PARKING SHOCK
Commuters stunned facilities will be off limits
THOUSANDS of Gold Coast commuters will have to find alternative ways to get to work during the Commonwealth Games with park ‘n’ ride stops near train stations either closed or heavily restricted.
The car park at the Parkwood light rail station will be available for Games ticketholders only in the first half of April, while Helensvale, Nerang and Robina park ‘n’ rides will be partially reduced or closed at certain times for the Games.
A State Government spokesman said an information blitz about the park ‘n’ ride changes would begin next week.
KIRSTIN PAYNE, RYAN KEEN AND AMANDA ROBBEMOND GOLD Coasters using park ‘n’ ride stops to get to work are stunned to discover they will be either unavailable or heavily impacted during the Commonwealth Games.
Five existing park ‘n’ rides – at Helensvale, Nerang, Parkwood and Robina stations plus the Sleeman Centre – enable commuters to park their car before catching public transport to work.
But the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) confirms Parkwood will be available for use only to Games ticketholders who have pre-booked from April 2-18 while the Sleeman Centre is also solely for ticketholders from March 29 to April 15.
Helensvale, Nerang and Robina park ‘n’ rides will be partially reduced or closed at certain times for the Games.
That is despite 13 temporary Games park ‘n’ rides being established exclusively for use by Games ticketholders and people working on Games sites.
The www.GetSetForTheGames.com website says those on their daily commute will have to share a remaining 2400 park ‘n’ ride spaces at the Beenleigh High and Varsity Lakes stops, while pre-booked spectators have access to 7,500.
Arundel resident Fiona Conder, who works in Surfers Paradise, uses Parkwood five days a week and said she only discovered it would be spectators only after close inspection of the Get Set website.
“I’ve been saying for weeks I can get to work on the tram, and offering to do extra shifts because others can’t come in,” she said. “Now I don’t know what I am going to do.”
Mrs Conder said on an average day Parkwood was close to full: “There have been no signs about it going to be closed to us, nothing. Where do they think these 800 people are going to park?”
“I asked the group I get on with every day, nobody knew.”
Nerang’s Tony Irwin, who works in the Southport Games precinct, said it was “disgusting” Parkwood park ‘n’ ride would be closed to locals. “It’s not ideal,” he said. Shadow Games Minister John-Paul Langbroek said it was disappointing to hear locals who might have welcomed the Games were being inconvenienced by “a lack of planning and advice from government about this”.
A TMR spokesman said an information blitz about the changes would begin next week.
Affected park ‘n’ rides during Games: Helensvale (reduced parking); Nerang (eastern station car park closed); Parkwood, Sleeman Centre (Games ticketholders only); Robina (full park closure April 13-15).