10 November 2011

It's the Government forcing you to park illegally sayeth Coe!

| johnboy
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The Liberals’ Alistair Coe is taking an unusual approach (for a tory) of blaming society for the lawless behaviour of motorists parking illegally.

“With an unreliable and hugely expensive public transport system, many Canberrans are forced to drive their cars, and are then subject to a severe lack of parking which often forces them to park illegally.

“Canberrans are also faced with huge cost of living pressures under this government which means many take the risk when faced with paying more than $10 in parking.

Alistair would also like quarterly rego to work out as cheap as paying it all up front (with all the extra administration that would entail as quarterly renewal becomes the norm), and somehow works a whinge about the pleasure dome into the poorly thought out exercise.

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Mysteryman said :

Only a fool

A fool you say? Maybe but at least I am not being parted from my money for nothing 😉

molongloid said :

Jethro said :

Not being able to preload parking machines the night before.

This one addressed by
http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/14063/overnightparking.pdf

Well the machine I tried didn’t accept my money.

Jethro said :

Not being able to preload parking machines the night before.

This one addressed by
http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/14063/overnightparking.pdf

i live in canberra and so i demand that i can park within fifteen metres of where i’m going, for free…

no-one is ‘forced’ to park illegally – it is usually selfishness and laziness driving illegal [and infuriating] parking habits. i drop child at childcare so i can neither use public transport nor get a parking spot close to work, so i take what i get, walk the distance away from work i park and suck it up. be nice if some others chose to do likewise; though it seems this second idiot tax, which i wish they’d be even more officious about enforcing [the first idiot tax is the subject of mr wilkie’s wrath], is a community good, so maybe i shouldn’t be ranting – especially without superfluOUS CAPITAls or rando’m apostop’hes’ and baf tuyops and spelign…

Like the poster at Lyneham Shops a while back almost said: “The Liberals could have preselected this comparatively useful large concrete block for putting posters on, but instead they chose Alistair Coe.”

Deref said :

Wake me up when I can catch a bus from home in Belconnen to work in Woden that takes half an hour – and the same going home. My time’s too valuable to me to spend 3 hours each day on what now takes me one. It’s one of the reasons I moved out of Sydney. If I’d wanted to live in a dysfunctional city I’ve have stayed put.

A great example of the exaggerations that Canberrans manage to come up with.

The 749 bus from Belconnen to Woden is 25-30mins flat. Otherwise, the Blue Rapid is 47mins – hardly 1.5hrs as you suggest.

An potential extra 34mins for no petrol/parking/maintenance costs sounds pretty good to me.

Parking in Canberra is better and cheaper than pretty much every other capital city. Canberrans don’t realise how good they have it. A full day park in Sydney’s CBD is upwards of $50. You are lucky to find one.

My only gripes are:

1. Parking machines that only accept coins. $10.50 a day in coins in a ridiculous amount of change to come up with. Having notes that accept notes or credit cards isn’t a hard thing to provide.

2. Not being able to preload parking machines the night before. I have been on the receiving end of a fine after doing the right thing and cabbing it home on a Friday night because I wasn’t sure if I would be under or over the 0.05 limit. I tried to pay the night before but was unable to. Arriving at 9.05am on the Saturday I was already in receipt of a fine. It would appear that the parking inspectors are deliberately targeting people who choose not to drink and drive by making car-parks outside pubs and clubs their first port of call on Saturday mornings. To me this is poor policy that encourages drink driving.

mehedges said :

I completely agree. The government is horrendous! Furthermore I feel that there is a-lot of obscure and ridiculous illegal parking areas in the inner north. For instance in a backstreet in turner slightly off Barry drive. 3 Hours parking!! Wtf! its a back street, people can’t park their cars in-front of their homes because of this.! $10 p/d is insane. Public transport needs to be improved drastically, its stupid that we have to pay Sydney prices to park our cars. I hate to bring it up, but light rail solution?

All day parking in the backstreets of Turner is generally limited to 3 hours to discourage all day parkers.

