23 July 2012

Closure of car park at National Library

23 July 2012 | peterw

Hi all,

The National Capital Authority has given notice that the dirt car park situated between the National Library and the Lake will be permanently closed (except for special events) from Friday next week. Parking in this area will henceforth become even tighter…

From the National Library website:

Changes to car parking
Posted on: 23rd July 2012

The National Capital Authority will commence restoring the Patrick White Lawns, adjacent to the National Library in August 2012. The area will close at 5 pm on Friday 3 August and will no longer be available for car parking except for temporary use during special events.

The Patrick White Lawns commemorate the 1973 Australian of the Year and the first Australian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. The restoration of the area is listed as a high priority in the Parliament House Vista Heritage Management Plan.

Visit www.natcap.gov.au for further information.

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Geeko1:26 pm 06 Sep 12

The heat has been turned up on the lack of parking, but so far only more smoke and no flames or light.
The 666 radio interview this week highlights the fact that the issue is largely within the control of the NCA if they choose to act- rather than continue to defer to committees, or reviews, or studies.

The realities are
there is plenty of car parking in the zone – a largely empty mutli story carpark is located in barton
the workers there elect to park near questacon for free and walk over, other civic workers park and walk over the bridge. Tourists with young children and prams and now knoweldge of our poor public transport system are displaced. The institutions in parkes are for the nation to experience, the visitors deserve to be furious, and are. Just wait until we try to put a few more 100,000 tourist in next year for the centenary.

To rub real insult into the self serving actions of the NCA and friends, they have stated they will turn car parks in the national library over to short term free 3 hr parking. Strange that the NCA headquarters are DIRECTLY opposite those car parks, making it a dream for their staff to pick up car parks when they drift into work, walk over and swap cars at lunch time..

Is the lack of action also anything to do with the central departments of finance and treasury having an agreement in place with there staff to provide free care parking under their certified agreements. So if the car parks become pay parking those agencies will have to pay for the car parks and the fringe benefits…. HOW do the ACT public servants in civic feel about that ???? worth an ask for you next negotiation… its tax office approved ( well for their staff …… naaah naaah ne nahh nah….)

its about time the shiny bums stopped serving themselves and started serving the public.

Jethro11:41 pm 27 Jul 12

c_c said :

Canberra is *not* New York, London or Melbourne

Try typing on RiotACT with an iPhone sometime, really something that needs to be improved with the next site revision.

Or a phone operating on Android.

I have a feeling it is the phones though, not this site specifically.

I have trouble creating any form of bulk text on my phone.

c_c6:46 pm 27 Jul 12

Canberra is *not* New York, London or Melbourne

Try typing on RiotACT with an iPhone sometime, really something that needs to be improved with the next site revision.

Antagonist6:16 pm 27 Jul 12

c_c said :

Only a retard would keep comparing Canberra to cities with populations in the millions.

Canberra is *note* New York, London or Melbourne.

You do see the irony here, don’t you?

damien haas5:27 pm 27 Jul 12

The senior bureaucrat in the CT article I referenced was whining about tourists not being able to park. I pointed out that there are alternatives to parking and driving.

I apologise for using the term retard as an insult. I hope I have not offended anyone.

Canberra has national institutions, promoted nationally as cultural treasures for all to share and visit. You are being deliberately obtuse in ignoring this.

In most cities tourists use public transport to visit these types of attractions, i really cant see how i could explain this any more clearly. im sorry if your extensive research shows that public transport must deliver all people to 200 metres of their destination or it isnt practical, its not a statistic I’m familiar with.

c_c4:00 pm 27 Jul 12

damien haas said :

When you visit New York, London or Melbourne – do you drive to the main tourist attractions ?

I recall a combination of walking, subway, tram and ferry.

Only a retard would ignore the obvious solutions.

Higher population density, larger economy, true 24hr public transport.

Only a retard would keep comparing Canberra to cities with populations in the millions.

Canberra is note New York, London or Melbourne.

davo1013:14 pm 27 Jul 12

damien haas said :

When you visit New York, London or Melbourne – do you drive to the main tourist attractions ?

