12 December 2016

Parking in Braddon - something still needs to be done

| Alexandra Craig
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braddon

Braddon is getting busier. Well duh, I hear you say. Of course it is. With a new cafe popping up what seems like every second week, new apartment complexes filling up with residents and another huge complex to be built where Lonsdale Street Traders once stood, the suburb is bustling more than ever. Not to mention the people brought in by the new Avenue Hotel backing onto Mort Street. And it’s near impossible to get a parking spot without driving around for an eternity.

I wrote about this issue in September last year, suggesting that the Haig Park car park (next to the Mandalay Bus) be built up into a multi-storey car park to ease some of the woes of visitors. An article in Fairfax media this week reveals that a group of citizens, collectively known as the Braddon Forum, have urged the government to consider a similar idea; an extension of the Haig Park car park half a storey above ground level and half a storey below ground level to tie in with the recently announced $1.5 million upgrade to the area which includes improved lighting in Haig Park (thank you, Andrew Barr!)

Planning Minister Mick Gentlemen welcomed discussion around the proposal, reaffirming Canberra’s commitment to build an integrated transport network alongside the newly released parking action plan.

My position on this issue remains unchanged from the sentiments I expressed in September. There does need to be some upgrades in the way of parking availability. There are several parking spots down the middle of Lonsdale Street, as well as a few bays for U-turns. Recently I’ve seen cars parking in the U-Turn bays which is presenting as a bit of a traffic hazard when their car isn’t taking up the whole bay. It would be quite easy to see the bay at night and to swing in without realising how much of the bay was being taken up by a car. I have no problem with these bays being turned into permanent car parks, but until this is done I think it’s not safe for people to be parking there.

I’m lucky to live about a five- to seven-minute walk away from the centre of Lonsdale Street, however, the punters who can’t get a park have started clogging up my street. Compared to when I moved in 12 months ago, the amount of cars on the street has probably quadrupled – especially in the afternoon and evening. I am fortunate to have undercover parking but many in my street don’t and are forced to park illegally, only to then have the parking inspectors called on them. We’re especially lucky to have a neighbour that takes it upon themselves to put rude notes on cars and then alert the inspectors.

It’s good to see local residents like the Braddon Forum taking their concerns to the Minister. Personally I’d like to see more businesses in Lonsdale Street come forward and have their say. As I referenced last year, Adam Ciaccia from AXIS Hairdressing raised the issue publically but I think it’s time for others to get on board and let their voices be heard not just privately but in public. If a community wants something, they need to fight for it.

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devils_advocate said :

sev said :

I’m sympathetic to people trying to find a park, but thinking in a global context, government spending on infrastructure that makes it *easier* for people to use fossil fuels would be a step in the wrong direction. As driving cars becomes more difficult and expensive, demand for other options will increase, (followed by increased supply and quality and convenience of those options, I admit it’s not there yet).

Except, cars are not necessarily dependent on fossil fuels.

The issue here is parking; not what the car runs on. That’s irrelevant, as they all take the same amount of parking and infrastructure.

creative_canberran5:48 pm 22 Jun 15

Alexandra Craig said :

The car parks in Mort Street and the ones in Haig Park are always full.

Always full? Not today at lunch hour: http://imgur.com/prlrftX

devils_advocate4:53 pm 22 Jun 15

sev said :

I’m sympathetic to people trying to find a park, but thinking in a global context, government spending on infrastructure that makes it *easier* for people to use fossil fuels would be a step in the wrong direction. As driving cars becomes more difficult and expensive, demand for other options will increase, (followed by increased supply and quality and convenience of those options, I admit it’s not there yet).

Except, cars are not necessarily dependent on fossil fuels.

Alexandra Craig said :

And not everyone can just go get a motorcycle licence.

Sorry, but most people can. Try visiting south east asia sometime, our over reliance on being single users of giant five seater vehicles here is pretty disgusting. Hell our transit lanes are only T2, because if they were T3 or T4, nobody would ever get to use them!

Alexandra Craig said :

creative_canberran said :

Alexandra Craig said :

The car parks in Mort Street and the ones in Haig Park are always full.

I’m not opposed to walking, but there are quite a few businesses in Braddon that aren’t cafes etc (real estate agencies, hairdressers, physiotherapists and a couple of other things) that you would be attending set appointments at, often in your lunch break where you simply don’t have the convenience of parking a distance away and walking.

And like you said, there’s already a car park in Haig Park – so they wouldn’t be ‘paving a park to put in a parking lot’. They would just be building up on the existing car park.

Those carparks are not always full. Even in the middle of the day you can find one usually. And for those few times you can’t, there’s the Canberra Centre which is only a 5min walk away. And if you have appointments to keep, it’s a matter of being better organised.

As for building a new carpark beside Haig Park, there is a world of difference between a surface carpark and a multi-level structure.

No, it’s not a matter of being better organised. If people only have a certain amount of time for lunch and leave their workplace on time, how much more organised can you be?

Of course there’s a difference between the two types of parking lots – however, it’s not as if we’re ripping down the whole park to put a parking lot in. There is already some space available to build on, we’re not starting from scratch.

dkNigs said :

Alexandra Craig said :

You could easily have it both ways though. There’s two car parks – one at the top of Lonsdale Street and one at the top of Mort Street. You could move the Mandalay up to Mort Street and build on the Lonsdale car park, or the other way around; build on Mort and Mandalay stays where it is.

Sorry, but do you really think it’s that easy for a business to leave the location they’ve had for 30 years and still get the same considerations when moving up the street directly across the road from an apartment building?

Alexandra Craig said :

What if you’re a couple in a relationship and you only have one parking spot? That was my situation for a while at one stag (not in Braddon).

You seem very inflexible. I live in Braddon with my wife, we have one carspace, and one car. I also got a motorcycle licence because it’s cheaper, easier, quicker to get places, quicker to park, and we have two vehicles when needed.

Alexandra Craig said :

The car parks in Mort Street and the ones in Haig Park are always full.

I’m not opposed to walking, but there are quite a few businesses in Braddon that aren’t cafes etc (real estate agencies, hairdressers, physiotherapists and a couple of other things) that you would be attending set appointments at, often in your lunch break where you simply don’t have the convenience of parking a distance away and walking.

And like you said, there’s already a car park in Haig Park – so they wouldn’t be ‘paving a park to put in a parking lot’. They would just be building up on the existing car park.

People can just stop being so bloody lazy and walk more. The only thing braddon needs more of is disabled parking, there is barely any of it, and maybe more loading zones. If that meant LESS regular parking then that’s fine, the people who lose carparks are perfectly capable of walking up the damned street from civic.

I did say it could go both ways, put the multi-storey where the other car park is and leave Mandalay where it is. However, with the new apartments being built on Lonsdale Street where the Traders used to be, they’ll be the closest to the Mandalay Bus so if considerations given to that business are going to change it’s not going to be because of them moving due to a car park being built. It’ll be because now there’s an apartment quite close by and they complain about noise.

I’m also not being inflexible. I have underground parking. Like I’ve said many times, this isn’t about me. The example I gave about having two cars and one car space was when I lived elsewhere and we had lots of street parking, so it wasn’t a problem. But for couples with two cars and limited street parking it would be a problem. And not everyone can just go get a motorcycle licence.

And the solution if you have two cars and one car space is to not live there in the first place if it is an issue. Inner city living comes with compromises. Extra car parks=extra costs for the owner/renter or you change the way you live including not making the choice to live there if need being it is an issue.

Personally it would be an issue for me too hence why I CHOOSE to live in the burbs rather than inner city. I would prefer it actually being able to walk to work, the pub etc but the compromise is too much so burbs it is with another set of compromises and trade offs.

VYBerlinaV8_is_back11:29 am 22 Jun 15

If I need to go to Braddon in the middle of the day I just park in the northernmost multi-story carpark at the Canberra Centre.

There are always parks, and it takes literally 5 minutes to walk into Braddon.

Alexandra Craig9:47 am 22 Jun 15

creative_canberran said :

Alexandra Craig said :

The car parks in Mort Street and the ones in Haig Park are always full.

I’m not opposed to walking, but there are quite a few businesses in Braddon that aren’t cafes etc (real estate agencies, hairdressers, physiotherapists and a couple of other things) that you would be attending set appointments at, often in your lunch break where you simply don’t have the convenience of parking a distance away and walking.

And like you said, there’s already a car park in Haig Park – so they wouldn’t be ‘paving a park to put in a parking lot’. They would just be building up on the existing car park.

Those carparks are not always full. Even in the middle of the day you can find one usually. And for those few times you can’t, there’s the Canberra Centre which is only a 5min walk away. And if you have appointments to keep, it’s a matter of being better organised.

As for building a new carpark beside Haig Park, there is a world of difference between a surface carpark and a multi-level structure.

No, it’s not a matter of being better organised. If people only have a certain amount of time for lunch and leave their workplace on time, how much more organised can you be?

Of course there’s a difference between the two types of parking lots – however, it’s not as if we’re ripping down the whole park to put a parking lot in. There is already some space available to build on, we’re not starting from scratch.

dkNigs said :

Alexandra Craig said :

You could easily have it both ways though. There’s two car parks – one at the top of Lonsdale Street and one at the top of Mort Street. You could move the Mandalay up to Mort Street and build on the Lonsdale car park, or the other way around; build on Mort and Mandalay stays where it is.