Residents don’t like the traffic, nor having nowhere for daytime visitors to their homes to park. Also it’s a danger if you have kids and drivers can’t see them in time if they run out on the road from between parked cars (especially important with the school).

A much better solution would be to have a free/dead cheap multistorey carpark nearby the city, so people can easily walk/cycle/bus into Civic

Sword said :

Two- Canberra is expanding and infill along traffic corridors is the best way to go. Get over it people. If you want the convenience of a car you have to pay a little extra, otherwise take a bus, ride or combine the two; the choice is yours.

Wake me up when I can catch a bus from home in Belconnen to work in Woden that takes half an hour – and the same going home. My time’s too valuable to me to spend 3 hours each day on what now takes me one. It’s one of the reasons I moved out of Sydney. If I’d wanted to live in a dysfunctional city I’ve have stayed put.

Accessibility is a public good, and that includes roads and parking.

I-filed said :

KB1971 said :

Have not been to Sydney lately have you? Last time I parked at Darling harbour for the day it cost $25.

Get back to us when land in Sydney City is the same value as Civic. By your yardstick, parking in Civic should be around $5 a day.

+1.

Only a fool would compare the costs of living in a city of 350,000 with one of more than 10 times the population and arrive happily at the conclusion that there is no justification for complaining about anything less than parity.

We are a very small city and the cost of living here has sky-rocketed over the past decade or so. If you think paying the costs that we are paying for things like vehicle registration and parking are acceptable or even justified, then I suspect you are living in a different world than most Canberrans.

KB1971 said :

Have not been to Sydney lately have you? Last time I parked at Darling harbour for the day it cost $25.

Get back to us when land in Sydney City is the same value as Civic. By your yardstick, parking in Civic should be around $5 a day.

I agree with KB1971. The bus system works if you are willing to accept that it isn’t perfect, and find a way to make it work to your benefit. For some reason most Canberran’s expect an express service to run past their door every 10 minutes, and will not accept anything less.

crackerpants2:28 pm 10 Nov 11

KB1971 said :

I will add this disclaimer: this travel method works for me, we still have kids to ferry & my wife works where there are no buses at all (out of town) so she has to have a car but if I were to have to take any of the kids (& I have done this) I will leave the car at the car park near the boys daycare & take the bus or ride from there. It is still worth not dropping money on parking.

I just think too many people would just rather bag the system than actually take a punt at it & use it to their advantage. I love the bus sometimes, I get to read my books, listen to my music, have a snooze, chat with friends & enjoy the veiws while someone else has to deal with the motorcycle riders riding down the cycle lanes 🙂

I’m so glad you added your disclaimer, because the vast majority of comments promoting cycling/bus-catching seem to forget about the huge numbers of us that have to cart very small children around. I can only assume that these comments are written by those who are free of such responsibilities…or at least dads who manage to escape the morning household chaos for a sweet commute in the sunshine 😉 Until such time as the kids are getting the bus to high school, cars are a necessity for us, to safely transport the kids and all their paraphernalia, and to squeeze our requisite breakfasting, working and dinnering hours into the 12 hour gap between when they wake at 7am, and when they’re back in bed at 7pm.

That said, it’s our choice, and I don’t agree that we are being forced to park illegally. Parking is tight in Woden, but it just means arranging our day so that I’m early enough to grab a spot. My biggest gripe is finding $8 in spare change every day (the vouchering system doesn’t work for part-timers), and machines that take credit cards or notes would be appreciated. However this would require raising fees to pay for the new machines, so I’ll just keep buying my $2 parking tokens from the bank for the forseeable future.

Two things:-

One- go to the long stay parking along London Circuit, opposite the AusAid building, at anytime of the day you’ll get parking. More than half the parking spots are empty.

Two- Canberra is expanding and infill along traffic corridors is the best way to go. Get over it people. If you want the convenience of a car you have to pay a little extra, otherwise take a bus, ride or combine the two; the choice is yours.