Let’s see. Cities where I didn’t drive to tourist attractions:
Manhattan (population density 27 000/km^2)
London (population density 5200/km^2)

Where I did:
Melbourne (population density 1600/km^2)
Canberra (population density 1100/km^2)

damien haas said :

Only a retard would ignore the obvious solutions.

Yeap, in this town it’s known as a bus.

pajs2:38 pm 27 Jul 12

One of my jobs is in the Parliamentary Triangle. I used to think paid parking was a bad idea for here, as we did not have the equivalent services of a town centre (post office, shops, more childcare etc). But the more I got into taking the bus from where I live (northside) to and from work, trying out different route options to shave off trip time, the more I think I should change my mind. I now think that paid parking would be a good thing here, as it would free up parking spaces for commuters who needed to fit in the child-care run or for tourists to get to the attractions. I’d be out of pocket for those days when I need to drive, but think the benefits outweigh the extra cost.

devils_advocate2:20 pm 27 Jul 12

carnardly said :

The carpark at Treasury often has spots available up until 9.30 am.

That is within walking distances to most places within the Parly Triangle for healty people.

But maybe people don’t want to walk more than 200 metres.

Are you sure those aren’t the SES spots? the regular spots fill up by 9 at the latest.

On the other occasions when the dirt carpark has been closed (filling the potholes etc) the questacon carpark has been filled by 9:15.

davo1011:55 pm 27 Jul 12

carnardly said :

But maybe people don’t want to walk more than 200 metres.

The rule of thumb for transport planning is that people won’t walk further than 400m for bus or LRT or 800m for heavy rail. Which would explain the whining about a lack of public transport in the Triangle when then are many routes going past on Commonwealth Ave (it’s just too far to walk).

Tetranitrate3:38 pm 25 Jul 12

davo101 said :

NoImRight said :

A comparison to Hobart, Newcastle, or Adelaide would be a hell of a lot more reasonable – of course it wouldn’t really do much to support your point of view, since in Adelaide you’ll get all day parking in the CBD for $12, comparable to the Canberra CBD despite having a bit over 3 times the population.

Thanks for the idea. Hobart, population 214 000, cost to park all day in middle of town $11, Darwin (127 000) $8, Wollongong (292 000) $5, Newcastle (288 000) $8.

If you want free parking get a job in Queanbeyan. If you want to live in a city bigger than a couple of hundred thousand be prepared to pay for parking.

Absolutely agree that expecting free parking within the parliamentary triangle is unreasonable, but I do feel I need to remind you that the triangle is not the CBD.

My post was mainly in objection to the ‘shut up and be glad you’re not in Sydney’ post I quoted – it’s just irrelevant. I mean why stop at Sydney? why not New York or Tokyo why we’re at it?
I mean it’s like saying “you think the traffic is bad? well it’s worse in shanghai so shut up, don’t ever expect better, and stop complaining when it gets worse.”
or
“you think hospital waiting times are bad in Canberra? well in Mumbai they’re even worse! STFU!”
It’s just meaningless sneering, there’s no point in posting garbage like that.

But the actual subject of the thread is a bit more than free vs pay parking – the NCA has gone and turned a tiny problem into a much larger one, given a worthless suggestion to those inconvenienced which they know is worthless and declared job well done.
Failing to provide adequate parking or other transportation is simply a failure of planning – it’s not about whether it costs or not, it’s about whether there’s actually the capacity to cater for the people who work in this part of the city, as well as for tourists and others who god forbid might want to use the facilities.
By all means charge $5, $10 a day for parking – it’s not going to make the problem go away unless they actually build multilevel carparks in the area and/or improve the bus system.

The very area they’re closing off was actually reasonably adequate as far as the national library was concerned too, there was usually room there when I needed to use the national library while studying.

Postalgeek9:26 am 25 Jul 12

thatsnotme said :

Postalgeek said :

Some possible options when faced with a parking holocaust:

1 – Catch bus
2 – Ride motorbike/scooter
2a-drop kids off at local daycare centre, take car home, ride in
3 – Cycle
3a – drop kids off at local daycare centre, take car home, ride in
3b – cycle in with kids
4 – E-bike (see 2a/3a)
5 – Carpool
6 – Park and ride
7 – Park and walk
8 – Work from home
9 – change/transfer work
10 – change home
11 – walk if it’s close enough
12 – Acknowledge that the convenience of cars come at a significant cost and suck it up. Better than enduring the God-forsaken mild climate of Canberra. The winter sun we have today, and had yesterday, and the day before, is absolutely feral.

