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3.5 COMMUTER PARKING
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Figure 3.5-1:
Typical off-street parking
sign.
Commuter parking is often perceived to be the responsibility of local
councils, yet these facilities draw patronage to the City Rail network.
While the majority of commuter car parks in Ku-ring-gai are located on
railway land, the local roads surrounding railway stations in Ku-ring-gai
also utilised for parking by commuters on weekdays.
Parking demand around rail centres in Ku-ring-gai is high, with
commuter car parks generally at full utilisation, and significant numbers
of unrestricted on-street parking spaces occupied by all-day parking
(commuters). Surveys conducted in the Arup study in 2007 indicate
that on average, 86% of commuters who drove a car to the railway
station stated they were Ku-ring-gai residents. Therefore, the primary
beneficiaries of commuter parking in Ku-ring-gai are its residents. The
proportion of adult boarding passengers who were car drivers averaged
35%, and ranged from 17% at Roseville station to 52% at Gordon station.
The importance of commuter parking is recognised, particularly in the
role it plays in reducing the length of vehicle trips and transferring part
of a journey to another mode (rail). However, the impacts of extensive
commuter car parking can be towards residents (through parking
on local roads) or towards traffic congestion, as these car parks are
typically located close to rail stations and town centres where congestion
during commuter peak times is not desirable. Therefore, commuter
parking and amenity have competing benefits and impacts.
Off-street parking areas
Surveys indicate that residents would like additional commuter car
parking, and that the apparent lack of parking can be a deterrent to
accessing the rail station. Indeed, the Pymble centre has no formalised
off-street commuter car parking, so there is a high reliance on
unrestricted on-street parking to cater for the demand. Other centres
such as Lindfield has a small section of unrestricted car park on Council
land (Woodford Lane), while centres such as Gordon have significantly
higher amounts of commuter parking (on railway lands).
Consideration could be given to re-allocating underutilised sections of
time restricted car parks to commuter parking. It is likely though, that
additional commuter car parking provided by Council would incur a user
charge similar to that currently operating at Council’s Culworth Avenue
commuter car park (Killara), which is equipped with a pay-and-display
system.
While the provision of additional off-street car parking would create
additional capacity, anecdotal evidence suggests that it does little to
reduce the impact to on-street parking, as spare capacity created onstreet
is typically reabsorbed by other commuters.
KEY ISSUES & DISCUSSION
The use of surplus railway lands for commuter parking may be increased
in the future. However, in some centres, such as Gordon, there is
relatively little spare space to accommodate additional commuter
parking. Some potential sites would be affected by embankments or
cuttings which reduces the feasibility of constructing car parking, and
some sites would be located mid way between 2 stations (which would
Ku-ring-gai Town Centres Parking Management Plan 2010
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