Car park not always at full capacity but doing its job
IN reply to letter writer Rod Watson (GCB Oct 13) about the Bruce Bishop Car Park.
We agree the car park is not full every day.
However, it is frequently full or near full throughout the year during the numerous special events, New Year’s Eve, school holidays etcetera.
While it may seem there is an oversupply of parking during quieter times in Surfers Paradise, the Bruce Bishop Car Park was designed to cater for surges in usage that are common practice in tourism hotspots. It’s doing its job.
Additionally, there are a number of vacant block parking sites around Surfers Paradise that appear to be operating illegally.
If the Council took the appropriate action against the owners of that land, those cars would be forced to use the Bruce Bishop or Cypress Avenue car parks.
One wonders why the Council is allowing the situation to remain unaddressed. Could it be part of a deliberate strategy to reduce usage figures at the car park?
Furthermore, when it was constructed in the early 1990s, the building had a design life of about 60 years, and the amount of parking spaces provided were projected to be adequate for that period of time. We have not yet reached the halfway mark and as we all know, Gold Coast City is growing faster than any other area in the country. Demand for conveniently located and wellpriced parking will continue to rise as this growth continues.
Finally, it is only the cheap parking rates at Bruce Bishop Car Park that allow Mr Watson to get cheap early-bird parking and private parking stations.
Just look at what has happened in Brisbane: since the Brisbane City Council adopted a policy of limiting parking in the CBD, Brisbane now has the highest parking rates in the country. The same thing will happen here.
Six hundred and forty future spaces for public use plus 100 for clubs and community groups who already use more than that is woefully inadequate.
Selling the Bruce Bishop Car Park for a peanuts sale price of well under half its replacement cost (according to Council’s own figures) just doesn’t make sense. The city will never be able to afford to replace this invaluable and profitable community asset. DEBORAH KELLY, SAVE SURFERS PARADISE INC.