Article: Brisbane parking labelled world's fifth most expensive

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Brisbane parking labelled world's fifth most expensive

Brisbane parking labelled world's fifth most expensive
Article from: The Courier-Mail

Anna Caldwell

December 25, 2008 11:00pm

EAGLE Street in Brisbane city is Queensland's most expensive place to park - but inner-city shopping car parks aren't far behind, leaving Brisbane parkers feeling the financial pinch more than most.

The city is the fifth most expensive place to park in the world, according to the Colliers International 2008 Global CBD parking rates survey. It costs more to park in Brisbane than it does in midtown New York.

The survey, which covers a broad selection of 138 major metropolitan cities across North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America, placed Brisbane behind London City, London West End, Sydney and Hong Kong.

In Eagle St, most car parks charge $50 for more than four hours.

The same time spent at car parks on Tank, Ann, Charlotte or Adelaide streets will also set parkers back anywhere up to $49.

    Brisbane's most expensive places to park
    ? Eagle Street Pier, 1 Eagle St, 3.5 hours for $50
    ? Central Plaza, 345 Queen St, 4 hours for $50
    ? Central Plaza, 66 Eagle St, 4 hours for $50
    ? Queens Plaza, corner of Adelaide and Edward streets, 4 hours for $49
    ? Emirates House, 167 Eagle St, 4 hours for $49
    ? Boeing House, 363 Adelaide St, 4 hours for $49

    World's most expensivemonthly parking ($A)
    1. London City, $1191
    2. London West End, $1160
    3. Sydney, $791
    4. Hong Kong, $758
    5. Brisbane, $604
    6. New York - Midtown, $597

Colliers International research director Felice Spark said there had been a correlation between plummeting office vacancies in Brisbane and increasing parking costs.

"As the economic crisis takes hold, we might see this turn around but at the moment city parkers are paying the price for high demand," Ms Spark said.

Former Sydneysider Carol-Anne Nelson said the cost of parking in Brisbane seemed to rival Sydney's notorious price tags.

"To come here on Eagle St and pay $35 after just a couple of hours is ridiculously excessive," Ms Nelson said. "This seems worse than Sydney."

Queensland's most expensive shopping car park is Queens Plaza, where it costs $49 for four hours or more. The Myer Centre car park is slightly cheaper, maxing out at $43 for 3? hours or more.

Parking at Queens Plaza this week, the Leighton family had to bring two cars to accommodate seven people, doubling their parking fee. They were shocked when they piled out of their cars and realised they would be paying $98 to shop for about four hours.

"We had no idea it would be anywhere near that much," Jumee Leighton said. "Parks are impossible to find on the road at this time of year, and with so many of us public transport is hard."

Weekends offer better rates for city parking, with Queens Plaza costing no more than $18 and Myer Centre no more than $15.

Parking is cheaper across the river at South Bank where it costs a maximum of $25 to park for more than four hours in a Cordelia St car park and $36 for five hours at the South Bank underground car park.

Some centres offer discounts for spending.

The cheapest Brisbane car parks are the council-operated parks at King George Square ($25 for more than four hours) and Wickham Terrace ($23 for more than four hours).

Hospital parking is also cheaper than parking to shop, with $14 the maximum charged at the Wesley, $15 at St Andrew's, $15.50 at the Mater, $13.50 at the Princess Alexandra and $23 at Brisbane Private Hospital

Catch the train and ease the strain!