To Alister, its a damb way of soliciting votes because you give people false hope and you know you cannot do solve this problem. go to any . Get real

At the Belconnen Community Council November meeting. Officers from Transport Planning &Projects will answer questions about ‘Parking in the Belconnen Town Centre’. It is a big problem for Belconnen businesses as much parking has been surrendered to all day parking, yet there is not enough parking for workers. Public car-parking was sold to Westfield for expanded parking. You can park for 3 hours free of charge if you shop in Westfield. Quite a conundrum.

The meeting is Wednesday 15 nov, 7.30PM upstairs in the Community Room above the Belconnen Library.

neanderthalsis1:40 pm 10 Nov 11

mehedges said :

! $10 p/d is insane. Public transport needs to be improved drastically, its stupid that we have to pay Sydney prices to park our cars. I hate to bring it up, but light rail solution?

Sorry, but $10 a day is certainly not Sydney rates. Some places in the inner CBD charge up to $59 casual rates for three hours or more.

Mysteryman said :

You can say it as often as you like but it doesn’t make it true. For the majority of Canberrans, the bus system is ineffective. Buses don’t come often enough (with the exception of the 3 series which requires you to somehow make your way to the interchange from your house), and it takes too long to get to the destination.

Also, you either got ripped paying $38 for parking overnight in Melbourne, or you’re exaggerating. I was there 4 weeks ago and paid $8 for overnight parking.

What majority actually let go of their cars & actually try something different?

It is true, I can catch two different buses from my house, one takes 40 minutes, one takes an hour. If I drive at the busy time the minimum it takes me is 40 minutes by the time I park the car. The bus is virtually door to door. The car is not (I choose to ride as much as I can anyway).

On a normal morning, 6:05, 6:25, 6:55, 7:15, 7:35, 7:50, 8:10 for the 3 series with the 19 at 7:50. 788 & 785: 7:05, 7:30, 7:50 & 8:10, these take 40-50 minutes for 30km. That is lots of buses.

Now I am not saying everybody can use a bus but the majority of canberrans dont work in places like Fyshwick where there is not direct bus. Most of the people posting here are coming into the city from the suburbs which Action has pretty well covered with the exception of a few suburbs.

I used to have the negative opinion about buses & cyclists until I started work in the city, I am too much of a stooge to drop $50 a week on parking for nothing. I can honestly say I have never had one bus break down in 7 years but I have had a few not turn up but it wasnt the end of the world. I guess I am like a reformed smoker 🙂 $5 bucks a day to commute 60km is a bloody good deal, people must have too much money.

I am not exaggerating but the car park was attatched to the motel, it was in Flinders Lane & a weeknight so it is probably worst case. Darling Harbour, public car park, weeknight.

I will add this disclaimer: this travel method works for me, we still have kids to ferry & my wife works where there are no buses at all (out of town) so she has to have a car but if I were to have to take any of the kids (& I have done this) I will leave the car at the car park near the boys daycare & take the bus or ride from there. It is still worth not dropping money on parking.

I just think too many people would just rather bag the system than actually take a punt at it & use it to their advantage. I love the bus sometimes, I get to read my books, listen to my music, have a snooze, chat with friends & enjoy the veiws while someone else has to deal with the motorcycle riders riding down the cycle lanes 🙂

Car parks suck the life out of a CBD. Not only is valuable land completely wasted, but street life and local business suffers without people milling around public transport hubs.

The notion of parking in a CBD should be considered a luxury; in Sydney it’ll cost you anything between $25 and $70 per day – there’s a car park tax of $2000/year for each spot in a private carpark.

There are a ton of options for parking in Canberra; you can park in the Commonwealth Park carparks, or in a plethora of suburban streets that are less than 2km from the city centre (20min walk/5min bike ride)

If that extra hour a day that it would take to catch a bus is as valuable as its made out to be, there should be no qualms for paying $2400 a year for parking. 1hr/day * 240 work days * $25/hour = $6000 (i.e. you still “profit” $3600 by driving)

KB1971 you are talking about the rooftop prices which I included. Go have a look at the sign boards or better yet park your car in there at 0830 and go get it at 1800 and see what you get charged. If you think you are on a good wicket there is no need to slag off others who might not be simply due to circumstances outside their control (kids, injury, finances, commute, work, multiple jobs, sport etc…) that make buses or “other” public transport impossible.

