Making War on the Car !

Some Japanese cities require anyone buying a new car or changing the ownership of a second hand car to their name to provide a signed affidavit proving that they have obtained a valid legal parking space before a registration change of ownership will be approved.   Many residents in high rise buildings are permanently locked out of car ownership.

The city of Sydney has a similar car problem in some of it's older inner suburbs.  Despite this new land offering almost unlimited horizons the first settlers stuck slavishly to the type of housing common in crowded English cities like London.  Terrace housing was common and before the days of the motor car if a resident owned a horse it was probably housed in nearby commercial stables.  There was no such thing as the concept of " off street parking " !

Today we have the problem of the density of people crowded into inner suburbs such as Pyrmont, Glebe, Millers Point and Ultimo - and most of them own a car. Initially, in an attempt to free up parking space the council erected signs limiting the time a car could stand at the kerb and this was enforced by parking officers.   Today, parking at the kerb is regulated by parking meters and costs per hour amount to serious money - and they are rigidly enforced.

For many years the residents of property with no off street parking were accommodated with the issue of an " On street parking exemption ".   When displayed on the windshield, this shielded the owner from the depredations of fines issued by the parking police, but it also fell victim to corruption.  The city council learned that these parking exemptions were illegally bartered and often changed hands for considerable amounts of money.   From this coming May, they will be discontinued !

Their replacement will lack permanency and consist of just ten opportunities to occupy kerb space on a single day somewhere within that calendar year.  It will be a devastating blow to the two car family or those living in share accommodation in inner city Sydney.  It will probably require some people to either move home or sell their car to continue to economically exist in Sydney.

While this sounds hard hearted, it is basically just a matter of extending the conditions that apply to parking in the dense heart of the city to the inner surrounding suburbs.  It is just not possible to park at the kerb in the inner city because of traffic flows regulated by clearways and bus lanes and those with no under building parking have no option other than booking space in high priced parking stations.  Even delivery vehicles must run the gauntlet of dense thickets of restrictions in plying their trade.

We are fast reaching the stage where the new light rail network will change the face of Sydney.  The inner city is creeping ever outwards and will now encompass those former inner suburbs and those who demand to retain car ownership with need to live further away and use light rail to commute to city jobs.  There is an expectation that demand will see inner suburb demolitions to create new high rise parking stations to service residents prepared to pay to retain inner city living by housing their cars in these new facilities - but on street parking will be a thing of the past !