Public parking just as vital as public transport to CBD

RE, Sale of Bruce Bishop carpark.

Public parking is again under attack, but the commentators again fail to address the real facts:

1. Convenient and inexpensive parking is essential in all Gold Coast CBD areas to support jobs and businesses: no parking = no customers + no staff = no jobs, a simple equation.

2. It is not fair to take public parking away to try to force people on to public transport or into private parking stations, the cost of which will skyrocket once the public parking has gone, as it has elsewhere as public parking has disappeared.

3. Using public transport is not only not convenient, it’s simply not an option for the majority of Gold Coast working people for various reasons, including:

• Many working parents are dropping off children to schools and childcare before going to work and then picking them up at the end of the day;

• Building and construction is a huge part of the Gold Coast economy and construction workers generally carry tools, building materials, lunch, eskys etc which they could not take on public transport;

• A lot of working people need to use their car during the working day to visit multiple sites, e.g. tradies, sale reps, inspectors and job supervisors;

• The transport routes don’t work efficiently for many people living out in the suburbs, meaning if they take public transport they may require more than one bus and/or tram, and this is not efficient from a time or cost point of view;

• Comparisons to the parking rates in capital city CBD areas are not relevant, and we should not forget that part of the reason that so many people move to the Gold Coast is to get away from expensive living in capital cities, and the 2-3 hour daily commutes.

4. The continuing approval of mega-towers with limited parking will only exacerbate the demand for parking spaces.

5. Impacts on tourism and hospitality businesses and jobs:

• Eight million day trippers visit us each year from a two-hour drive-time radius, creating a lot of tourism and hospitality jobs, and over 95 per cent of them come by car. They spend over $750 million here. No parking = no day trippers;

• Domestic overnight visitors spend over $3 biliion per year. About half of them travel here by car;

• One in six jobs directly or indirectly result from tourism.

(Figures from GC Tourism research by Destination Gold Coast)

DEBORAH KELLY,

SAVE SURFERS PARADISE INC