Three-hour parking limit at Burleigh a sign of things to come

The new three hour limits around light rail stage three won’t be the last parking flashpoint until we solve our transport issues, writes Dr Daniel O’Hare.

A newly erected parking sign at Buleigh. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

The Gold Coast is undergoing a dramatic transformation.

What was once a collection of relaxed coastal communities is rapidly evolving into a city of one million people.

But with this growth comes a set of challenges that are becoming impossible to ignore, including that old chestnut – parking.

Parking pressure has long plagued popular beachside areas like Burleigh Heads, where ‘parking rage’ has been reported for decades.

Stage Three of the light rail is now causing consternation among local residents with the council set to apply a three-hour parking limit in the streets around the new section.

The aim is to discourage light rail commuters from driving to the area around the tram corridor and parking in front of residents’ homes for lengthy periods.

This approach isn’t new and has worked well in other high-worker traffic residential areas like Bundall and Chevron Island.

But existing beachfront parking restrictions and the new time limit has residents worried about access for their own vehicles, along with those of visiting friends and family, even if they qualify for exemption permits

It’s a sign of the transitional time the Gold Coast is going through and how we live day-to-day in a city that’s fast outgrowing its infrastructure.

Our public transport network is not yet adequate to get residents out of their cars and onto trams and buses.

The extension of the light rail is a positive step, but it must be accompanied by high-frequency, reliable services that connect inland suburbs to the coast and to each other.

Without this, people will continue to rely on cars, and competition for road space and parking will intensify – not just in tourist hotspots, but across the city.

The lack of reliable and convenient public transport options in the outer suburbs and east-west corridors means even 50c fares aren’t enough incentive.

California visitor Stephen Taylor paying for parking at Burleigh. He said he thought the parking restrictions started rather early and were quite expensive. “It'll definitely put a hole in the budget”, he said. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

The light rail is not the only attraction along the coastline – the beaches, the Oceanway, and the cafes, bars and restaurants in places like Burleigh Heads, Nobby Beach and

Mermaid are all drawcards for tourists and locals.

Those in car-dependent suburbs want, and deserve, access to these attractions, so we need to make public transport a more attractive alternative to battling congestion and fighting for a park.

We are nowhere near there yet.

Over the next few decades, we have the opportunity to reshape the Gold Coast into a city made up of walkable, well-connected urban environments.

The housing crisis and our rapid population growth has seen many beachside locales move from low-density, low-key areas to higher-density hotspots, and this will only continue over the next 20-30 years as population pressure continues and public transport infrastructure improves.

Many new high-density developments restrict parking spaces to one per apartment, which means demand for street parking will remain high as we make the transition.

And we will, but it won’t be easy.

These changes take time, and infrastructure moves much slower than the pace at which new residents are arriving on the Glitter Strip every day.

We must plan now for a future where public transport is not just an alternative, but the preferred choice.

Until then, parking will remain a flashpoint in our city’s growing pains.

Dr Daniel O’Hare is Associate Professor of Urban Planning at Bond University.

Originally published as Three-hour parking limit at Burleigh a sign of things to come