News location:

Canberra Today 22°/27° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Time to flip coins for parking misery

WHY do you always get a run of red lights on Northbourne when the clock is against you?

I hate being late, but I will be this morning for a 10.30 meeting in Civic.

I make it to the centre of town by 10.27. Finding a park can be heartbreaking, but I score one in the Magistrate’s Court car park – and then I realise that I have no coins on me, well, very few. I scrounge around in the car and find 30 cents in five and ten-cent coins. Thirty cents is not going to help me.

The choice is run late and get more change or run the risk of getting a fine. I thought about dashing across London Circuit to chase some change, but I made the call to risk it. The 30 cents went into the machine so that I at least had a ticket on the dashboard, even it was valid for only a matter of moments.

The worry of a fine hovered over me during the meeting. Once finished, I skedaddled back across London Circuit hoping that I didn’t have a little gift under my windscreen wiper.

Phew! This time I was lucky! And don’t you love that feeling of cheeky triumph when you’ve parked “illegally” and got away with it,?
But it shouldn’t have to be like this.

Why, in this technology dominated world, can we not pay for parking by swiping a credit or debit card? Is it really too much to ask?

And while we’re on it, why do have to predict how long we’re going to need to park in advance? Who really knows if their Civic or Woden or Belconnen adventure is going to take them 90 minutes or three hours? We’re all forced to overestimate and pay accordingly.

Canberrans paid $9.6 million in parking fines in the last financial year. This was a whopping 20 per cent on the previous year and it doesn’t surprise me one iota. I’d love to know how many of our parking victims were stung because they either didn’t have the correct change or underestimated their stay.

Kambah listener Warren told me that he always carried at least $10 in gold coins in his car… until the day that some lowlife forced the lock on the car door in the dead of night and took them all with him.

How do you win?

Mark Parton is the breakfast announcer at 2CC.

Who can be trusted?

In a world of spin and confusion, there’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in Canberra.

If you trust our work online and want to enforce the power of independent voices, I invite you to make a small contribution.

Every dollar of support is invested back into our journalism to help keep citynews.com.au strong and free.

Become a supporter

Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

Mark Parton

Mark Parton

Share this

Leave a Reply

Follow us on Instagram @canberracitynews