Article: City car parking prices to double

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City car parking prices to double

City car parking prices to double
Article from: The Courier-Mail
Alison Sandy

February 03, 2008 11:00pm

CAR park prices are set to soar across the city with the major provider slugging users almost twice as much from next month.

Motorists will be forced to fork out up to $9000 a year after Secure Parking lifted rates from $420 to $750 a month at its Festival Carpark in Charlotte St.

More money is also being squeezed out of casual users who as of Friday were required to pay $40 a day, up from $29.

The company refused to comment on the prospect of price increases at its other 37 city parking stations.

But other operators are expected to follow suit over coming weeks.

Rates at Brisbane City Council's King George Square parking station have increased by 45 per cent in three years, with users now paying up to $27 a day or $320 a month.

Wilson's Parking, the next biggest city car park provider, refused to comment on the prospect of a price rise.

Other monthly rates include $600 at the Myer Centre, $550 at Cathedral Square and just under $300 at Novotel. In Sydney, motorists pay up to $1000 a month for parking.

Secure Parking general manager David Knight said the CBD had lost about 3000 car parks in the past two years due to redevelopment and the Inner City Busway.

He said that even with last week's increase, a monthly car park was only worth $260 a square metre ? compared with $750 a square metre for an office block.

Mr Knight blamed Brisbane City Council for the "price pressure".

"Council and others are restricting the supply of parking because of the congestion," Mr Knight said.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman denied council was responsible, saying: "That's just a private-sector operator trying to justify the rises they have."

Labor Deputy Mayor David Hinchliffe warned a "massive" increase would impact adversely on the city's retail and commercial sectors.

"If people are being driven out of driving into the city, then we have to invest in significant public transport," Cr Hinchliffe said.

The price rise has outraged Archive Books owner Ross Mack, who said he was being priced out of the market.

"It is elitist and it will destroy the city," he said.

"It's out of reach of ordinary people . . . the cost of parking is just going to go bang. This is an outrageous price-gouging exercise and completely unjustifiable.

'It's just pure greed."

Mr Mack called for car-parking fees to be regulated.

"It's an essential service from my point of view," he said.

In a letter, Secure Parking gave monthly users four weeks' notice, attributing the price hike to market forces and competitor rates.