Now that I drive to work, things such as parking interest me. My workplace is in a major suburban centre that has all kinds of businesses and is a transport hub for commuters to and from other places. Most Office buildings, like the one I work in, have on site parking. Some have enough parking for all employees, some don't. Lets just say that I don't think mine does, because my company charges about $100 a month for the privilege, deducted from salary. Being a contractor I don't think I'm even eligible. A friend of mine who works for a different company up the road a bit gets free parking.
Now this forces most people to seek parking elsewhere. The council in their wisdom has created a buffer around the area ranging from maybe 500 metres to nearly 1 kilometre in some cases that is either metered, time limited or both. The time limit ranges from an hour in our street, which is also ticketed, to two hours in outlying residential streets. Often it is unlimited parking on one side of the street and 2 hour on the other. No matter which way you look at it the council rakes in the revenue.
This forces people like me to park in residential streets far away. I've walked upto 2 km in each direction between my car and work in the past. I don't mind the walk so much as for me it is pretty good exercise. I've become lazy lately and will drive past work in order to park nearer. I used to park in a spot that was on the way to work and walk the rest of the way, sometimes 2 km as mentioned.
Another effect is that the lack of parking also creates situations where people will squeeze cars into the tightest spots as shown in the above image, and I've seen this same car squeeze into this space on more than one occasion.
3 comments:
In a major suburban centre that is also a transport hub, it's perfectly understandable for the council to restrict parking. Otherwise all the spots would be taken all day by commuters.
It's also a good disincentive for people to drive to jobs there, of course, to encourage PT/walking/bike use.
Re: the pic, note that parking less than a metre from another car is illegal, though I don't know how they'd work out who was to blame.
It may not be the case, but I would guess if the front car had parked back further, there would have been one full space extra without the end car having to squeeze in.
Daniel, Interesting you talk about all the spots being taken by commuters if there were no parking restrictions. I know at least two people at work who park in the station car park, precisely because it is unlimited, free and close to work. I'm sure they are not the only ones who do it in Box Hill (OK I named names, probably wasn't hard to guess).Probably a good place to start a stricter regime with regard to commuter parking.
I don't really have a problem with the parking situation I just kind of live with it. I would say that the daily commuting on a combination of trains and buses really wore me down, even when one of the routes became a smart bus. It took up to 1.5 hours each way (sometimes longer as I tend to travel shoulder peak both ways), now I walk and drive in around 45 minutes to an hour. Having said that, I want my company to move to or near the CBD so I can take the train again!
Andrew, true, the cars parked along this stretch are often unevenly spaced and I think the same, if only some one moved up a bit then another could squeeze in. I'm pretty sure there is a car just out of shot in front of the grey one, the silver one just took their chances on the end.
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