Saturday, October 5, 2013

Secure Carparking targets public transport users

Don't waste your money away driving!
With Brisbane having one of the most expensive public transport systems in the world, with poor service frequency, it is no surprise that at least one car parking company is targeting public transport users. Secure Carparking have been handing out flyers to public transport commuters exiting train and busway stations in Brisbane's CBD . However, interestingly one of the observed advertisements is actually based around saving time than money. Not surprisingly the ad fails to mention that driving instead of using public transport increases pollution, increased risk of risk of road trauma and death, increases stress, and requires concentration throughout the commute (instead of reading/texting/web surfing/looking out the window which you can do on public transport).

What about cost? Well it appears that Secure Carparking locks you into a minimum three month contract, at a minimum cost of $49/week. Based on BrizCommuter's car vs train comparison in January 2013, and assuming single vehicle occupancy, the addition of parking costs to car running costs would result in public transport still being far cheaper (at least $11/day for 40km weekday only commute). Also, if you take into account days when you be paying for parking and not using it (sickies, rostered days off, annual leave, etc), and the go cards 9 then free cap, then cost comparison is even worse for the driving to work option. Oh, and that $49/week is a minimum cost only available at certain car parks. No wonder that advert is based around time savings! But is it really worth paying at least $2,500 more per year for a (usually) faster car based commute?

2 comments:

  1. With the sky high costs of public transport, I have been surprised that some car parks have not been trying to offer genuine deals to try and attract some more business their way. For the car parks, they are a business and it would be best for business for them.

    If quite a few car parks started dropping their prices, it might, I repeat might, give the Government a kick up the bum about the public transport prices.

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  2. For vehicles with more than 1 occupant, it may well be cheaper to drive and park in the CBD than use public transport if using one of these parking contracts. However, it should be remembered that casual CBD parking rates ($50> for a few hours) are ridiculously above the rates in this article. Many of those who have stopped using public transport in the last few years are likely to have either no parking costs (e.g business provides parking), or low parking costs (e.g less than $10/day for hospital workers).

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