In October 2017 we reported on PeopleTrans’ submission to the NSW Government Commuter Car Parking inquiry.  Following a review and consideration of over a 100 submissions from members of the public, local government, community groups and private companies, the NSW Government has now released its final report with the key findings and recommendations as follows:

Findings

1. The Committee finds that commuter car parks still have an important role to play and the Government should continue to provide this service to commuters.
2. The Committee finds that the policy of providing free parking for commuters encourages people to catch public transport, makes it accessible to all people and should be retained.

Recommendations

1. The Committee recommends that commuter car parking be included as part of the Greater Sydney Parking Guideline which will be developed and implemented in collaboration with local government.
2. The Committee recommends that Transport for NSW makes more information available on its decision making process on the location of commuter car parks to clarify what evidence is considered.
3. The Committee recommends that Transport for NSW’s trial of Park&Ride Opal activated car parks be expanded, as soon as is feasible, with priority given to car parks which are located in or near commercial hubs.
4. The Committee recommends that any revenue raised by future trials or the implementation of the Park&Ride system across the transport network, should be reinvested in specific commuter access projects.
5. The Committee recommends that the trial of on-demand services to access transport interchanges be expanded.
6. The Committee recommends that Transport for NSW considers working with the point-to-point transport industry to explore options to provide alternative methods for commuters to access transport interchanges.
7. The Committee recommends that Transport for NSW trials reserving priority parking spaces in commuter car parks for commuters who ‘carpool.

We are encouraged by the commitment to prepare the long overdue Greater Sydney Parking Guideline, a strong recommendation of PeopleTrans, which should not only provide overall parking planning & design guidance to local Councils and practitioners but would also clearly define the role of commuter car parking. We are also encouraged by the use of Opal Card Technology to manage the use of commuter parking more effectively in trials on the B-line corridor and look forward to seeing evidence from these trials which support this technology being extended to other car parking locations.

It will also be interesting to see how Transport for New South Wales reserve priority spaces for commuters who car pool. This technology has been used in Universities across Australia for many years but as far as we are aware, has not been used in commuter car parks at stations. Will this be limited to certain sections of a car park or will technology be introduced to limit access to certain spaces?

PeopleTrans has been working with Transport for New South Wales for many years to deliver solutions for parking within town centres and at commuter car parking stations and we hope that our strategic and detailed advice will continue to provide a better outcome for NSW residents.

For more information on our car parking policy, strategy, or analysis capabilities, please contact Alan Stewart in our Sydney office on 02 8226 8760.

A link to the final report can be found here.