Sorry, but do you really think it’s that easy for a business to leave the location they’ve had for 30 years and still get the same considerations when moving up the street directly across the road from an apartment building?

Alexandra Craig said :

What if you’re a couple in a relationship and you only have one parking spot? That was my situation for a while at one stag (not in Braddon).

You seem very inflexible. I live in Braddon with my wife, we have one carspace, and one car. I also got a motorcycle licence because it’s cheaper, easier, quicker to get places, quicker to park, and we have two vehicles when needed.

Alexandra Craig said :

The car parks in Mort Street and the ones in Haig Park are always full.

I’m not opposed to walking, but there are quite a few businesses in Braddon that aren’t cafes etc (real estate agencies, hairdressers, physiotherapists and a couple of other things) that you would be attending set appointments at, often in your lunch break where you simply don’t have the convenience of parking a distance away and walking.

And like you said, there’s already a car park in Haig Park – so they wouldn’t be ‘paving a park to put in a parking lot’. They would just be building up on the existing car park.

People can just stop being so bloody lazy and walk more. The only thing braddon needs more of is disabled parking, there is barely any of it, and maybe more loading zones. If that meant LESS regular parking then that’s fine, the people who lose carparks are perfectly capable of walking up the damned street from civic.

I did say it could go both ways, put the multi-storey where the other car park is and leave Mandalay where it is. However, with the new apartments being built on Lonsdale Street where the Traders used to be, they’ll be the closest to the Mandalay Bus so if considerations given to that business are going to change it’s not going to be because of them moving due to a car park being built. It’ll be because now there’s an apartment quite close by and they complain about noise.

I’m also not being inflexible. I have underground parking. Like I’ve said many times, this isn’t about me. The example I gave about having two cars and one car space was when I lived elsewhere and we had lots of street parking, so it wasn’t a problem. But for couples with two cars and limited street parking it would be a problem. And not everyone can just go get a motorcycle licence.

dkNigs said :

Alexandra Craig said :

You could easily have it both ways though. There’s two car parks – one at the top of Lonsdale Street and one at the top of Mort Street. You could move the Mandalay up to Mort Street and build on the Lonsdale car park, or the other way around; build on Mort and Mandalay stays where it is.

Sorry, but do you really think it’s that easy for a business to leave the location they’ve had for 30 years and still get the same considerations when moving up the street directly across the road from an apartment building?

Alexandra Craig said :

What if you’re a couple in a relationship and you only have one parking spot? That was my situation for a while at one stag (not in Braddon).

You seem very inflexible. I live in Braddon with my wife, we have one carspace, and one car. I also got a motorcycle licence because it’s cheaper, easier, quicker to get places, quicker to park, and we have two vehicles when needed.

Alexandra Craig said :

The car parks in Mort Street and the ones in Haig Park are always full.

I’m not opposed to walking, but there are quite a few businesses in Braddon that aren’t cafes etc (real estate agencies, hairdressers, physiotherapists and a couple of other things) that you would be attending set appointments at, often in your lunch break where you simply don’t have the convenience of parking a distance away and walking.

And like you said, there’s already a car park in Haig Park – so they wouldn’t be ‘paving a park to put in a parking lot’. They would just be building up on the existing car park.

People can just stop being so bloody lazy and walk more. The only thing braddon needs more of is disabled parking, there is barely any of it, and maybe more loading zones. If that meant LESS regular parking then that’s fine, the people who lose carparks are perfectly capable of walking up the damned street from civic.

I think it’s a big Canberra problem. Over decades people have got too used to being able to drive right up to where they want to go. If you want funky bohemian vibe in a dense inner-city, driving convenience has got to go.

Alexandra Craig said :

You could easily have it both ways though. There’s two car parks – one at the top of Lonsdale Street and one at the top of Mort Street. You could move the Mandalay up to Mort Street and build on the Lonsdale car park, or the other way around; build on Mort and Mandalay stays where it is.

Sorry, but do you really think it’s that easy for a business to leave the location they’ve had for 30 years and still get the same considerations when moving up the street directly across the road from an apartment building?

Alexandra Craig said :

What if you’re a couple in a relationship and you only have one parking spot? That was my situation for a while at one stag (not in Braddon).

You seem very inflexible. I live in Braddon with my wife, we have one carspace, and one car. I also got a motorcycle licence because it’s cheaper, easier, quicker to get places, quicker to park, and we have two vehicles when needed.

Alexandra Craig said :

The car parks in Mort Street and the ones in Haig Park are always full.

I’m not opposed to walking, but there are quite a few businesses in Braddon that aren’t cafes etc (real estate agencies, hairdressers, physiotherapists and a couple of other things) that you would be attending set appointments at, often in your lunch break where you simply don’t have the convenience of parking a distance away and walking.

And like you said, there’s already a car park in Haig Park – so they wouldn’t be ‘paving a park to put in a parking lot’. They would just be building up on the existing car park.

People can just stop being so bloody lazy and walk more. The only thing braddon needs more of is disabled parking, there is barely any of it, and maybe more loading zones. If that meant LESS regular parking then that’s fine, the people who lose carparks are perfectly capable of walking up the damned street from civic.

creative_canberran12:41 am 21 Jun 15

Alexandra Craig said :

The car parks in Mort Street and the ones in Haig Park are always full.

I’m not opposed to walking, but there are quite a few businesses in Braddon that aren’t cafes etc (real estate agencies, hairdressers, physiotherapists and a couple of other things) that you would be attending set appointments at, often in your lunch break where you simply don’t have the convenience of parking a distance away and walking.

And like you said, there’s already a car park in Haig Park – so they wouldn’t be ‘paving a park to put in a parking lot’. They would just be building up on the existing car park.

Those carparks are not always full. Even in the middle of the day you can find one usually. And for those few times you can’t, there’s the Canberra Centre which is only a 5min walk away. And if you have appointments to keep, it’s a matter of being better organised.

As for building a new carpark beside Haig Park, there is a world of difference between a surface carpark and a multi-level structure.

Alexandra Craig11:10 pm 20 Jun 15

Dame Canberra said :

A word of warning: Don’t try and park in the nearby sporting oval carparks on a Friday evening! They lock the gates and then you can’t get your car out until Monday unless you BYO bolt cutters. Not recommended!

Oh yes! They lock it up hey. I went there once to do some running and it was locked when I arrived – I presumed it would be open 24/7.

dkNigs said :

I’d rather see a Raiders club on Northbourne Oval and the extra parking that would bring than a multistory blight on Haig Park that would absolutely damage the Mandalay Bus business.

You could easily have it both ways though. There’s two car parks – one at the top of Lonsdale Street and one at the top of Mort Street. You could move the Mandalay up to Mort Street and build on the Lonsdale car park, or the other way around; build on Mort and Mandalay stays where it is.

dkNigs said :

I would also like to strongly emphasise that it is not currently legal to build/sell apartments in Canberra without suitable parking. If you CHOOSE to live in a group house situation that does not have parking that suits you, that would be your own problem. Nobody lives in Canberra and “does not have parking at home”.

What if you’re a couple in a relationship and you only have one parking spot? That was my situation for a while at one stag (not in Braddon).

Citizen Phil said :

At the other end of Lonsdale Street there are carparks for the Canberra Centre, the whole length of Mort Street has a carpark plus the Braddon and Turner both have carparks in Haig Park already.

Why is it when people visit Braddon they think they have to park right out the front of the premises they are visiting? Why not do a little walking? It’s like going to the local shop and watching people driving around and around waiting for that spot right out the front to save themselves walking 10m.

Whatever happens paving a park to put a parking lot doesn’t seem right.

The car parks in Mort Street and the ones in Haig Park are always full.

I’m not opposed to walking, but there are quite a few businesses in Braddon that aren’t cafes etc (real estate agencies, hairdressers, physiotherapists and a couple of other things) that you would be attending set appointments at, often in your lunch break where you simply don’t have the convenience of parking a distance away and walking.

And like you said, there’s already a car park in Haig Park – so they wouldn’t be ‘paving a park to put in a parking lot’. They would just be building up on the existing car park.

Citizen Phil said :

At the other end of Lonsdale Street there are carparks for the Canberra Centre, the whole length of Mort Street has a carpark plus the Braddon and Turner both have carparks in Haig Park already.

Why is it when people visit Braddon they think they have to park right out the front of the premises they are visiting? Why not do a little walking? It’s like going to the local shop and watching people driving around and around waiting for that spot right out the front to save themselves walking 10m.

I live in Forbes Street Turner which every day is packed with cars from civic workers, that’s life. They’re risking a fine to save a few bucks in a free 2 hour park, that’s their thing, good luck to them.

I believe Introducing multi story carparks onto Haig Park isn’t going to make Braddon (and/or Turner) any less congested, in fact I believe it will have opposite effect as it will probably cost more to park there driving more people to look for free parking in the surrounding areas. To me the people already parking in the surrounding areas are purely parking there because it’s free, not because it’s close to where they want to go.

Whatever happens paving a park to put a parking lot doesn’t seem right.

Yep, agree.

I walked up AND DOWN Lonsdale Street the other day with my shopping, each leg being more than the “too difficult” 700m.

Mind you a good solution would be a tram running up Lonsdale St from the heart of Civic to Dickson and beyond. THAT would really make Inner City Canberra work and would make all that North East corner a model for a new sustainable Canberra. It would certainly absorb a lot of Canberra’s growth in a vital interesting redesign without having to go to the ludicrous extremes of outer Belconnen, Tuggeranong, Gunghalin, Molonglo and Googong.

