13 April 2015

Free parking on Monday 27 April?

| madjimmy
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Given that it is a public holiday for ACT Government employees on Monday 27 April, will this mean that public holiday parking conditions apply in the ACT?

Below is the information posted on the ACTION buses website.

On Monday 27 April 2015 ACTION bus services will run to a Saturday Timetable.

This is due to Anzac Day (25 April) falling on a Saturday, and Monday 27 April becoming a substitute public holiday for ACT Government employees (including ACTION bus drivers) as declared by the current enterprise agreement. Over 200 ACTION bus drivers have volunteered to work, which means ACTION will be able to operate a Saturday Timetable with extra 900 and 950 Rapid services, which are the equivalent to the weekday Red and Blue Rapids. All bus travel will be free of charge on Monday 27 April.

Passengers will be asked to tag on and off with their MyWay card as usual, but no fares will be deducted.

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screaming banshee7:11 pm 16 Apr 15

Anzac Day is a mandated public holiday….the Monday afterwards is not

Hi All.

I’ve had to do a bit of investigating regarding this as my work place is directly affected by both ACTION’s saturday time table as well as the question of paid parking on the 27th April.

So. Here’s what I’ve found out and I hope this helps out.

1. ACTION is under the same EBA as ACT Government, which has been rightly stated in previous posts, the EBA states that if a public holiday falls on the weekend, the monday will be given. Because ANZAC day is not a mandated publc holiday in the ACT, the EBA kicks in and ACTION are only obliged to provide a Sunday time table– because they recognise the distruption this will cause, they have put a Saturday time table on. School services are also interrupted, ACT Government Public Schools have the day off, Private Schools may not.

2. Parking inspectors work on a 7 day a week roster, which means that even if the 27th was a mandated public holiday, they would still be inforcing some parking rules, such as parking in a disabled zone without perment, loading zone hours etc. However, because the day is not a mandated public holiday, regular parking fees are in place and parking inspectors will operate as per usual, that is, for example in Woden near the hellenic club, $9.50 all day parking with fines given if you fail to pay or desplay appropriately.

So, in other words, people who do not work in the ACT Public Service get rorted both ways– cannot get to work on time using public transport AND have to pay for their parking if they choose to drive in and park.

Taking all this into consideration, and the fact that the 27th April is the last day of school holidays for ACT Government Schools, I can only wonder how many of us are going to flex / annual leave the day because it’s just too hard?

watto23 said :

I bet we get this issue in 6 years time when it happens again!

I understood from what I heard that the intention was to bargain it out in the next EBA, which I presume (hope) will be within 6 years.

screaming banshee7:27 pm 13 Apr 15

Yes apparently essential services like parking inspectors operate 7 days and thus will be adequately staffed, whereas non-essential services like buses…..you get the idea.

One of the ministers was on the radio the other day saying that normal parking arrangements would apply at any of the ACT Government controlled parking spots as it wasn’t an official public holiday. he said the parking rangers are on a 7 day roster so they don’t have the same problems as with the bus drivers who can’t be compelled to work.

Well Barton has its own NCA approved parking inspectors, so they won’t have the day off. Certain that the ACT parking inspectors are not on the EBA that give them the day off either. I bet we get this issue in 6 years time when it happens again!

I’m guessing not, as it is not a declared public holiday. It is a day off for ACT public servants as part of the EBA.

Fairly sure I read parking inspectors don’t get the public holiday!

I hope so, given I will have to drive to work as the Saturday bus timetable (even with extra promised services) won’t likely get me to work.

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