Commuters are getting sick and tired of the lack of parking at St Marys station and are calling for a solution.

Commuters are getting sick and tired of the lack of parking at St Marys station and are calling for a solution.

St Marys commuter carpark is packed early in the morning.Braiden Staples (20)

Commuters are getting sick and tired of the lack of parking at St Marys station and are calling for a solution.

The 500 space carpark is owned and operated by Transport NSW and was built in 2010.

After receiving multiple complaints The Standard went to investigate the carpark last week and found it full before 9am, despite it being an off-peak period during school and university holidays.

Braiden Staples is from St Marys and catches the train to work every day, he says the carpark has been full since it opened.

“It has been a problem since it was built. If you don’t get here before 8am pretty much you won’t get anything,” he said.

Stephanie Seymour lives in Ropes Crossing and uses the carpark most weekdays to travel to work in Parramatta; she said there was no planning involved in its construction.

“It is getting quite full by the time I get there — it is evident that it gets full early on as when I return in the evening cars are parked on the road and across the road in the dirt area,” she said.

”Building the carpark was great but I don’t think they planned well enough for the future. Ropes Crossing was half the size of what it is now.

“In early days I could snap up a park on level one — not anymore.”

The carpark was built in 2010 but is already at capacity.

Just after the carpark was built in 2011, Ropes Crossing had a population of 1479 – today that population has more than tripled with almost 6000 residents living in 2200 homes.

The population is only getting bigger with further developments at nearby Jordan Springs and Marsden Park, as well as the development of the Western Sydney Airport drawing workers to the area.
Londonderry state Labor MP Prue Carr is now calling on the government to fix the situation.

“I am constantly receiving complaints about the St Marys commuter carpark,” she said.

“Our area is booming, including a rapid expansion of St Marys and this growth is not being met with infrastructure.”

A spokesman from Penrith Council told The Standard they had not yet received any complaints about the parking availability in St Marys.

Commuters say the carpark is full before 8am on weekdays.

A Transport for NSW spokeswoman said they were planning a major parking boost for western Sydney.

“A major parking boost is planned for western Sydney commuters, with an additional 300 parking spaces planned at Penrith, 80 new spaces for Merrylands and 70 new spaces at Pendle Hill and Marayong.” she said.

“An upgrade to St Marys carpark and other commuter carparks in western Sydney will be considered as part of this ongoing work.”