Citizen Phil8:55 am 20 Jun 15

At the other end of Lonsdale Street there are carparks for the Canberra Centre, the whole length of Mort Street has a carpark plus the Braddon and Turner both have carparks in Haig Park already.

Why is it when people visit Braddon they think they have to park right out the front of the premises they are visiting? Why not do a little walking? It’s like going to the local shop and watching people driving around and around waiting for that spot right out the front to save themselves walking 10m.

I live in Forbes Street Turner which every day is packed with cars from civic workers, that’s life. They’re risking a fine to save a few bucks in a free 2 hour park, that’s their thing, good luck to them.

I believe Introducing multi story carparks onto Haig Park isn’t going to make Braddon (and/or Turner) any less congested, in fact I believe it will have opposite effect as it will probably cost more to park there driving more people to look for free parking in the surrounding areas. To me the people already parking in the surrounding areas are purely parking there because it’s free, not because it’s close to where they want to go.

Whatever happens paving a park to put a parking lot doesn’t seem right.

It is definitely quite weird that it is easier to park in inner Civic than in Braddon.

I would also like to strongly emphasise that it is not currently legal to build/sell apartments in Canberra without suitable parking. If you CHOOSE to live in a group house situation that does not have parking that suits you, that would be your own problem. Nobody lives in Canberra and “does not have parking at home”.

I’d rather see a Raiders club on Northbourne Oval and the extra parking that would bring than a multistory blight on Haig Park that would absolutely damage the Mandalay Bus business.

Dame Canberra5:02 pm 19 Jun 15

A word of warning: Don’t try and park in the nearby sporting oval carparks on a Friday evening! They lock the gates and then you can’t get your car out until Monday unless you BYO bolt cutters. Not recommended!

creative_canberran4:41 pm 19 Jun 15

oh_ said :

There used to be a few open area blocks behind the main street buildings in Lonsdale and Mort Streets Braddon. If they still exist (one was a mechanic garage, another behind former Civic Video, another was/is behind Centrelink) they would seem better spots for multi storey car parks.

Some of those have long been built on, though at least a couple of those you describe are private carparks. No wonder they’ve had to put in new gates to stop people nicking their spots. The giant signs saying Private Carpark aren’t enough obviously.

oh_ said :

Also they will need to duplicate the street that runs along Haig Park before long as it backs up.

No.

oh_ said :

But I agree parking is scarce in Braddon and it noticeably started when the open air car parks around the Canberra Centre were developed. New buildings should have underground though, like the Mode development.

Those open air carparks were developed into buildings with underground carparks, often increasing capacity.

Alexandra Craig said :

He/she is lucky they didn’t get done for property damage. They thought it’d be okay to start using electrical tape to affix notes to peoples vehicles. On the paintwork. One neighbour bought the fancy solution to remove the tape safely but it didn’t work and the tape pulled a heap of paint off.

I certainly wouldn’t condone that – a car might be parked illegally, but one makes themselves somewhat of a hypocrite by causing damage to it (I’m certain that’s illegal too, may even be a criminal offence, unlike parking illegally).

KHorvath said :

As for cycling – I have a health issue which means that a half-hour bike ride in the morning just isn’t in the cards for me. But I think offering ‘just ride to work’ as blanket advice to anyone, regardless of potential health issues, still isn’t realistic. A person who works an office-type job and doesn’t do much physical exercise outside of work isn’t going to be able to jump to cycling overnight, fitness-wise, and cycling’s like any other type of exercise – if it works for you, great! It doesn’t work for everyone. Just to be clear, I do know that it wouldn’t be sustainable or convenient for anyone if everyone in Canberra drove cars as their main form of transport, but I don’t like seeing anyone being subjected to pressure to do something they don’t want to.

I agree that cycling isn’t for everyone, but some people who baulk at the physical impositions of cycling and the requirements and vulnerability of motorcycles might find pedelacs and other such e-bikes a happy medium that allows for less exertion while being allowed to ride on shared paths, and takes up the same storage space as a bicycle. Again not a solution for everyone all the time, but a solution nonetheless.

Hi Alexandra, I always like reading your articles! While I don’t feel that anyone is ‘forced’ to park illegally per se, I do think that if Braddon is going to have more shops/cafes and so on going up then it makes sense to recognise that this will increase the number of people driving to Braddon from other suburbs, and attempt to accommodate this accordingly.

The couple of times my partner and I have driven to Braddon from Curtin we’ve been able to get a park in the underground Wilson carpark near Pizza Gusto, but this has always been late at night (for dinner and so on) so I’m curious to know what the availability is at other times. I definitely agree about the U-turn bays on Lonsdale Street. I actually had to drive up to the roundabout to make my U-turn because there were cars blocking all the U-turn bays. I think a lot of the problems you describe could be alleviated by visitors to Braddon (ie people who are there for the cafes and don’t live there) parking more considerately. There’s the underground carpark, or alternatively I’ve known friends who’ve parked in the Canberra Centre and just walked to the cafe or restaurant they want in Braddon. I know that a lot of the spots that could potentially be used as street parking in O’Connor have ‘No Parking’ signs in front of them or are marked with a <2h time limit to prevent ANU students from parking there all day, so I wonder if something like that could work for the residential areas of Braddon?

As a side note, the number of people who are commenting that your decision to drive to work is selfish, entitled etc and that you should bus or bike makes me pretty uncomfortable. I do research work in a lab at ANU and often have to work strange hours too (earliest start: 7am, latest finish: 9pm). I got my own car about six months ago and caught the bus to the uni before then. I got harassed on the bus, and at the interchanges, more than once. Although this happened mostly later at night, it did happen a couple of times during the 'safer' frame of 5.30-6.30pm – not really a time when you'd be looking over your shoulder going home. This isn't to say that everyone who rides buses is a creepy harasser – that's not true! But it only took one bad experience to make me feel awful for the rest of the day. Aside from allowing me a peaceful commute home, driving to work gives me more time to help my housemates with shared chores like cooking that I might not have the time or energy for if I caught the bus. As for cycling – I have a health issue which means that a half-hour bike ride in the morning just isn't in the cards for me. But I think offering 'just ride to work' as blanket advice to anyone, regardless of potential health issues, still isn't realistic. A person who works an office-type job and doesn't do much physical exercise outside of work isn't going to be able to jump to cycling overnight, fitness-wise, and cycling's like any other type of exercise – if it works for you, great! It doesn't work for everyone. Just to be clear, I do know that it wouldn't be sustainable or convenient for anyone if everyone in Canberra drove cars as their main form of transport, but I don't like seeing anyone being subjected to pressure to do something they don't want to.

There used to be a few open area blocks behind the main street buildings in Lonsdale and Mort Streets Braddon. If they still exist (one was a mechanic garage, another behind former Civic Video, another was/is behind Centrelink) they would seem better spots for multi storey car parks. Also they will need to duplicate the street that runs along Haig Park before long as it backs up. But I agree parking is scarce in Braddon and it noticeably started when the open air car parks around the Canberra Centre were developed. New buildings should have underground though, like the Mode development.

Alexandra Craig said :

bryansworld said :

Alexandra Craig said :

bryansworld said :

creative_canberran said :

Alexandra Craig said :

I’m not going to ride a bicycle – I’m time poor as it is, I don’t really have extra time to spend travelling to work, then getting changed once I’m at work.

If you’re time poor, and you’re often required to work odd hours in the triangle, then it begs the question why you chose to live in the inner north rather than the inner south? You chose to live a longer distance from work than you needed to. And having made that choice already, you now want the public to build infrastructure to suit your needs and inflexibility. I’m sorry but I don’t agree with that.

Braddon to Barton can be done in 20 minutes on the bike. I have often found that car can take this long (sometimes longer) in peak hour. Bus from Civic to Barton is 15 minutes. Many workplaces will cover the cab fare if you are stuck at work late. It is all very doable, spoken from decades of experience.

I don’t work in Barton (close enough though) and it only takes me about 12 minutes to drive to work. I am a slow cyclist too – riding in would probably take me 20 years. I’d be due for retirement by the time I arrived.

Our entitlement only includes use of cabs when travelling on business 🙁

Are you sure? If you are still working in the place you used to work when I was your next-door neighbour (hi!) staff could get cabs home after around 7pm, although the application of this rule varied. The entitlement relates to whether after dark and when buses become less frequent. There’s a bit of discretion there.

Hi! I have had lots of next door neighbours…. don’t give it away, haha!

I just double-checked and I would have to have use of cabcharge approved if travelling home another way would be a risk to my personal safety. I wouldn’t feel comfortable claiming the entitlement in this way – I’d rather wait the hour for the bus haha

tim_c said :

No, I don’t live in Braddon, I’m not your self-appointed-cop neighbour, but I hope he/she is getting a decent “spotter’s fee”!

He/she is lucky they didn’t get done for property damage. They thought it’d be okay to start using electrical tape to affix notes to peoples vehicles. On the paintwork. One neighbour bought the fancy solution to remove the tape safely but it didn’t work and the tape pulled a heap of paint off.

One many neighbours, but I remember you for your chirpy personality!

“Personal safety” sounds like a very tough interpretation, if this comes from the person in your “area”, it might be worth checking what other “areas” do and trying again. If it comes from the central “area” that administers entitlements, maybe they are playing tougher now.

