Paid parking across Canberra is not a new thing. Most parking lots have been user pays for some time now with the Parliamentary Triangle having paid parking introduced on October 1 this year. Parliament House is probably the only government institution to still have free parking available. There’s a real possibility that this is all about to change.
Paid parking in the public car parks at Parliament House (basement at the front of the building and also spots on either side of Federation Mall) will come to effect in November. Paid parking for building occupants in the four private car parks (House of Representatives, Senate, Ministerial outdoor and Ministerial underground) is still under review but an outcome is expected before the end of the year.
I suspect that if paid parking is introduced for the private car parks there will be an outcry, similar to the outcry we saw when paid parking was introduced in the Parliamentary Triangle. I think the outcry will come not from political staff because the majority of them are not Canberra based anyway, but from the other building occupants that don’t earn the same wages as some highly paid public servants and political staff do. People like the cleaners, the childcare centre workers, the staff at the cafes, the attendants in the House of Representatives and the Senate, the building maintenance staff, the staff at Australia Post, the security guards, the gardeners. The list could go on and on.
I’m interested to know if those who have already had paid parking implemented at their workplace changed their lifestyle because of it, choosing to ride the bus or cycle to work, or if most people just decided to begrudgingly keep driving to work and copping the parking fee each day. Has the number of people carpooling increased perhaps?
For those readers who don’t have paid parking at their work; if it was implemented tomorrow, would you start finding alternative ways to get to and from work or would you suck it up and pay the parking fee?
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Nightshade said :
Technically, if you were to follow this plan and ride to Barton from Yarralumla, you would technically be a “Lake User” by cycling along the shared path. It’s no different to someone who walks the full lake loop, which would take all day. Still a “Lake User”, parking there and passing through the parks.
Personally I’m happy that you’re considering a cycling mode-share. That 20 minutes on the bike will also save you 20 minutes cardio at the gym.
Just how busy are the lake car parks during the week anyway?
Kellamity said :
Why are weekday users of the lake more worthy of free parking than people going to work?
Actually there is one other government institution that still has free parking…
ACT public schools.
One time we thought someone was exploiting the spots to park and ride to some other workplace for the day. Turns out it was the OH of one of the teachers. Oops.
Great! The local residents and the lake users won’t mind that at all. They are going to have to put those 3h parking signs everywhere. Too bad if you have friends visiting or want to go on a bike ride/lake adventure that’s going to take longer than that.
gazket said :
Yeah because the revenue from pay parking is really helping the countries bottom line! Ridiculous statement to make. I could say if the liberals didn’t get rid of the carbon tax we’d be better off also. Or if the liberals allowed labor to cut the salary sacrificing of cars we be better off also. It takes two to tango. If the best you can do is blame the other party because you can’t get your extreme idealogical views through parliament, then you don’t deserve to be in government. After all its the reasonable moderate, swing voters in the middle that decide elections.
If Labor didn’t bankrupt the country the feds wouldn’t need your parking money. everyone has to pitch in it’s the Labor way..
Evilomlap said :
Think of it as a shuttle (bus).
Great look, I think!
Evilomlap said :
Obviously he puts his bus pants on over his starfleet uniform before boarding the bus. Wouldn’t want to make the uniform all icky.
Holden Caulfield said :
I don’t think it’s a good look for a Starfleet officer to have to catch the bus to meetings though.
James-T-Kirk said :
So how much did you get for the Enterprise?
I love the new pay parking arrangements. They work a treat.
I have sold one car, and now get dropped off at my workplace by my lady who Works in Belco.
Now, I am vehicle less, so if I have to attend a meeting, I simply catch a bus.
Sure, my efficiency has dropped, but think of all of the green points I get for busing, and owning less cars – Woot!
Hi Alexandra,
In answer to your question – yes, paid parking has impacted on our lifestyle. We live in one of the outer suburbs and although the bus and bycling in is an option (both methods taking over an hour!) driving is often easier and quicker.
