Sydney parking prices up to double what Melburnians pay
Sydney commuters are being price-gouged at the parking lot and in some parts of the city it’s cheaper to cop a fine.
NSW
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Sydney commuters are being price-gouged at the parking lot, paying up to double what our Melbourne counterparts pay as more people swap public transport for driving during the pandemic.
In some parts of the city, commuters are paying from $29 to up to $49 an hour to park in some Wilson Carparks — double what commuters parking in Melbourne’s Galleria pay at just $24.
Similarly, in Brisbane CBD, commuters can nab a park at the Riverside Carpark for just $25.
With parking fines in the City of Sydney costing $116, commuters would be 20 per cent better off copping the fine than parking for three hours in the CBD.
Commuters are also being stung when it comes to street parking, with the average cost of street parking in the CBD increasing slightly from $5.80 two years ago to $6 today, according to the City of Sydney.
It comes as the pandemic changes Australian’s working habits, with CBD office occupancy in October 2021 at just 8 per cent as people continue to work from home, according to the Property Council.
NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury said that changing work habits have meant more people are swapping public transport for cars and carparks to avoid Covid-19 exposures.
“We know public transport volumes plummeted and people were using cars more. A lot of people are working from home and there was a lot less mobility during the lockdown and a lot more reliance on cars,” he said.
“We’ll start to see that balance reconfigure to what it was before but it’ll take a while. There’s no doubt the car was king during the lockdown.”
Property manager Gabriela Dutkiewicz uses Uber to save about $40 on parking fees when travelling to the city for work meetings and shopping trips.
“It saves me time and money. The last time I was travelling with Uber I spent $22 there and back. I enjoyed time with my friends, I could relax, have a drink, didn’t have to worry about parking or walking back to my car. It is always so stressful for me to find a reasonable park,” she said.
When she first moved to Sydney from Poland, she was shocked to see how expensive it was to park in the city.
“The parking is very expensive here, I think first time I was shocked it was when I went out with my friends and had to spend $50 just for parking. In Poland there are parking fees but not as high, its usually $2/ hour,” she said.
A spokesperson for Wilson Parking said the average daily rate of parking across selected Sydney CBD has fallen 10 per cent over the past three years.
“A critical driver behind the decline is a reduction in price for flat-rate commuter parking,” they said.
“Wilson Parking has focused on creating value-based online offers that are driving customers to plan their travel ahead of time and booking bays via the Wilson Parking App or Online Booking via the Wilson Parking website.”
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