Alexandra Craig4:21 pm 18 Jun 15

bryansworld said :

Alexandra Craig said :

bryansworld said :

creative_canberran said :

Alexandra Craig said :

I’m not going to ride a bicycle – I’m time poor as it is, I don’t really have extra time to spend travelling to work, then getting changed once I’m at work.

If you’re time poor, and you’re often required to work odd hours in the triangle, then it begs the question why you chose to live in the inner north rather than the inner south? You chose to live a longer distance from work than you needed to. And having made that choice already, you now want the public to build infrastructure to suit your needs and inflexibility. I’m sorry but I don’t agree with that.

Braddon to Barton can be done in 20 minutes on the bike. I have often found that car can take this long (sometimes longer) in peak hour. Bus from Civic to Barton is 15 minutes. Many workplaces will cover the cab fare if you are stuck at work late. It is all very doable, spoken from decades of experience.

I don’t work in Barton (close enough though) and it only takes me about 12 minutes to drive to work. I am a slow cyclist too – riding in would probably take me 20 years. I’d be due for retirement by the time I arrived.

Our entitlement only includes use of cabs when travelling on business 🙁

Are you sure? If you are still working in the place you used to work when I was your next-door neighbour (hi!) staff could get cabs home after around 7pm, although the application of this rule varied. The entitlement relates to whether after dark and when buses become less frequent. There’s a bit of discretion there.

Hi! I have had lots of next door neighbours…. don’t give it away, haha!

I just double-checked and I would have to have use of cabcharge approved if travelling home another way would be a risk to my personal safety. I wouldn’t feel comfortable claiming the entitlement in this way – I’d rather wait the hour for the bus haha

tim_c said :

No, I don’t live in Braddon, I’m not your self-appointed-cop neighbour, but I hope he/she is getting a decent “spotter’s fee”!

He/she is lucky they didn’t get done for property damage. They thought it’d be okay to start using electrical tape to affix notes to peoples vehicles. On the paintwork. One neighbour bought the fancy solution to remove the tape safely but it didn’t work and the tape pulled a heap of paint off.

tim_c said :

I just continue to be amazed at the number of people who are surprised by things that I just take as given:
1- if you live in/near an town centre, people are going to come there, and when they do, they will probably want to park somewhere – perhaps even in the street in front of your house. Deal with it – streets are public places, for common use by everyone in the community.
2- if you choose to buy/rent accommodation that has no parking (or inadequate parking), you may not have somewhere to park.
3- Just because you can’t find somewhere to park legally within 5m of your destination does not automatically give you the option to park illegally, potentially risking the safety of other road users (or at the very least selfishly inconveniencing them).
4- The Government does not have a responsibility for solving the consequences of your ill-considered choices.
No, I don’t live in Braddon, I’m not your self-appointed-cop neighbour, but I hope he/she is getting a decent “spotter’s fee”!

It’s a combination of a rusted-on car driver’s sense of entitlement and an illogical aversion to public transport, with a healthy dash of cycling is too slow/hard/difficult/dangerous. If you want to enjoy the benefits of the new funky inner Canberra, something’s got to give….

For whose benefit would this carpark be for? The Haig carpark is supposed to be exclusively for people who want to avail themselves of the park, of which the number of people is quite modest. If anyone thinks there should be carparks for people wanting to avail themselves of shops, then those shops should have the carparks to support it. Don’t turn the park into a concrete jungle of carparks! If anyone wants multi-storey car parks in Braddon (including the government), buy a block of land there and build it, and leave the park alone.

I just continue to be amazed at the number of people who are surprised by things that I just take as given:
1- if you live in/near an town centre, people are going to come there, and when they do, they will probably want to park somewhere – perhaps even in the street in front of your house. Deal with it – streets are public places, for common use by everyone in the community.
2- if you choose to buy/rent accommodation that has no parking (or inadequate parking), you may not have somewhere to park.
3- Just because you can’t find somewhere to park legally within 5m of your destination does not automatically give you the option to park illegally, potentially risking the safety of other road users (or at the very least selfishly inconveniencing them).
4- The Government does not have a responsibility for solving the consequences of your ill-considered choices.
No, I don’t live in Braddon, I’m not your self-appointed-cop neighbour, but I hope he/she is getting a decent “spotter’s fee”!

vintage123 said :

The substantial increase in construction costs for multi level car parking has rendered many project uneconomical….

Actually, it probably has more to do with the substantial tax the Canberra City Council (aka. ACT Government) levies annually on each and every car parking space in/near our town centres.

I’m sympathetic to people trying to find a park, but thinking in a global context, government spending on infrastructure that makes it *easier* for people to use fossil fuels would be a step in the wrong direction. As driving cars becomes more difficult and expensive, demand for other options will increase, (followed by increased supply and quality and convenience of those options, I admit it’s not there yet).

ChrisinTurner2:51 pm 18 Jun 15

Replacing pubic open space with car parking will never happen unless you are a Rugby League Club – check around Braddon Oval. Seriously, this situation will get much worse once the government approves the latest developer’s scheme of allowing them to build apartments with no parking, proving the developer pays into a government slush fund. I live in Reid where “Resident Only” street parking has been necessary for the last 20 years. Our situation will get much worse once the ABC Flats are redeveloped, now possibly with no parking at all. We were told that our guests can always park in the Canberra Centre car-park when we complained about the lack of sufficient parking in the master plan.

Alexandra Craig said :

bryansworld said :

creative_canberran said :

Alexandra Craig said :

I’m not going to ride a bicycle – I’m time poor as it is, I don’t really have extra time to spend travelling to work, then getting changed once I’m at work.

If you’re time poor, and you’re often required to work odd hours in the triangle, then it begs the question why you chose to live in the inner north rather than the inner south? You chose to live a longer distance from work than you needed to. And having made that choice already, you now want the public to build infrastructure to suit your needs and inflexibility. I’m sorry but I don’t agree with that.

Braddon to Barton can be done in 20 minutes on the bike. I have often found that car can take this long (sometimes longer) in peak hour. Bus from Civic to Barton is 15 minutes. Many workplaces will cover the cab fare if you are stuck at work late. It is all very doable, spoken from decades of experience.

I don’t work in Barton (close enough though) and it only takes me about 12 minutes to drive to work. I am a slow cyclist too – riding in would probably take me 20 years. I’d be due for retirement by the time I arrived.

Our entitlement only includes use of cabs when travelling on business 🙁

Are you sure? If you are still working in the place you used to work when I was your next-door neighbour (hi!) staff could get cabs home after around 7pm, although the application of this rule varied. The entitlement relates to whether after dark and when buses become less frequent. There’s a bit of discretion there.

Alexandra Craig12:03 pm 18 Jun 15

bryansworld said :

creative_canberran said :

Alexandra Craig said :

I’m not going to ride a bicycle – I’m time poor as it is, I don’t really have extra time to spend travelling to work, then getting changed once I’m at work.

If you’re time poor, and you’re often required to work odd hours in the triangle, then it begs the question why you chose to live in the inner north rather than the inner south? You chose to live a longer distance from work than you needed to. And having made that choice already, you now want the public to build infrastructure to suit your needs and inflexibility. I’m sorry but I don’t agree with that.

Braddon to Barton can be done in 20 minutes on the bike. I have often found that car can take this long (sometimes longer) in peak hour. Bus from Civic to Barton is 15 minutes. Many workplaces will cover the cab fare if you are stuck at work late. It is all very doable, spoken from decades of experience.

I don’t work in Barton (close enough though) and it only takes me about 12 minutes to drive to work. I am a slow cyclist too – riding in would probably take me 20 years. I’d be due for retirement by the time I arrived.

Our entitlement only includes use of cabs when travelling on business 🙁

creative_canberran said :

Alexandra Craig said :

I’m not going to ride a bicycle – I’m time poor as it is, I don’t really have extra time to spend travelling to work, then getting changed once I’m at work.

If you’re time poor, and you’re often required to work odd hours in the triangle, then it begs the question why you chose to live in the inner north rather than the inner south? You chose to live a longer distance from work than you needed to. And having made that choice already, you now want the public to build infrastructure to suit your needs and inflexibility. I’m sorry but I don’t agree with that.

Braddon to Barton can be done in 20 minutes on the bike. I have often found that car can take this long (sometimes longer) in peak hour. Bus from Civic to Barton is 15 minutes. Many workplaces will cover the cab fare if you are stuck at work late. It is all very doable, spoken from decades of experience.

Alexandra Craig8:42 am 18 Jun 15

creative_canberran said :

Alexandra Craig said :

I’m not going to ride a bicycle – I’m time poor as it is, I don’t really have extra time to spend travelling to work, then getting changed once I’m at work.

If you’re time poor, and you’re often required to work odd hours in the triangle, then it begs the question why you chose to live in the inner north rather than the inner south? You chose to live a longer distance from work than you needed to. And having made that choice already, you now want the public to build infrastructure to suit your needs and inflexibility. I’m sorry but I don’t agree with that.

I lived in the Inner South for two years before I moved to Braddon. The owners of my apartment were selling and I had to move. There was a lack of suitable apartments in my area at the time, so the next closest thing to work available was in the Inner North. I didn’t particularly want to leave the Inner South but I didn’t really have a choice.

