Business Western Sydney’s suggestions for Parramatta Council CBD parking strategy

Stadium parking, freeing up office carparks for restaurant patrons and getting behind the wheel of electric cars. These are some suggestions to ease parking woes in Parramatta.

Using CommBank Stadium carpark on weekdays, delivering more underground parking and getting behind the wheel of electric cars — these are some of the suggestions Business Western Sydney has pitched into the Parramatta CBD parking strategy in an effort to solve the city’s parking crisis.

Construction on major projects such as the light rail has compounded parking in Parramatta and wiped out almost 2000 parking spaces.

The light rail decimated 400 on-street parking spots and 121 lots at the Fennell St carpark, the 596-space Riverbank Carpark was demolished to make way for the Powerhouse Museum in February and 805 lots will clear at the City Centre Carpark (also known as the Horwood Place carpark) when the Metro West construction starts around October.

The shortage is addressed in Parramatta Council’s CBD parking strategy, which has now closed for public feedback.

Business Western Sydney has suggested renaming the Eat St carpark. Picture: Angelo Velardo

Business Western Sydney executive director David Borger said Productivity Commission data showed that people who worked part-time in an office were more likely to drive to work than use public transport, so despite the light rail and Metro infrastructure, demand for parking is forecast to jump.

In the chamber’s feedback submitted to the council, Mr Borger said working from home after the Covid pandemic was likely to be a permanent feature and would place more need for parking.

Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies showed that 12 per cent of Australians stated they would no longer use public transport after the nation emerges from the pandemic.

“I think we need to encourage public transport but at the same time we’re still a city that needs cars and public transport,’’ Mr Borger said.

The group has suggested office carparks be freed up after 5pm to restaurant and cafe patrons, and pitched 10 suggestions to the council, including forming a taskforce to co-ordinate parking, exploring parking sites at the edge of the CBD such as Rosehill Racecourse and expanding the Pay and Park App to Parramatta.

Other suggestions include:

Encouraging greater car share in residential communities in the CBD

Investigate and support opportunities to increase car share in the Parramatta CBD as the

residential population continues to increase to manage the demand for new car

parking spaces and on-street parking.

CommBank Stadium carpark

Identify opportunities to leverage the CommBank Stadium carpark (known as Bankwest until October 1) to provide additional parking for the Parramatta CBD.

Traffic Management Plan for major events at Bankwest Stadium – possibly not

within the scope of the Parramatta CBD parking strategy but road access around

Bankwest Stadium on event days can be difficult and bottlenecks occur. What are the

options for improving traffic flow following audience egress from the stadium?

Food delivery pick up zones

CommBank Stadium’s carpark could be used for week day workers, not just spectators.

Considering the increasing demand for food delivery services during the Covid-19 pandemic and the likelihood that demand will continue, providing designated short-term spaces for food delivery pick up near restaurants precincts (Church St/Eat St) should be considered as part of the council’s parking strategy.

Naming conventions of carparks

Review the naming convention of major council carparks in the CBD to ensure that visitors can find them more easily. Does Justice Car Park or Eat Street Car Park provide a clear description of where the carparks are in the city or would naming the carparks after streets that they are located on (i.e. Hunter St) support better wayfinding?

Park & Ride on key routes into Parramatta

Partner with Transport for NSW to assess the main origin points for car travel to Parramatta from surrounding suburbs and identify opportunities to bolster public transport connection from those areas and/or increase park and ride facilities to support transition to public transport.

Additional underground or integrated parking in future developments

Given the removal of several multi-level carparks in the Parramatta CBD are there longer-

term opportunities to replace these spaces with new development projects for

underground or integrated parking?

Consideration of automated vehicles impact on parking

Electrification and automation of vehicles has the potential to significant change mobility.

One potential outcome might be a reduction in the number of road vehicles in the Parramatta CBD if we shift to a car share model for automated vehicles which would require less car

spaces and make some parking facilities redundant.

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