+100 Mysteryman’s comment in reply also.

I buy online partly because I was slugged $10 for parking last time I shopped in the Canberra Centre.

KB1971 said :

Sleaz274 said :

$10/day is $3,120 pretax dollars. Again enough to make an impact on most peoples financial situation. Effectively if you worked for 10 years you would work for 6 months of those 10 just for the privilege of parking your car.

City West carpark = $15/day
Canberra Centre = $20/day
Rooftops = $10/day
Open Airs = $11.50/day (?)

The principle is sound. Personally I ride my motorbike and park next to the building or if I need to bring the car park it on a friends driveway at Turner. Cost = $0

When I bring the car in (rarely) the Canberra centre only costs me $10 a day???? City west I think is only $11??

Really, all you people whinging, if you really want you car sitting in a car park all day doing nothing you have to pay for the privelidge. I have said it before & say it again, the buses are really not that bad. Use the park & ride if you really want to, parking is free then & you get to use the most reliable 3 series runs that are 5 minutes apart.

Also, there is plenty of parking, 6 storeys at City west, three blocks of three storeys in the Canberra Centre.

& how the fark is this a clyclists fault???? Talk about a long bow.

You can say it as often as you like but it doesn’t make it true. For the majority of Canberrans, the bus system is ineffective. Buses don’t come often enough (with the exception of the 3 series which requires you to somehow make your way to the interchange from your house), and it takes too long to get to the destination.

Also, you either got ripped paying $38 for parking overnight in Melbourne, or you’re exaggerating. I was there 4 weeks ago and paid $8 for overnight parking.

I regard parking fines as just another tier of parking fees. I contribute heaps to the parking inspectors agency’s revenue but I don’t whinge about it. I’m probably getting booked as we speak. I’d beter go check…

When I worked in Deakin there was heaps of free all day parking available and people would still park their car in the 2/3 hour spots and keep a watch out for parking inspectors because it was maybe 100m less to walk. IMO people are lazy and cheap and will try to get away with parking illegally for as long as possible until the fines start stacking up and make it not worth their while.

KB1971 said :

mehedges said :

I completely agree. The government is horrendous! Furthermore I feel that there is a-lot of obscure and ridiculous illegal parking areas in the inner north. For instance in a backstreet in turner slightly off Barry drive. 3 Hours parking!! Wtf! its a back street, people can’t park their cars in-front of their homes because of this.! $10 p/d is insane. Public transport needs to be improved drastically, its stupid that we have to pay Sydney prices to park our cars. I hate to bring it up, but light rail solution?

Have not been to Sydney lately have you? Last time I parked at Darling harbour for the day it cost $25.

Oh, last time I was in Melbourne it was $38 to park the car overnight at the motel.

Sleaz274 said :

$10/day is $3,120 pretax dollars. Again enough to make an impact on most peoples financial situation. Effectively if you worked for 10 years you would work for 6 months of those 10 just for the privilege of parking your car.

City West carpark = $15/day
Canberra Centre = $20/day
Rooftops = $10/day
Open Airs = $11.50/day (?)

The principle is sound. Personally I ride my motorbike and park next to the building or if I need to bring the car park it on a friends driveway at Turner. Cost = $0

When I bring the car in (rarely) the Canberra centre only costs me $10 a day???? City west I think is only $11??

Really, all you people whinging, if you really want you car sitting in a car park all day doing nothing you have to pay for the privelidge. I have said it before & say it again, the buses are really not that bad. Use the park & ride if you really want to, parking is free then & you get to use the most reliable 3 series runs that are 5 minutes apart.

Also, there is plenty of parking, 6 storeys at City west, three blocks of three storeys in the Canberra Centre.

& how the fark is this a clyclists fault???? Talk about a long bow.

mehedges said :

I completely agree. The government is horrendous! Furthermore I feel that there is a-lot of obscure and ridiculous illegal parking areas in the inner north. For instance in a backstreet in turner slightly off Barry drive. 3 Hours parking!! Wtf! its a back street, people can’t park their cars in-front of their homes because of this.! $10 p/d is insane. Public transport needs to be improved drastically, its stupid that we have to pay Sydney prices to park our cars. I hate to bring it up, but light rail solution?