Did you actually read the article properly? This article is not about me. I don’t want any infrastructure built to suit me at all. Please read the article next time before making an extremely misinformed comment. I am happy to drive to work as I have parking at home. What I said was that other people who work at the same place as me and live in the same area don’t have parking at home so it is difficult for THEM. The suggestion was then made that they ride bicycles or get the bus, and I put myself in that situation and said that neither of those options would work because of reasons for X, Y, Z.

And don’t assume I “chose” to live in the Inner North. Until you know the personal circumstances of someone, you actually have no idea what you’re talking about. For the record, it probably only takes me an extra 4 or 5 minutes to get to work from the Inner North compared to what it did from the Inner South.

Sandman said :

If you dont work in the city, why the need to live so close, and in an apartment without a carspace?

Underground car park in Haig Park? If that goes ahead I’m starting up a business replacing smashed car windows. I’ll just park my van near the exit at the end of the day and rake it in.

This whole arguement is a “first world problems” issue from people who want everything without compromise.

As above. Inner North was the closest I could get to my workplace at the time I had to move. And if you read the article properly you’d see the line where I said “I am fortunate to have undercover parking.” Whether Braddon has 20 new parking lots built or whether they ban cars and turn all the existing parking spots into green space, it won’t have any direct impact on me.

You know there’s already a car park in Haig Park, right? One that people can walk right up to and smash windows. I’m unaware of any ongoing window smashing problems there currently.

If they build on it and take it one storey underground and one storey up I don’t think that will make people suddenly start smashing car windows. And if it’s a secure parking lot it would be less easy to walk into and start smashing things up than what it is now. I also imagine there’d be a few CCTV cameras. I think companies like Wilson Parking have pretty decent CCTV on their sites too.

If you dont work in the city, why the need to live so close, and in an apartment without a carspace?

Underground car park in Haig Park? If that goes ahead I’m starting up a business replacing smashed car windows. I’ll just park my van near the exit at the end of the day and rake it in.

This whole arguement is a “first world problems” issue from people who want everything without compromise.

creative_canberran5:40 pm 17 Jun 15

Alexandra Craig said :

I’m not going to ride a bicycle – I’m time poor as it is, I don’t really have extra time to spend travelling to work, then getting changed once I’m at work.

If you’re time poor, and you’re often required to work odd hours in the triangle, then it begs the question why you chose to live in the inner north rather than the inner south? You chose to live a longer distance from work than you needed to. And having made that choice already, you now want the public to build infrastructure to suit your needs and inflexibility. I’m sorry but I don’t agree with that.

The thing is, if parking is a problem why live there? If parking was an issue in the cheapest parts of Canberra I’d have sympathy, but you would pay a fair bit more than average to live in Braddon. Even then there would be options with a car park included.

Braddon is on the transit corridor the government is planning to build along with the tram. Cars will not be catered for in general, although I’m sure new apartments will still have car parking spots.

You should feel lucky you have a choice of somewhere to live and can afford to live in an area that is relatively expensive. When you make a decision to live somewhere, surely you weigh up the pros and cons of living there? I live on the outskirts of Canberra, so I’ve got views of the mountains. Now I could go and whinge about how long it takes to get to work (which many do), however a large number of Canberrans do have the luxury of deciding where they’d like to live. We tend to forget we are lucky to live where we do and have the jobs that many of us have.

Of course if someone has a decent/innovative proposal regarding car parking issues I’m sure the government would like to here it, but there will come a time, when there is no land to build on and there will be a shortage of car parks that cannot be fixed.

I would say that one of the perks of living in Braddon would be that you wouldn’t often need a car. There’s an unwillingness to compromise, utilise public transport or walk/cycle. It’s close to everything, and it would only take half an hour to ride a bike to Barton or Kingston from Braddon.

In other cities, parking is much less available than it is here. I don’t endorse the habit of making all alternatives to public transport less appealing to force people on to the bus or tram, but there’s always options if you are lucky enough to live somewhere that convenient. It’s a choice.

Paul Costigan12:21 pm 17 Jun 15

Dear Alexandra

I am sorry to see you having to explain your lifestyle. The problems around Braddon are very unsatisfactory and due to some very basic flaws that continue within Canberra’s planning. I sense there is no easy answer as the damage has been done. But there is definitely no use blaming anyone except those that allowed it to become such a failure of planning and development.

People move into these new developments still believing the myth that Canberra has planners who know what they are doing. Surely the government and their planners would not get it so wrong!!

Sadly I do not see a resolution coming from either the Chief Minister or the planning bureaucrats presently in charge of parking. Their comments about dealing with the parking needs of residents such as yourself tend to be very patronizing. After all they know best and how to plan for and how to organise the parking – and they get very annoyed that pesky residents just do not understand what is good for them – if only there were no residents then the government’s bureaucratic parking arrangements would be just fine.

Canberra desperately needs a complete change in the personnel who are responsible for planning the changes required for these inner suburbs – let alone in how residents can access adequate parking.

I agree – something needs to be done about parking in Braddon – and very soon in other inner suburbs as more apartments (hopefully well designed) are built.

Ghettosmurf8712:16 pm 17 Jun 15

If you happen to work in a remote/inconvenient location with few services nearby and require your car on a daily basis, then perhaps living in a very inner city suburb with limited parking options is not a very smart move? Either that or maybe they should ensure that they choose to live in a home in that area that DOES provide adequate parking for their needs.

People should adapt to the environment they choose to live in, not seek to change a perfectly functional environment to suit their own particular needs.

If you happen to live in an area that is not car-friendly, you need to adapt to that environment by doing smaller shopping trips with manageable loads, rather than the standard outer suburbs bulk weekly shop.

You don’t get to have both the amazing convenience of inner-city living with large amounts of services and convenience nearby AND have easy car access and usage.

Get used to it. The inner suburbs will becomes LESS car-friendly, not more. This is a fact of life and has been demonstrated in cities throughout the country and world for decades.

Alexandra Craig said :

bryansworld said :

I know at least 6 other people in my street/neighbouring streets that work at the same place I do. Buses aren’t an option for us. We work long hours that don’t have any real pattern. Some mornings we’re there at 6.45am, some nights we’re there at 9.00pm, some evenings we come home at 6.00pm but get a call back at 7.30pm. Buses just aren’t practical. I also run errands on my lunch break and there’s nowhere to do this nearby, I have to drive. So even if the buses were amazing, I’d still need to drive to work to be able to get life admin done.

Alex, I used to work in the same place. It was quite doable with bus or bicycle, which I used far more often than the car.

I’m not going to ride a bicycle – I’m time poor as it is, I don’t really have extra time to spend travelling to work, then getting changed once I’m at work. That, and I don’t like riding bicycles in general, I don’t think it’s safe to ride bicycles on the road (or motorcycles – the thought of riding one makes me nervous), and I don’t want to be subjected to the abuse cyclists are.

As for the bus, after a certain time there’s only one every hour. My work can be unpredictable so I can’t always line my departure to a specific time. If I miss the bus I want it’s another hour until the next one arrives, and if I’m leaving at 6.30pm to go to dinner or something I don’t want to miss my appointment because I have to wait for the bus. Same standard as if I’ve been at work for 12 hours – I don’t really want to hang around for another whole hour.

I’ve often found for journeys up to around 5 km in Central Canberra, bicycle can be faster than car in peak hour. It takes a bit of organising, but the clothes/shower thing is doable, and is merely done at work instead of home. I agree with you about the roads, they can be scary at times with some of the aggro around, but there is an excellent bike path network in inner-Canberra which can often be used for most of the journey. Please give it a try sometime. 🙂

Alexandra Craig said :

bryansworld said :

I know at least 6 other people in my street/neighbouring streets that work at the same place I do. Buses aren’t an option for us. We work long hours that don’t have any real pattern. Some mornings we’re there at 6.45am, some nights we’re there at 9.00pm, some evenings we come home at 6.00pm but get a call back at 7.30pm. Buses just aren’t practical. I also run errands on my lunch break and there’s nowhere to do this nearby, I have to drive. So even if the buses were amazing, I’d still need to drive to work to be able to get life admin done.

Alex, I used to work in the same place. It was quite doable with bus or bicycle, which I used far more often than the car.

I’m not going to ride a bicycle – I’m time poor as it is, I don’t really have extra time to spend travelling to work, then getting changed once I’m at work. That, and I don’t like riding bicycles in general, I don’t think it’s safe to ride bicycles on the road (or motorcycles – the thought of riding one makes me nervous), and I don’t want to be subjected to the abuse cyclists are.

As for the bus, after a certain time there’s only one every hour. My work can be unpredictable so I can’t always line my departure to a specific time. If I miss the bus I want it’s another hour until the next one arrives, and if I’m leaving at 6.30pm to go to dinner or something I don’t want to miss my appointment because I have to wait for the bus. Same standard as if I’ve been at work for 12 hours – I don’t really want to hang around for another whole hour.

“It is difficult to know your full circumstances, but your reasoning still sounds like excuses. Don’t bring so much home from shopping, for instance, if this is a problem. Shop more often, or invest in a shopping trolley with wheels. You know, like grandmothers used to use. I think they are back in fashion. Or use a backpack. I do, as well as big bags, when I walk over a km with the shopping. I used to work at a place that I would walk from two kms to Civic in the dark to catch a bus home and then walk from there to my house in the dark, usually in the rain, because otherwise I would mostly be cycling.
Haig Park? I had to check the map we were thinking about the same place. I guess I wouldn’t walk there at midnight, but in the daytime I wouldn’t give it a second thought. I’m sorry you are such a nervous person.

