got a new job elsewhere, with parking under the building which is very nice in winter. The car loves it.

It is disingenuous for the government to just sit back and say “everyone take buses”. Yes, I know it isn’t the ACT government’s problem that thousands of people commute in from Murrumbateman, Yass, Queanbeyan, Bungendore, Tharwa, Michelago, Goulburn, Collector, Gundaroo and Sutton… but with no viable alternative, all these people need somewhere to park while they provide ACT employers with a labour force.

Park n rides on the routes into Canberra (if properly thought out) would do a lot to help the situation, and if combined with park n rides on the main routes into the work centres from the population centres, then they’d have a viable alternative to the current poo-fight to find a park in Civic or Woden every day.

muFasa said :

I think we need to face the facts – the public transport in Canberra isn’t great and people need to drive to get to work. Those with children also might find it hard to catch a bus if they drop the kids at 8.50am and need to be at work at 9am or just after.

In light of the crap public transport, putting up parking fees is just plain cruel – especially by people who have free parking in the middle of the city. Let’s make the Govt Ministers pay for parking and try and find a park everyday and see how they go!

I agree. The theoretical world these idiots live in doesn’t expose them to the issues real Canberrans are faced with. Ultimately, these people are elected to represent our interests, and this is not what seems to be happening here.

screaming banshee said :

Are more people demanding that we have less spaces available or perhaps building all these shiny new office buildings with no additional parking for staff wasn’t a particularly good idea.

Planning requirements are such that when you construct a building in a busy area you will be required to have more vehicle spaces than were originally there.

From the article

“It reflects the increased demand for a smaller number of car spaces and reflects the changes in work patterns in the city and employment locations in the City and Woden areas,”

An increased demand for a smaller number of car spaces??

Are more people demanding that we have less spaces available or perhaps building all these shiny new office buildings with no additional parking for staff wasn’t a particularly good idea.

As for changing work patters I think you will find people are getting to work earlier just so they can get a car park.

I think we need to face the facts – the public transport in Canberra isn’t great and people need to drive to get to work. Those with children also might find it hard to catch a bus if they drop the kids at 8.50am and need to be at work at 9am or just after.

In light of the crap public transport, putting up parking fees is just plain cruel – especially by people who have free parking in the middle of the city. Let’s make the Govt Ministers pay for parking and try and find a park everyday and see how they go!

housebound said :

claim of a lack of parking strategy

I would say the lack of parking is explanation enough

JB -I think the second par is of greater concern.

Perhaps you could explain your problems with the claim of a lack of parking strategy (surely it should be part of a town centre masterplan with our planning-obsessed bureaucracy).

So the $7.50 / day spots in Civic (eg Nara building) stay the same? Is there a hike in the prepaid monthly parking tickets?