Carparking rules not fair
TRAFFIC
LIKE others I turned around and drove out of the Salamanca Square car park when I realised that I would have to pay for more time than I wanted to use. We have come to expect this sort of thing from private companies, but I drove away disappointed that a public entity like the Hobart City Council is apparently no different and have people devising new ways to squeeze every last cent out of the people they are there to provide services to. And for the Lord Mayor to say that it is still much cheaper than a parking ticket is, quite frankly, insulting. years ago and a certain alderman said the bus wasn’t needed because everyone should walk. It seems that Alderman Hickey has no memory, no compassion and no concern for the less abled. quires passengers to use designated stops and accept frequencies and routes determined by administrators; the mass transit nature of public transport ensures longer travel times (getting to and from stops, waiting for vehicles to arrive, and other passengers to board); We increasingly make multi-linked journeys rather than simple A to B trips; If any chain in the link requires the flexibility of the car there is no point leaving it at home; Trips for work and trips to the central area continue to decrease as a proportion of trips.
Focusing solely on the supply side of urban transport would force working mothers to exit the workforce, force lower income families to live at high densities close to workplaces re-creating the slums of the past, and condemn older people to lonely lives trapped in isolation.
Pay through the nose
PARKING fees are increased to help pay for the Taste. Mona Foma and the Falls Festival run by private enterprise make a profit every year. The Taste has the ratepayers pick up the loss. So what does that tell us.
Price gouging
FOR those who think the Hobart City Council is price gouging with their city parking ( Mercury, December 30), I would suggest they visit the Hobart Airport and see what price gouging is really all about.
Ads show worry
THE multi-screened anti Labor and Greens TV advertisements shown during the fourth Ashes Test tell me one thing: the Liberals are very, very worried.
Keep it local at dinner
At 6pm, you turn on the TV and are immediately confronted with violence, car crashes and death. Is it Afghanistan or Palestine? No, it is Sydney and Melbourne, and on local (Tasmanian) news. If I wanted to see people in those cities bashing, shooting and stabbing each other, I would move there. Surely we can find better news to report about our own localities, especially at dinner time.
Guacamole smash
Forty thousand pounds of avocados that spilled from an 18wheeler onto a Texas highway recently caused massive traffic delays. I was surprised that the delays involved weren’t put down to the extraordinarily large dip in the road that was discovered immediately after the accident took place.
Protection needed
THE High Court can’t understand why the government upped the protection of Parliament House but did nothing for the High Court. I can.