Alexandra Craig said :

bryansworld said :

I know at least 6 other people in my street/neighbouring streets that work at the same place I do. Buses aren’t an option for us. We work long hours that don’t have any real pattern. Some mornings we’re there at 6.45am, some nights we’re there at 9.00pm, some evenings we come home at 6.00pm but get a call back at 7.30pm. Buses just aren’t practical. I also run errands on my lunch break and there’s nowhere to do this nearby, I have to drive. So even if the buses were amazing, I’d still need to drive to work to be able to get life admin done.

Alex, I used to work in the same place. It was quite doable with bus or bicycle, which I used far more often than the car.

I’m not going to ride a bicycle – I’m time poor as it is, I don’t really have extra time to spend travelling to work, then getting changed once I’m at work. That, and I don’t like riding bicycles in general, I don’t think it’s safe to ride bicycles on the road (or motorcycles – the thought of riding one makes me nervous), and I don’t want to be subjected to the abuse cyclists are.

As for the bus, after a certain time there’s only one every hour. My work can be unpredictable so I can’t always line my departure to a specific time. If I miss the bus I want it’s another hour until the next one arrives, and if I’m leaving at 6.30pm to go to dinner or something I don’t want to miss my appointment because I have to wait for the bus. Same standard as if I’ve been at work for 12 hours – I don’t really want to hang around for another whole hour.

“I don’t want to be subjected to the abuse cyclists are. “

Oh come on, I rode to work for over thirty years, and the abuse I had could almost be counted on one hand. Lots of us are time poor.

Alexandra Craig11:48 am 17 Jun 15

bryansworld said :

I know at least 6 other people in my street/neighbouring streets that work at the same place I do. Buses aren’t an option for us. We work long hours that don’t have any real pattern. Some mornings we’re there at 6.45am, some nights we’re there at 9.00pm, some evenings we come home at 6.00pm but get a call back at 7.30pm. Buses just aren’t practical. I also run errands on my lunch break and there’s nowhere to do this nearby, I have to drive. So even if the buses were amazing, I’d still need to drive to work to be able to get life admin done.

Alex, I used to work in the same place. It was quite doable with bus or bicycle, which I used far more often than the car.

I’m not going to ride a bicycle – I’m time poor as it is, I don’t really have extra time to spend travelling to work, then getting changed once I’m at work. That, and I don’t like riding bicycles in general, I don’t think it’s safe to ride bicycles on the road (or motorcycles – the thought of riding one makes me nervous), and I don’t want to be subjected to the abuse cyclists are.

As for the bus, after a certain time there’s only one every hour. My work can be unpredictable so I can’t always line my departure to a specific time. If I miss the bus I want it’s another hour until the next one arrives, and if I’m leaving at 6.30pm to go to dinner or something I don’t want to miss my appointment because I have to wait for the bus. Same standard as if I’ve been at work for 12 hours – I don’t really want to hang around for another whole hour.

I know at least 6 other people in my street/neighbouring streets that work at the same place I do. Buses aren’t an option for us. We work long hours that don’t have any real pattern. Some mornings we’re there at 6.45am, some nights we’re there at 9.00pm, some evenings we come home at 6.00pm but get a call back at 7.30pm. Buses just aren’t practical. I also run errands on my lunch break and there’s nowhere to do this nearby, I have to drive. So even if the buses were amazing, I’d still need to drive to work to be able to get life admin done.

Alex, I used to work in the same place. It was quite doable with bus or bicycle, which I used far more often than the car.

Alexandra Craig9:36 am 17 Jun 15

dungfungus said :

bryansworld said :

MonarchRepublic said :

bryansworld said :

MonarchRepublic said :

Felix the Cat said :

Maya123 said :

But I thought present apartments all had parking for residents.

Often apartments only have parking for one or two residents per unit, so if a family lived there with driving age children that owned their own cars or a group of friends living together all with cars then some are going to have to park out on the street.

Exactly. per the code (here: http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2008-27/copy/92042/pdf/2008-27.pdf), a 3 or 4 bedroom apartment need only have 2 spaces. Even in a 2br apartment with 2 spaces, if you get 2 couples living there, each of them owning a car, you already have 2 cars on the street

What do people living so close to the City do with all those cars?

Drive to the supermarket as Braddon does not have one? 😉

Jokes aside, in my personal experience, it was to drive to work in Tuggeranong/Woden/Belconnen/etc

People drive to Belconnen or Woden to work and pay $8-15 a day to park, when they could catch the bus, which is 12-15 minutes from the City?! Hard to understand why.

Maybe the bus doesn’t drop off/pick-up the kids and collect the groceries along the way?

I know at least 6 other people in my street/neighbouring streets that work at the same place I do. Buses aren’t an option for us. We work long hours that don’t have any real pattern. Some mornings we’re there at 6.45am, some nights we’re there at 9.00pm, some evenings we come home at 6.00pm but get a call back at 7.30pm. Buses just aren’t practical. I also run errands on my lunch break and there’s nowhere to do this nearby, I have to drive. So even if the buses were amazing, I’d still need to drive to work to be able to get life admin done.

creative_canberran said :

There’s a multi-level Wilson carpark under Mode 3, only $2 an hr. There is no parking shortage. There is just laziness. If this were Sydney, you get your park and you walk around the CBD, driving isn’t an option. We’re spoilt in Canberra by lower traffic volumes and cheaper parking, so feel this ridiculous entitlement. If you honestly can’t get a legal park in Braddon (and that’s rare in my experience), park up at the Canberra Centre and take the 5-10min walk. No way should we start building more multi-level carparks above ground, much less beside a lovely greenbelt that should be retained as open space.

Haig Park needs to be revamped. No one would describe it as ‘lovely’. I’m too scared to walk through there by myself most of the time and I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. It’s not a nice place.

Also, I’ve only been in that car park a handful of times when I’m picking something up on my way home, but it’s pretty much been full every single time.

dungfungus said :

bryansworld said :

MonarchRepublic said :

bryansworld said :

MonarchRepublic said :

Felix the Cat said :

Maya123 said :

But I thought present apartments all had parking for residents.

Often apartments only have parking for one or two residents per unit, so if a family lived there with driving age children that owned their own cars or a group of friends living together all with cars then some are going to have to park out on the street.

Exactly. per the code (here: http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2008-27/copy/92042/pdf/2008-27.pdf), a 3 or 4 bedroom apartment need only have 2 spaces. Even in a 2br apartment with 2 spaces, if you get 2 couples living there, each of them owning a car, you already have 2 cars on the street

What do people living so close to the City do with all those cars?

Drive to the supermarket as Braddon does not have one? 😉

Jokes aside, in my personal experience, it was to drive to work in Tuggeranong/Woden/Belconnen/etc

People drive to Belconnen or Woden to work and pay $8-15 a day to park, when they could catch the bus, which is 12-15 minutes from the City?! Hard to understand why.

Maybe the bus doesn’t drop off/pick-up the kids and collect the groceries along the way?

How many people that live in Braddon apartments have kids? Not many, I suspect. Do they go shopping every day? I doubt it. Can we just admit to laziness or an illogical aversion to public transport?

Two doors up from me there’s a family with two sons. Probably about 3 and 4 years old. I know the sons obviously don’t have cars but it would be difficult to have small kids and have to park on the street, often when a bit of a walk is involved. Even if they don’t do grocery shopping every day, I think most parents appreciate the convenience of being able to swing by the supermarket on the way home for anything that’s popped up during the day.

Dondon said :

Alexandra Craig said :

the only place you can park legally where there’s space available is over half a kilometre away.

That is 500 metres. I can’t see a problem.

I said over half a kilometre – about 700 metres, and sure if it’s a leisurely stroll in the middle of the day that’s not a problem. But if it’s at night and you have a car full of shopping, as I referenced in an earlier comment, 700m is a big problem.

Maya123 said :

dungfungus said :

bryansworld said :

MonarchRepublic said :

bryansworld said :

MonarchRepublic said :

Felix the Cat said :

Maya123 said :

But I thought present apartments all had parking for residents.

Often apartments only have parking for one or two residents per unit, so if a family lived there with driving age children that owned their own cars or a group of friends living together all with cars then some are going to have to park out on the street.

Exactly. per the code (here: http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2008-27/copy/92042/pdf/2008-27.pdf), a 3 or 4 bedroom apartment need only have 2 spaces. Even in a 2br apartment with 2 spaces, if you get 2 couples living there, each of them owning a car, you already have 2 cars on the street

What do people living so close to the City do with all those cars?

Drive to the supermarket as Braddon does not have one? 😉

Jokes aside, in my personal experience, it was to drive to work in Tuggeranong/Woden/Belconnen/etc

People drive to Belconnen or Woden to work and pay $8-15 a day to park, when they could catch the bus, which is 12-15 minutes from the City?! Hard to understand why.

Maybe the bus doesn’t drop off/pick-up the kids and collect the groceries along the way?

More likely similar to my neighbour’s strange ideas about catching public transport. There was a fifteen minute bus to her work, with the stop close by, but I would see her driving to work every day to Woden. When one day I commented that we were lucky to have such a convenient bus, she looked at me as if I were a crazy woman for suggesting such a thing, that she could use a bus (mercy me, never know who might see her), and she stated with horror in her voice, at the suggestion, “I don’t catch buses!!”
As bryansworld commented, ‘an illogical aversion to public transport.’

