Project Sydney: Station parking an Uber ride from platform

SOME commuters from Sydney’s boom areas are forced to park so far away from their railway station that some are catching an Uber back to their car.

Ian PatersonTransport Reporter

@ijpato

3 min read

June 8, 2017 - 12:00AM

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BLEARY-EYED commuters from Sydney’s boom areas are being forced to park so far away from their local railway station that some are catching an Uber back to their car.

Furious commuters have accused the government of poor planning — citing a severe shortage of car parking spaces at stations along the northwest growth corridor amid a period of unprecedented house-building and development in the area.

And although another 218,000 new homes will spring up in the region over the next decade, Transport for NSW will provide a mere 8000 new commuter car parking spaces along the Sydney train network.

“Sometimes I have had to park so far away that I get an Uber and it has cost me about $30,” one commuter says.

Federal Labor MP Michelle Rowland — whose marginal seat of Greenway includes some of Sydney’s newest suburbs, where a further 33,000 new homes will be built over the next decade to cater for 250,000 new residents — said that commuter parking was the hot-button topic.

“It is one of the single biggest issues for people in my area … I have seen how quick the station carparks fill up in the morning,” Ms Rowland said.

Commuter and father-of-two Wayne Gatt, 32, from Schofields, said just finding a park and then walking to the station added 40 minutes to his daily commute, leaving him less time to spend with his family. “I cannot walk (from home) to the station because they have not finished the street leading from the estate to the station (so) I … drive the long way around,” he said.

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A commuter runs for a train at Schofields.

Commuter Sandrika Pather gets an Uber to her park.

As The Daily Telegraph saw one man run several hundred metres along the road to try to make it to his train on time, after being forced to park some distance from Schofields station, fellow commuter Sandrika Pather, 25, from The Ponds said: “Sometimes I have had to park so far away that I get an Uber and it has cost me about $30.

“My friends and I call it Wolf Creek station because it is so dark at night when you get off the train and there is no lighting and no footpaths (to get back to your car),” Ms Pather added.

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Transport Minister Andrew Constance said: “Since we came to government, I’m proud to say we’ve delivered an extra 6000 car parking spots. The Sydney Metro mega project will (deliver) 4000 extra car spots for customers in the northwest ... giving those living in one of our biggest growth precincts the option of driving to a first-class public transport service.”

Ms Rowland claimed the new metro station carparks will be full from day one.

“Already traffic getting into areas where the stations will be, such as the Northwest Business Park, is diabolical,” she said.

A FAMILY’S TALE OF TWO COMMUTES

Annabel Hennessy

LIKE a growing number of families, Kay and Edward Fisher have struggled with the long daily commute, particularly after leaving Sydney for the Central Coast four years ago to beat crippling house prices.

While Ms Fisher now works from home — she can pop her coffee cup in the kitchen sink at 9.14am and be in her office downstairs at 9.15am — her husband clocks up 140km and three hours of driving each day to get to and from his job on the WestConnex project, based at Five Dock.

“When I first moved here I commuted to Sydney but it got too hard with the kids,” Ms Fisher said.

Mr Fisher said that commuting “had its good and bad days” but it was worth it for the family’s lifestyle in an affordable house. “In our crew most of us are commuters, we’ve also got guys who travel 1½ hours from Wollongong,” he said.