Have not been to Sydney lately have you? Last time I parked at Darling harbour for the day it cost $25.

colourful sydney racing identity11:18 am 10 Nov 11

Alistair may need to be reminded that it was his party that introduced the additional charge for paying rego quarterly….

Thoroughly Smashed10:44 am 10 Nov 11

Has someone forgotten to tell Alistair Coe he’s not in the Young Liberals any more?

mehedges said :

I completely agree. The government is horrendous! Furthermore I feel that there is a-lot of obscure and ridiculous illegal parking areas in the inner north. For instance in a backstreet in turner slightly off Barry drive. 3 Hours parking!! Wtf! its a back street, people can’t park their cars in-front of their homes because of this.! $10 p/d is insane. Public transport needs to be improved drastically, its stupid that we have to pay Sydney prices to park our cars. I hate to bring it up, but light rail solution?

Yes, I also agree with him. I think parking in this city is a joke. Especially near the city.

I don’t think we are being “forced to park illegally”, but people will disobey laws they think are unjust or unreasonable – in this case, the parking restrictions. Does that mean the people are wrong, or is the law wrong? I think in this situations that the laws need to change.

I’d also like to see motorbike parking laws like those in Victoria which allow motorbikes to park on footpaths providing they aren’t obstructing pedestrians or other traffic.

Bwahhaha. This is because the liberal approach is to try and mine the selfishness of everyone as much as they possibly can, and then attach any woes or indignation to the government. Everything is the fault of the government – whether you’re speeding (it’s the speed cameras’ fault); parking (it’s because there should be more parks); or not affording a plasma (it’s because the government caused the gfc). Apparently if there was a Coe government none of these things would happen, and you would also be able to do whatever you want.

$10/day is $3,120 pretax dollars. Again enough to make an impact on most peoples financial situation. Effectively if you worked for 10 years you would work for 6 months of those 10 just for the privilege of parking your car.

City West carpark = $15/day
Canberra Centre = $20/day
Rooftops = $10/day
Open Airs = $11.50/day (?)

The principle is sound. Personally I ride my motorbike and park next to the building or if I need to bring the car park it on a friends driveway at Turner. Cost = $0

amarooresident310:07 am 10 Nov 11

Nobody is “forced” to park illegally. And if you’re paying 15 bucks a day you are doing it wrong.

davo101 said :

I’m enjoying the coincidence that the $9 million collecting in parking fines is the same as the $9 million spent on cycling facilities.

Time for paid parking for cyclists methinks.
Think of all the revenue the government could make.

The extra administration cost for quarterly payments would not be material, the staff are already employed, the printers, computers are already running, really it’d just be some extra postage but that could be done away with a simple electronic portal/reminder.

It is simply another poor tax where people who simply can’t afford 12 months rego are forced to pay more. Also some people like the flexibility of paying quarterly for reasons like moving, changing/selling vehicles, extended holidays etc…

He’s right about the parking to. $15/per day = $75/week = $3,600/year (48 weeks) which is $4,680 pretax dollars just so you can get to work. I’m sure there are a lot of people who could find better uses for that money such as rent, house deposit, mortgage, childcare, health, beer. The continuous externalisation of cost will keep biting people in the ass so its not surprising that you will get continued civic disobience.

I completely agree. The government is horrendous! Furthermore I feel that there is a-lot of obscure and ridiculous illegal parking areas in the inner north. For instance in a backstreet in turner slightly off Barry drive. 3 Hours parking!! Wtf! its a back street, people can’t park their cars in-front of their homes because of this.! $10 p/d is insane. Public transport needs to be improved drastically, its stupid that we have to pay Sydney prices to park our cars. I hate to bring it up, but light rail solution?

I’m enjoying the coincidence that the $9 million collecting in parking fines is the same as the $9 million spent on cycling facilities.

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