Progress cannot be stopped. I think many Barton workers, after months of howling outrage, are bravely overcoming their illogical aversion! 🙂

dungfungus said :

bryansworld said :

MonarchRepublic said :

bryansworld said :

MonarchRepublic said :

Felix the Cat said :

Maya123 said :

But I thought present apartments all had parking for residents.

Often apartments only have parking for one or two residents per unit, so if a family lived there with driving age children that owned their own cars or a group of friends living together all with cars then some are going to have to park out on the street.

Exactly. per the code (here: http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2008-27/copy/92042/pdf/2008-27.pdf), a 3 or 4 bedroom apartment need only have 2 spaces. Even in a 2br apartment with 2 spaces, if you get 2 couples living there, each of them owning a car, you already have 2 cars on the street

What do people living so close to the City do with all those cars?

Drive to the supermarket as Braddon does not have one? 😉

Jokes aside, in my personal experience, it was to drive to work in Tuggeranong/Woden/Belconnen/etc

People drive to Belconnen or Woden to work and pay $8-15 a day to park, when they could catch the bus, which is 12-15 minutes from the City?! Hard to understand why.

Maybe the bus doesn’t drop off/pick-up the kids and collect the groceries along the way?

More likely similar to my neighbour’s strange ideas about catching public transport. There was a fifteen minute bus to her work, with the stop close by, but I would see her driving to work every day to Woden. When one day I commented that we were lucky to have such a convenient bus, she looked at me as if I were a crazy woman for suggesting such a thing, that she could use a bus (mercy me, never know who might see her), and she stated with horror in her voice, at the suggestion, “I don’t catch buses!!”
As bryansworld commented, ‘an illogical aversion to public transport.’

bryansworld said :

+1. Time to stop worshipping cars and look to the future.

Totally. Seems people can’t get over the convenience of a car and learn to adapt to alternatives.

Alexandra Craig said :

the only place you can park legally where there’s space available is over half a kilometre away.

That is 500 metres. I can’t see a problem.

Why don’t people do their research before they buy into an area? If you want to park a car, live and shop in an area where there is no parking problem. Don’t move into a high-density area under an anti-car government and expect to be able to park!

creative_canberran said :

There’s a multi-level Wilson carpark under Mode 3, only $2 an hr. There is no parking shortage. There is just laziness. If this were Sydney, you get your park and you walk around the CBD, driving isn’t an option. We’re spoilt in Canberra by lower traffic volumes and cheaper parking, so feel this ridiculous entitlement. If you honestly can’t get a legal park in Braddon (and that’s rare in my experience), park up at the Canberra Centre and take the 5-10min walk. No way should we start building more multi-level carparks above ground, much less beside a lovely greenbelt that should be retained as open space.

Hear hear!

Why is it all so hard? Seems to me this has been bleeding’ obvious for decades.

creative_canberran said :

There’s a multi-level Wilson carpark under Mode 3, only $2 an hr. There is no parking shortage. There is just laziness. If this were Sydney, you get your park and you walk around the CBD, driving isn’t an option. We’re spoilt in Canberra by lower traffic volumes and cheaper parking, so feel this ridiculous entitlement. If you honestly can’t get a legal park in Braddon (and that’s rare in my experience), park up at the Canberra Centre and take the 5-10min walk. No way should we start building more multi-level carparks above ground, much less beside a lovely greenbelt that should be retained as open space.

+1. Time to stop worshipping cars and look to the future.

dungfungus said :

bryansworld said :

MonarchRepublic said :

bryansworld said :

MonarchRepublic said :

Felix the Cat said :

Maya123 said :

But I thought present apartments all had parking for residents.

Often apartments only have parking for one or two residents per unit, so if a family lived there with driving age children that owned their own cars or a group of friends living together all with cars then some are going to have to park out on the street.

Exactly. per the code (here: http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2008-27/copy/92042/pdf/2008-27.pdf), a 3 or 4 bedroom apartment need only have 2 spaces. Even in a 2br apartment with 2 spaces, if you get 2 couples living there, each of them owning a car, you already have 2 cars on the street

What do people living so close to the City do with all those cars?

Drive to the supermarket as Braddon does not have one? 😉

Jokes aside, in my personal experience, it was to drive to work in Tuggeranong/Woden/Belconnen/etc

People drive to Belconnen or Woden to work and pay $8-15 a day to park, when they could catch the bus, which is 12-15 minutes from the City?! Hard to understand why.

Maybe the bus doesn’t drop off/pick-up the kids and collect the groceries along the way?

How many people that live in Braddon apartments have kids? Not many, I suspect. Do they go shopping every day? I doubt it. Can we just admit to laziness or an illogical aversion to public transport?

creative_canberran4:41 pm 16 Jun 15

There’s a multi-level Wilson carpark under Mode 3, only $2 an hr. There is no parking shortage. There is just laziness. If this were Sydney, you get your park and you walk around the CBD, driving isn’t an option. We’re spoilt in Canberra by lower traffic volumes and cheaper parking, so feel this ridiculous entitlement. If you honestly can’t get a legal park in Braddon (and that’s rare in my experience), park up at the Canberra Centre and take the 5-10min walk. No way should we start building more multi-level carparks above ground, much less beside a lovely greenbelt that should be retained as open space.

bryansworld said :

MonarchRepublic said :

bryansworld said :

MonarchRepublic said :

Felix the Cat said :

Maya123 said :

But I thought present apartments all had parking for residents.

Often apartments only have parking for one or two residents per unit, so if a family lived there with driving age children that owned their own cars or a group of friends living together all with cars then some are going to have to park out on the street.

Exactly. per the code (here: http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2008-27/copy/92042/pdf/2008-27.pdf), a 3 or 4 bedroom apartment need only have 2 spaces. Even in a 2br apartment with 2 spaces, if you get 2 couples living there, each of them owning a car, you already have 2 cars on the street

What do people living so close to the City do with all those cars?

Drive to the supermarket as Braddon does not have one? 😉

Jokes aside, in my personal experience, it was to drive to work in Tuggeranong/Woden/Belconnen/etc

People drive to Belconnen or Woden to work and pay $8-15 a day to park, when they could catch the bus, which is 12-15 minutes from the City?! Hard to understand why.

Maybe the bus doesn’t drop off/pick-up the kids and collect the groceries along the way?

MonarchRepublic said :

bryansworld said :

MonarchRepublic said :

Felix the Cat said :

Maya123 said :

But I thought present apartments all had parking for residents.

Often apartments only have parking for one or two residents per unit, so if a family lived there with driving age children that owned their own cars or a group of friends living together all with cars then some are going to have to park out on the street.

Exactly. per the code (here: http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2008-27/copy/92042/pdf/2008-27.pdf), a 3 or 4 bedroom apartment need only have 2 spaces. Even in a 2br apartment with 2 spaces, if you get 2 couples living there, each of them owning a car, you already have 2 cars on the street

What do people living so close to the City do with all those cars?

Drive to the supermarket as Braddon does not have one? 😉

Jokes aside, in my personal experience, it was to drive to work in Tuggeranong/Woden/Belconnen/etc

People drive to Belconnen or Woden to work and pay $8-15 a day to park, when they could catch the bus, which is 12-15 minutes from the City?! Hard to understand why.

bryansworld said :

MonarchRepublic said :

Felix the Cat said :

Maya123 said :

But I thought present apartments all had parking for residents.

Often apartments only have parking for one or two residents per unit, so if a family lived there with driving age children that owned their own cars or a group of friends living together all with cars then some are going to have to park out on the street.

Exactly. per the code (here: http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2008-27/copy/92042/pdf/2008-27.pdf), a 3 or 4 bedroom apartment need only have 2 spaces. Even in a 2br apartment with 2 spaces, if you get 2 couples living there, each of them owning a car, you already have 2 cars on the street

What do people living so close to the City do with all those cars?

They drive to canberras satellite towns during the week for work and then to melbourne, Sydney and the coast on the weekend for pleasure.

MonarchRepublic3:54 pm 16 Jun 15

bryansworld said :

MonarchRepublic said :

Felix the Cat said :

Maya123 said :

But I thought present apartments all had parking for residents.

Often apartments only have parking for one or two residents per unit, so if a family lived there with driving age children that owned their own cars or a group of friends living together all with cars then some are going to have to park out on the street.

Exactly. per the code (here: http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2008-27/copy/92042/pdf/2008-27.pdf), a 3 or 4 bedroom apartment need only have 2 spaces. Even in a 2br apartment with 2 spaces, if you get 2 couples living there, each of them owning a car, you already have 2 cars on the street

What do people living so close to the City do with all those cars?

Drive to the supermarket as Braddon does not have one? 😉

Jokes aside, in my personal experience, it was to drive to work in Tuggeranong/Woden/Belconnen/etc

Alexandra Craig said :

bryansworld said :

Alex, no-one is forced to park illegally. They make the decision to park illegally in preference to parking further away and walking. Parking controls exist for very good reasons, and they will become increasingly important as population density increases. I hope I don’t sound like the grumpy neighbour. 🙂

Yeah, but if you live somewhere where your only option is street parking and you come home at night with a whole heap of shopping bags surely you would find it frustrating that the only place you can park legally where there’s space available is over half a kilometre away. Even if it was me and I didn’t have shopping, I wouldn’t like to have to walk through Braddon at night by myself.

