Woolworths charges $65 for more than an hour of parking at Woolloomooloo, Sydney

VIKKI CAMPION and TAYLOR AUERBACH
The Daily Telegraph
July 04, 2013

The parking sign outside the new Woolworths concept store in Woolloomooloo, Sydney. Supplied Source: Supplied

IT is undoubtedly Sydney’s – and possibly the world’s – most expensive carpark.

But the $65 fee for up to two hours parking is not located under a plush five-star hotel or city skyscraper – it’s at a Woolworths supermarket.

The retail giant was yesterday forced to defend the over-the-top charges at its new Woolloomooloo store.

If you take your time shopping and cruise the aisles for more than two hours, you should be prepared to fork out $95 for the privilege.

A stay of three hours or more will set drivers back a whopping $125. A Woolworths spokesman said there were a limited number of parking spaces and, as it was close to the CBD, they wanted to discourage office and retail workers from parking.

“The fees at the carpark reflect there are very few spaces available and the intention is that those spaces should be available for the use of our customers – the first hour is free,” the spokesman said.

The 900sq m concept store on the corner of Crown and Suttor Sts, in the old City Ford building, opened on Friday. The car park – which will remain free while shoppers get used to the payment categories, uses a “ticketless” system.

Customers must key in their registration numbers before leaving. If they drive around the boom gate without paying, Woolworths sends the registered owner a letter requesting an “administration fee” of $100 plus the cost of parking.

Jon Savell was among those to take advantage of the temporarily free parking last night but said he might be giving the boutique supermarket a miss when the parking fees kick in.

“It’s pretty steep isn’t it? The technology is impressive but people won’t know how it works, they’ll get home and cop this $100 fine,” he said.

Sydney has consistently topped the charts for the most expensive parking in Australia – and the globe – with a series of taxes and policies designed to free the city of cars.

Parking for more than an hour at Westfield Sydney near the premier shopping strip of Pitt St Mall will cost $55.
It comes as authorities clamp down on new carparks being built in developments, the NSW government charging a parking tax on CBD spaces, and as Sydney City Council makes about $834,000 a week from parking fees.

Sydney was found to have the world’s fourth most expensive CBD parking in the Colliers International Global CBD Parking Rate Survey – ahead of London and New York. The last time the survey was done – in 2011 – the median daily rate in Sydney was $US67.42.

The carpark cutback has seen apartments with car parks cost at least $100 a week extra to rent, or adding another $70,000 to the mortgage.

With virtually no on-street parking in the main financial district, secure car-parking in CBD costs $29 for the first hour, and $55 for two.