…and of course 13 – Do nothing for yourself, get yourself in a completely intractable situation, wait passively (or aggressively for all the difference it makes) for others solve your parking woes in a growing city, and bitch and moan about any suggestion made that might get single occupant vehicles out of the spots where you can park your indispensable family car. You might get a new carpark after a few years of stress, until everyone with the same mentality fills it up.

You forgot #14 – Sit in your ivory tower dispensing wisdom to the masses, who are obviously too stupid to see the solution themselves.

Some of your solutions may be viable for some people, but really, how realistic is it for someone who doesn’t live close to work, to drop the kids off at school or daycare, head back home, and then ride in? It’s almost 15km from my place into work – and while I do ride, and I do use the bus system as much as I can, unless I can get out the door at a reasonable hour they’re simply not viable. Not if I want to actually get into work before lunchtime.

My three year old starts in play school tomorrow (kinda a pre-preschool), and it begins at 9.15am. Is there any other viable way to get to work after dropping him off that doesn’t involve a car?

If you want to know how many people in this city have to deal with issues of getting kids to school, and then getting into work and vice-versa, just compare the commute into work normally, compared to during school holidays. The difference is vast.

Like I said, I use the bus system, and I cycle whenever I can – but the only reason I have these options at the moment is because my wife is still on leave after the birth of our second. Once she goes back to work – at the NLA – it’s going to be much harder to do this.

Life is rarely as black and white as many here seem to believe it is…

Guess you fall into the #13 “bitch and moan about any suggestion made that might get single occupant vehicles out of the spots where you can park your indispensable family car” category.

thatsnotme11:50 pm 24 Jul 12

Postalgeek said :

Some possible options when faced with a parking holocaust:

1 – Catch bus
2 – Ride motorbike/scooter
2a-drop kids off at local daycare centre, take car home, ride in
3 – Cycle
3a – drop kids off at local daycare centre, take car home, ride in
3b – cycle in with kids
4 – E-bike (see 2a/3a)
5 – Carpool
6 – Park and ride
7 – Park and walk
8 – Work from home
9 – change/transfer work
10 – change home
11 – walk if it’s close enough
12 – Acknowledge that the convenience of cars come at a significant cost and suck it up. Better than enduring the God-forsaken mild climate of Canberra. The winter sun we have today, and had yesterday, and the day before, is absolutely feral.

…and of course 13 – Do nothing for yourself, get yourself in a completely intractable situation, wait passively (or aggressively for all the difference it makes) for others solve your parking woes in a growing city, and bitch and moan about any suggestion made that might get single occupant vehicles out of the spots where you can park your indispensable family car. You might get a new carpark after a few years of stress, until everyone with the same mentality fills it up.

You forgot #14 – Sit in your ivory tower dispensing wisdom to the masses, who are obviously too stupid to see the solution themselves.

Some of your solutions may be viable for some people, but really, how realistic is it for someone who doesn’t live close to work, to drop the kids off at school or daycare, head back home, and then ride in? It’s almost 15km from my place into work – and while I do ride, and I do use the bus system as much as I can, unless I can get out the door at a reasonable hour they’re simply not viable. Not if I want to actually get into work before lunchtime.

My three year old starts in play school tomorrow (kinda a pre-preschool), and it begins at 9.15am. Is there any other viable way to get to work after dropping him off that doesn’t involve a car?

If you want to know how many people in this city have to deal with issues of getting kids to school, and then getting into work and vice-versa, just compare the commute into work normally, compared to during school holidays. The difference is vast.

Like I said, I use the bus system, and I cycle whenever I can – but the only reason I have these options at the moment is because my wife is still on leave after the birth of our second. Once she goes back to work – at the NLA – it’s going to be much harder to do this.

Life is rarely as black and white as many here seem to believe it is…

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