Trams will have shopping bag racks next to bike, wheelchair and pram bays and ski racks for the posers.
Passengers will travel on the running boards outside the cabin.

bryansworld said :

MonarchRepublic said :

Felix the Cat said :

Maya123 said :

But I thought present apartments all had parking for residents.

Often apartments only have parking for one or two residents per unit, so if a family lived there with driving age children that owned their own cars or a group of friends living together all with cars then some are going to have to park out on the street.

Exactly. per the code (here: http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2008-27/copy/92042/pdf/2008-27.pdf), a 3 or 4 bedroom apartment need only have 2 spaces. Even in a 2br apartment with 2 spaces, if you get 2 couples living there, each of them owning a car, you already have 2 cars on the street

What do people living so close to the City do with all those cars?

Complain that their friends can’t find a parking spot when they visit of course!

MonarchRepublic said :

Felix the Cat said :

Maya123 said :

But I thought present apartments all had parking for residents.

Often apartments only have parking for one or two residents per unit, so if a family lived there with driving age children that owned their own cars or a group of friends living together all with cars then some are going to have to park out on the street.

Exactly. per the code (here: http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2008-27/copy/92042/pdf/2008-27.pdf), a 3 or 4 bedroom apartment need only have 2 spaces. Even in a 2br apartment with 2 spaces, if you get 2 couples living there, each of them owning a car, you already have 2 cars on the street

What do people living so close to the City do with all those cars?

vintage123 said :

Maya123 said :

Alexandra Craig said :

bryansworld said :

Alex, no-one is forced to park illegally. They make the decision to park illegally in preference to parking further away and walking. Parking controls exist for very good reasons, and they will become increasingly important as population density increases. I hope I don’t sound like the grumpy neighbour. 🙂

Yeah, but if you live somewhere where your only option is street parking and you come home at night with a whole heap of shopping bags surely you would find it frustrating that the only place you can park legally where there’s space available is over half a kilometre away. Even if it was me and I didn’t have shopping, I wouldn’t like to have to walk through Braddon at night by myself.

Why don’t you have parking where you live? I thought apartments had parking spaces.

Not for long
http://news.domain.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/andrew-barr-announces-new-offset-car-parking-strategy-to-start-in-2016-20150612-ghmqzs.html

Expect most new high density developments along the tram route to be devoid of car parking. This is the only way the government can force people to use the tram.

MonarchRepublic2:32 pm 16 Jun 15

Felix the Cat said :

Maya123 said :

But I thought present apartments all had parking for residents.

Often apartments only have parking for one or two residents per unit, so if a family lived there with driving age children that owned their own cars or a group of friends living together all with cars then some are going to have to park out on the street.

Exactly. per the code (here: http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2008-27/copy/92042/pdf/2008-27.pdf), a 3 or 4 bedroom apartment need only have 2 spaces. Even in a 2br apartment with 2 spaces, if you get 2 couples living there, each of them owning a car, you already have 2 cars on the street

Felix the Cat said :

Maya123 said :

But I thought present apartments all had parking for residents.

Often apartments only have parking for one or two residents per unit, so if a family lived there with driving age children that owned their own cars or a group of friends living together all with cars then some are going to have to park out on the street.

Fairly sure that’s working as intended.

Felix the Cat1:26 pm 16 Jun 15

Maya123 said :

But I thought present apartments all had parking for residents.

Often apartments only have parking for one or two residents per unit, so if a family lived there with driving age children that owned their own cars or a group of friends living together all with cars then some are going to have to park out on the street.

pink little birdie12:33 pm 16 Jun 15

I’ve noticed that parking late afternoon weekend at the Civic end of Lonsdale street is improving now that it’s getting colder. Which is convienent for me on Sundays at about 4pm

vintage123 said :

Maya123 said :

Alexandra Craig said :

bryansworld said :

Alex, no-one is forced to park illegally. They make the decision to park illegally in preference to parking further away and walking. Parking controls exist for very good reasons, and they will become increasingly important as population density increases. I hope I don’t sound like the grumpy neighbour. 🙂

Yeah, but if you live somewhere where your only option is street parking and you come home at night with a whole heap of shopping bags surely you would find it frustrating that the only place you can park legally where there’s space available is over half a kilometre away. Even if it was me and I didn’t have shopping, I wouldn’t like to have to walk through Braddon at night by myself.

Why don’t you have parking where you live? I thought apartments had parking spaces.

Not for long
http://news.domain.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/andrew-barr-announces-new-offset-car-parking-strategy-to-start-in-2016-20150612-ghmqzs.html

That’s not news for me. I’ve known of that idea for some time. But I thought present apartments all had parking for residents.

MonarchRepublic12:18 pm 16 Jun 15

If you are talking about Ijong Street (pictured), it has always been quite difficult to park from my experience. Was particularly troublesome when there was a fire in the car park of one of the pictured buildings – people could not use their underground parking for ages. People made do.

Maya123 said :

Alexandra Craig said :

bryansworld said :

Alex, no-one is forced to park illegally. They make the decision to park illegally in preference to parking further away and walking. Parking controls exist for very good reasons, and they will become increasingly important as population density increases. I hope I don’t sound like the grumpy neighbour. 🙂

Yeah, but if you live somewhere where your only option is street parking and you come home at night with a whole heap of shopping bags surely you would find it frustrating that the only place you can park legally where there’s space available is over half a kilometre away. Even if it was me and I didn’t have shopping, I wouldn’t like to have to walk through Braddon at night by myself.

Why don’t you have parking where you live? I thought apartments had parking spaces.

Not for long
http://news.domain.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/andrew-barr-announces-new-offset-car-parking-strategy-to-start-in-2016-20150612-ghmqzs.html

Surely people who live in an inner city apartment without a dedicated car spot would recognise that their ‘convenient’ living comes with a bit of a trade off. In this instance, street parking. Even if there were designated resident parking on the street, you are still going to have to fight all those with a pass for it. From my point of view, if you choose to live in such a convenient spot so close to the CBD – you have to adapt to the lifestyle that you have put yourself in. If carrying shopping from your car is an issue – get some panniers on a bike. Get a backpack and do shopping in little chunks.

Sorry if I sound a little unsympathetic, but people pay to live there. They knew what they were getting into when they signed the papers.

The substantial increase in construction costs for multi level car parking has rendered many project uneconomical. Carpark construction now requires public private partnerships to stimulate momentum, primarily due to private companies unwillingness to carry any risk on capital projects. This has resulted in an increase in risk adverse strategies as investors hedge their capital through guarantees of return on investment. Ultimately this results in cost blowouts. The example in point, it would not be out of the ordinary for the private consortium to project a $30000 per car park cost within its proposal. As a result such developments are now prohibitively expensive. To suggest a simple addition to a high rise car park is unfortunately not as simple as it seems. Our sweet little mining boom along with the highest salaries in the country, which in itself is the most expensive place on earth to do business has resulted in a constant standoff based purely on the greed of anyone involved. I note last week a single space outside car park in sydney sold for $125k. Would residents of Braddon be willing to purchase their own single street space for $125k, maybe that’s a more viable solution.

Alexandra Craig said :

bryansworld said :

Alex, no-one is forced to park illegally. They make the decision to park illegally in preference to parking further away and walking. Parking controls exist for very good reasons, and they will become increasingly important as population density increases. I hope I don’t sound like the grumpy neighbour. 🙂

Yeah, but if you live somewhere where your only option is street parking and you come home at night with a whole heap of shopping bags surely you would find it frustrating that the only place you can park legally where there’s space available is over half a kilometre away. Even if it was me and I didn’t have shopping, I wouldn’t like to have to walk through Braddon at night by myself.

Why don’t you have parking where you live? I thought apartments had parking spaces.

VYBerlinaV8_is_back11:27 am 16 Jun 15

I see a spare carpark in the photo!

Alexandra Craig said :

bryansworld said :

Alex, no-one is forced to park illegally. They make the decision to park illegally in preference to parking further away and walking. Parking controls exist for very good reasons, and they will become increasingly important as population density increases. I hope I don’t sound like the grumpy neighbour. 🙂

Yeah, but if you live somewhere where your only option is street parking and you come home at night with a whole heap of shopping bags surely you would find it frustrating that the only place you can park legally where there’s space available is over half a kilometre away. Even if it was me and I didn’t have shopping, I wouldn’t like to have to walk through Braddon at night by myself.

Fair enough. Worth a letter to the ACT Government to restrict parking to residents, or set up time limits, or tighten the limits? Does anywhere in Canberra actually restrict on-street parking to residents?

Alexandra Craig11:03 am 16 Jun 15

bryansworld said :

Alex, no-one is forced to park illegally. They make the decision to park illegally in preference to parking further away and walking. Parking controls exist for very good reasons, and they will become increasingly important as population density increases. I hope I don’t sound like the grumpy neighbour. 🙂

Yeah, but if you live somewhere where your only option is street parking and you come home at night with a whole heap of shopping bags surely you would find it frustrating that the only place you can park legally where there’s space available is over half a kilometre away. Even if it was me and I didn’t have shopping, I wouldn’t like to have to walk through Braddon at night by myself.

Alex, no-one is forced to park illegally. They make the decision to park illegally in preference to parking further away and walking. Parking controls exist for very good reasons, and they will become increasingly important as population density increases. I hope I don’t sound like the grumpy neighbour. 🙂

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