Concerns over new park and ride facilities at Claremont, Rokeby, Midway Point due to lack of CCTV

Three of Hobart’s fastest-growing outer suburbs will have park and ride facilities by early next year but there are fears that people may be discouraged from using them due to a lack of security.

A concept plan for the Claremont park and ride. Picture: Supplied

New park and ride facilities are set to be built in three of Hobart’s fastest-growing suburbs but there are concerns that a lack of CCTV at the sites could discourage people from using them.

As part of a $20m “congestion-busting” state election commitment by the Liberals, park and rides will be constructed at Claremont, Rokeby, and Midway Point by early next year, providing a total of more than 450 new car and motorcycle parking spaces for commuters, as well as bike storage and disability parking.

Park and ride facilities allow people to park or store their motor vehicles and bikes close to key bus routes and can also serve as places for vehicles to drop off and pick up passengers.

The new Midway Point site will be the smallest of the three new facilities and the first to be built, located on the corner of the Tasman Hwy and Penna Rd.

The Claremont facility, meanwhile, will be built on the corner of Claremont Link Rd and Myella Drive, and will be the largest site.

The Rokeby park and ride will be situated on the corner of Rokeby Main Rd and Pass Rd.

The park and ride facility at Huntingfield, which opened in September 2022. Picture: Supplied

It’s anticipated that construction of the park and rides at Claremont and Rokeby will be completed in early 2025.

In 2022, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works recommended the new facilities at Claremont, Rokeby, and Midway Point go ahead but expressed concern that they would initially lack CCTV, which the committee said could discourage people from using them due to fears their vehicles could be stolen.

Hobart Transport Vision project director, Christian Goninon, told the committee that the State Growth Department was “future-proofing” the sites for “potential security options”.

Labor transport spokesman Josh Willie said the immediate installation of CCTV at the new facilities “makes sense” because it would “improve security and patronage”.

Verity Cleland, an associate professor at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research whose work focuses on active and public transport behaviours, said while park and ride wasn’t the answer to all of Hobart’s transport and congestion problems, it did serve to encourage further uptake of Metro Tasmania services.

Infrastructure and Transport Minister Michael Ferguson. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“If we have [park and ride] integrated with other options and reliable, efficient public transport services, I think that’s where the magic can happen and we can start to see some great impacts on our community,” she said.

Infrastructure and Transport Minister Michael Ferguson said use of the existing two park and rides at Huntingfield and Firthside had been “steadily rising”, with the average parking “utilisation” being 48 per cent (83 cars using 172 total spaces) at the former and 81 per cent at the latter (36 cars using 44 total spaces).

Mr Ferguson said given the Huntingfield facility had been open for just over 12 months, awareness was “still building”.

Bicycle Network Tasmanian public affairs manager Alison Hetherington said the park and ride sites at Huntingfield and Firthside had been a “disappointment” for the cycling community due to a lack of secure bike parking, as well as easy access by bicycle.

Originally published as Concerns over new park and ride facilities at Claremont, Rokeby, Midway Point due to lack of CCTV