I’ve actually stopped working recently (various reasons – no judgement, please!) but it allows me to drop OH off to work in Parlimentary Triangle early in the morning and return to our outer burbs for school drop offs. (& no he isn’t a politician and yes, he is permanent & yes, sometimes he needs to take gear in to work, too 🙂 ) OH will catch bus home at the end of the day, but I drive back in most evenings with the kids to collect him. If I couldn’t do this we wouldn’t be able to afford the extra $60 a week for parking, even if I was working, too.
We have recieved a few parking tickets already when overstaying the 4hour slots for 10 minutes which are really a thorn in the side.
Yes, we are grateful that we had a few months parking at work in the new city for free but when budgets are already on a knife egde its really made the juggle a bit of a trick!
Our other option is to get a bike rack, park in Yarralumla etc and OH can drive in and ride from there. But of course you need money for a bike rack! 😛 But we’ll get there. Our other option is to buy a motorbike. Long term savings may be achievable with the investment! (How old do kids need to be to piggy back in the ACT? *jokes)
OH looked into carpooling but there wasn’t much interest. It seems many people who drove in dropped kids off on the way, or didn’t return to point of origin directly after work, etc.
Also, from a visitors point of view its a shame there isn’t free parking for Questacon, Old Parliament House and the Lake.
Sure, user pays but I think user pays too much.
Ezy said :
Stuck? I love driving my car. And I don’t mind being ‘stuck’ in slow traffic at all – it gives me plenty of time to enjoy some of the luxury features I paid good money for. I don’t need to rush since, like cyclists, if I have somewhere to go I am sure to leave early enough that I have no need to rush around. And my disabled sticker entitles me to free parking, doing a job I love (it is called retirement). Little experiences like that are, indeed, priceless.
Ezy said :
That is a shame actually. Watching cyclists and posties being dive-bombed by Maggies is one of the true joys of living in the bush capital. It makes me smile almost as much as seeing a dog turd with a footprint in it.
Ezy said :
Any figures to show how many cyclists there are in comparison to cars?
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features40July+2013 shows that in 2012 71% of people used cars to get to and from work, whilst 2% cycled. As a ratio, that means 35.5 drove per 1 person riding.
Your stats say that 85 car occupants died for every cyclist fatality, but half of those were passengers of vehicles [buses, taxis and the like included], not the drivers. That means only 42.5 drivers died when a cyclist met the grave.
Based on this, there is only a marginal increase in the risk of dying whilst driving compared to riding. I think I’ll keep on risking it at those odds.
Ezy said :
I have a townie to get to and from work. It’s a lovely ride, flowers growing by the path, along the edge of the lake where all the water birds are. I don’t ride fast but I enjoy it.
Ezy said :
No they haven’t. Extol the virtues of cycling by all means, but those little feathered psychopaths are still out there atm.
HenryBG said :
Cyclist fatalities 2013 – 14
Motorist fatalities 2013 – 1,193
My commute to and from work on the bike is only 10 minutes more via bike (Kambah to Manuka). Thats if I take the short way, which I rarely do – because we live in such a beautiful city, why rush to get to work?
I always have a bit of a giggle at those stuck in traffic in their cars – always in a rush to get to work, to feed that ever so hungry parking meter. One my ride home the other day I even road past a small bunch of Yellow-tailed black cockatoo’s. Little experiences like that are priceless.
The money I save with cycling to work, I get to spend on the weekends on beautiful food, movies, wine – all the good stuff.
I urge you to give it a go, now is the perfect time for it – the magpies have relaxed a bit and it’s not too hot.
pay parking… I was pleasantly surprised, after a career change into IT world and then gaining work in the parliamentary triangle, to discover there was anywhere you could get FREE PARKING! I understand the argument of “you are only there to work/no services are at your disposal”… but after many years in the town where the car is king.. well.. I just took it as a given that you pay for parking.
that said, I had a ball every day I parked like a cowboy and did so for free!
anyway the free ride is over, cest la vie, I only wish I had have been on board earlier!
Paid parking was the impetus I needed to stop paying cheap rent in the ‘burbs and move into the city (yep, there are advantages to not having a household to build! 🙂 sorry family guys!!!) now I bus, walk and bike.. little ol’ canberra feels like it is growing up.. 🙂 and there is always a choice (as evidenced by the empty carparks in the triangle).
Antagonist said :
Reserved!
JC said :
You just leave chiropractors out of this.