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Transport
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Transport has been a big discussion point. Examples of this discussion include minimising personal car reliance; linking modes of transport together (one idea suggested being regular shuttle buses carrying drivers into the CBD from satellite car parks) and revising our strategies for managing parking.
What is your ideal scenario for moving around Port Macquarie-Hastings in the future?
This online discussion forum has concluded. You can still browse the site but the discussion area will no longer accept new comments or votes.
Comment 1 25 Jan 2010, 11:39 AM
Council should be working on ideas to minimise the need to drive and park in the CBD areas. A shuttle bus would be a great idea.
Also, why has Council not followed through on it's local and regional bicycle plans of 1997/8? Encouraging people to leave their cars at home and get on a push bike would be great for health & fitness and reduce the impacts on roads and the need for CBD parking. However, Council's plans to create cycleways and provide bicycle facilities have stalled, with very little being provided in the past 12 years.
Comment 1.1 30 Jan 2010, 2:55 PM
Shuttle bus- where is the car park going to be put in the first place.
The idea ignores a number of simple truths, a large number of people travel down from Kempsey and north each day & the same applies from Laurieton etc. While locals have to drop off children to school etc before going to work.
The CBD can only handle so many workers at present, council sold the only free land on the southern end available for a 3 storey carpark.
Comment 1.1.1 30 Jan 2010, 3:13 PM
A quite large number of people travel from / to / through Wauchope and beyond as well - as do I. The Oxley highway should have double lanes between the donut and Wauchope as a minimum. Draw a straight line from Zanardis Lane to the donut and get rid of the goat track we have a present. Introduce Mimimum speed limits in peak times so if you are going too slow (say 5% of the posted speed limit in fine conditions) and are holding up traffic - they could then be booked for it. There are just to many either inconsiderate (road hogs) or incompetant drivers (or both!) on our roads particularly in Wauchope, people going to the Timbertown IGA / Timbertown estate and people going to the Comboyne turnoff. Car parking wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have the Glasshouse (this removed quite a few car parking spaces at the side Port Central entrance.)
Comment 1.1.2 1 Feb 2010, 10:35 AM
If the "Hole in the ground" next to the Murcure is undoable, the old CES site on Gordon Street with access through onto the end of Murray Street, currently owned by Council, is only a couple of hundred meters further away.
Comment 1.2 30 Jan 2010, 3:05 PM
The idea of more pushbikes is ignoring the fact that they already present problems on our roads further reducing traffic throughput. There should not be 2 bikes permitted side by side - this is absolutely ridiculous and dangerous! Notably you need a license for a car and have to pay rego/ insurance etc yet a bike can be on the road and have no insurance - what if a bike causes an accident? We need to educate slower drivers not to travel in peak traffic times and increase traffic throuhput on the main roads not slow it down further...
Comment 1.2.1 31 Jan 2010, 12:05 PM
Are you endorsing more speeding around the cbd to increase traffic throughput as the solution to increased traffic congestion & parking problems in the cbd ?
Comment 1.2.2 31 Jan 2010, 4:08 PM
That's exactly the type of 'blinkered' mentality that puts cyclists at risk. Cyclists are permitted by law to travel two-wide, providing they are no more than a certain distance apart. Most cyclists also own cars, so they do pay rego, and many cyclists also pay an annual insurance.
Cycling should be encouraged as it has minimal impact on roads (unlike cars), use no fuel, no exhausts or wastes, require minimal parking space and increase fitness.
Comment 1.2.2.1 15 Feb 2010, 3:27 PM
Why are there no bike racks in the CBD? One extra cyclist equals one less parking space required.
When was the last time Council spent ANY $$$ on cycling infrastructure in the Hastings ??
Comment 1.3 30 Jan 2010, 3:17 PM
Most people need to take there cars when going into the CBD as quite often they need to go other places such as work,paying bills,so what we need in the CBD IS MORE PARKING
even if we get the first three hour free and then pay for the rest of the day.Being retired I would like to somtimes go into the CBD see a movie go shopping have lunch without having to move the car,so at times we have gone to Laurieton to see a movie as we know parking is not limited,all the things you have mentioned is white washing the problem we need MORE PARKING.
Comment 1.4 31 Jan 2010, 9:38 PM
Shared pathways for bikes and pedestrians should be encouraged. It is not the complete answer to the problem but it will cater for some workers and also some shoppers.Sopping precints should be encouraged to provide areas for bike storage as a first step.Long term parking with shuttle bus services is good forward planning
Comment 1.5 12 Feb 2010, 1:59 PM
I'm a big fan of the shuttle bus idea, and of a better public transport infrastructure in Port Macquarie. When I first moved here I was horrified by the bus journey time and lack of frequency of buses from Lighthouse Beach to Port CBD - so I always took the car! No wonder the buses are empty!
Smaller, more frequent buses (mini-bus type) that you could maybe flag down on the street could link to the main routes in, and there could be more frequent buses along the main arteries. Paid car parking could subsidise the shuttle buses.
Comment 2 31 Jan 2010, 11:52 AM
In 2010 & beyond we can no longer expect to drive into town & park our cars in Horton St outside the bank ,there is simply no room for more parking & the traffic is now chaotic due to people cruising around trying to do so. This will not improve in the future even if we spend our money on smarter electronic meters which will just give people the idea that they can always get a park & the cruising factor will get worse.We need to go back to the future & pursue the Horton st. Mall concept with an adjacent multistory carpark in easy walking distance of the mall.Shuttle buses from other strategically situated parking areas on the outskirtsof the CBD to access other areas would ease parking & congestion problems which will soon become a nightmare. Parking meters & draconian enforcement measures are a clumsy , unattractive & short term substitute for good forward planning .
Comment 2.1 1 Feb 2010, 10:20 AM
We need a definate long term car parking straegy now! In the community survey council conducted in 2008 ratepayers identified parking as the second highest priority. Council needs to urgently identify a location for a long stay multi story car park, free or user pay with transpot linkage to the CBD. Council will be praised for its forsight, as was the case with the Cowarra Dam, in making provision for the expected rapid growth in population over the comming 20 years. Planning for this important infrastucture needs to start now.
Comment 2.1.1 12 Feb 2010, 2:03 PM
With population growth set to increase what we need is more public transport, not just more car parking. Provide enough long-term (8 hour limit) spaces for CBD workers, get more rangers policing abuse of short term spaces.
Comment 2.1.2 27 Apr 2010, 3:13 PM
Most of us are brainwashed by the "growth doctrine". When you don't grow, you die!
What if we stop the population growth and settle on the current 73.000 residents? That would make long term parking planning a lot easier. Still we have to find solutions for nowadays bottle necks, but bear in mind that rules might chase away cars from Port.
Comment 3 1 Feb 2010, 12:45 PM
By 2030 we need to be well beyond our current dependance on cars unless they are fuelled differently because we simply wont be able to afford the oil/petrol as it is becoming far more dificult to extract from the ground and there will be less of it on the international market. So tat is one issue.
In the mean time I am shocked by the number of parents who pick kids up from schools and indenpendantly drive them to the same few after school activities. We need mini-bus systems, car-pooling in a big way, rosters etc.
Comment 3.1 12 Feb 2010, 2:04 PM
Yes Yes Yes
Comment 3.2 27 Apr 2010, 3:18 PM
We need "big government" to control our lives?
Why not step up to those parents and educate them?
