COMMUTERS CAN’T WIN

POLICIES affecting motorists, parking and public transport are contradictory, displaying a confused mindset among the policy architects and social engineers at city hall.

Broadbeach this week has become ground zero for policy confusion, on the one hand being touted as a showpiece hub for the city’s public transport system for the Commonwealth Games and into the future, while on the other being declared a no-go zone for the very people the city thinks should be embracing the trams. Gold Coasters are reasonable people. They understand roads will have to be closed and restrictions imposed in many areas across the city so we can host an international event that promises to be the best ever.

But fair crack of the whip.

The majority can’t take leave and stay off the roads just so city and Games officials can rest easy. Commuters still have to go to work, so they will be sharing roads, carparking, buses and trams with the tsunami of tourists and sports fans.

Locals are prepared to give public transport a go. But to do that, most will still have to drive some distance to reach a spot close to bus, tram or train services. The car parks at the train stations that are already full should be a subtle clue about infrastructure for transport planners.

Few have the luxury of a bus or tram right outside their home. That’s why they need to park and ride – and if there is no such designated facility in their area, like it or not they will have to park in a suburban street somewhere.

We do not believe city authorities are idiots. But why have they reacted to the pressing need for commuters to get about, especially during the Games, by imposing tougher parking limits?

Broadbeach has become a nightmare for workers as parking inspectors have begun prowling the streets, hitting hapless drivers in the hip pocket because they have had little choice but to park on a road now covered by the three-hour zone.

Further north at Chevron Island, Isle of Capri and Main Beach, the screws are even tighter. A two-hour limit has been imposed around the clock.

But the Broadbeach restriction is not just hurting workers or indeed the tourists who are the city’s lifeblood. Because Griffith University and the precinct covering the hospital and the Games athletes village is in virtual lockdown as far as parking goes, thousands of students who have done the right thing by using the trams are now forced to give up trying to park in the Broadbeach area and have to park even further away.

All this does is relocate the problem. Early this month Broadbeach councillor Paul Taylor, after sounding out residents, warned of a “riot’’ in the streets unless the city reviewed tough restrictions. This week his response to the parking dilemma of Broadbeach workers was: “We are a big city now and we need to get the cars moving.’’ Councillors can’t have it both ways.

At the moment, locals are penalised for driving and also punished for using public transport if it involves having to park somewhere to access it.

The city has to wake up. Give commuters some leeway, otherwise Cr Taylor’s “riot’’ fears could become reality.