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xeuyrawp
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[FONT="]This came via email to all students, although since this is a rare important email, I'll post it up for discussion (bolded interesting bits):[/FONT]
[FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]This message was sent by Tony Johansson and authorised by Chief Financial Officer. John Gorman.
Car Parking on Campus - we need your ideas
To all staff and all students
In this email I’d like to provide you with some background
information about car parking at Macquarie, explain some of the car
parking-related decisions made by the University administration and seek
your ideas regarding our management of car parking at Macquarie in the
future.
When discussing car parking, it’s first necessary to put the issue
into its wider context.
Current situation
Macquarie has 32,000 students, 4,000 staff and commercial tenants with
hundreds of employees, but only 5,341 car parking spaces. This total
figure also includes parking restricted to authorised visitors, to those
with disabilities, and 30-minute limit, and service vehicle parking.
Given that the majority of our staff, students and tenants would prefer
to drive to the campus, there will never be enough car spaces to
accommodate everyone.
To our knowledge, this is also true at every other metropolitan
university in Australia - none provides a car space for every individual
who would like one. At universities in the Sydney CBD, it is not unusual
for more than 90% of staff and students (compared to less than 20% at
Macquarie) to use public transport, simply because there is no other
viable option.
Because of the scarcity of car parking, most NSW universities only
offer parking permits to their staff and postgraduate students - not to
their undergraduate students. A significant benefit of the Macquarie
University campus is the opportunity to offer undergraduate students
parking that is only a short walk from their lecture theatres and
library.
We allow permits to be bought by all students and staff, as well as our
commercial tenants - and this year we will sell around 12,000 permits -
so that our parking space usage is optimised. However that does mean
that when the campus is particularly busy, some permit holders will not
be able to find a parking space.
As Macquarie traditionally has not been as well serviced by public
transport as the CBD-based universities, we have naturally been very
heavily reliant on car travel, but this situation has improved in recent
times with the opening of the train station on campus, new and more
frequent bus services and better access via bike paths.
Government restrictions
The NSW Department of Planning now requires the University to work
towards having 40% of our staff, students and tenants using
public/active transport options, such as buses, trains and bikes. Our
provision of car parking must reflect this target. This means that we
cannot build more car parks, even if we wanted to, and would not be
getting building approvals to do so.
This 40% goal is both a greenhouse gas emission/environmental target as
well as an infrastructure target - the Government obviously has a
responsibility to ensure that traffic is minimised on local roads where
possible, and anyone who drives to the University will be aware of the
congestion throughout the Macquarie Park region.
Our modelling tells us that to achieve this 40% target we will actually
have to reduce our total number of car parking spaces from its current
level of 5,341 spaces to 4,800 spaces overall - a loss of 541 spaces by
they year 2032. We will be as considerate to everyone as we can be in
how we do that - and we are planning to maintain current levels of
parking in the short term (even when new construction dictates that we
have to move car parks to allow for building work) rather than reduce
them - but we will still have to achieve that target eventually.
Macquarie is also committed to becoming more sustainable. Car travel to
and from the campus is a major contributor to our greenhouse gas
emissions. So even if the Government did not mandate that we move to
more sustainable transport use, we would want to do it anyway.
We need your ideas
We are keen to hear from anyone in the Macquarie community who has a
practical suggestion about how the parking situation on campus could be
improved. Here are some ideas to get you started. Perhaps we could:
1) provide more incentives for public transport use. A scheme is about
to be launched allowing continuing staff to pay off, after tax,
Macquarie-purchased annual or six-monthly rail and bus passes, but
perhaps we could explore the possibility of Macquarie subsidies for
students who use public transport
2) provide incentives for car pooling, such as reduced parking fees for
three or more passengers, or contribution for fuel costs
3) provide more facilities for alternative means of transport such as
change rooms, lockers and secure bicycle store rooms, like the new bike
shed being built near the current library
4) reduce demand by making parking permits even more of a premium item
(eg parking spaces for commercial tenants are currently priced up to
$2,000 annually, and staff have been able this year for the first time
to buy a guaranteed parking place for $700 p.a.)
5) change our hours of business by perhaps teaching/working on
Saturdays or by spreading out classes from early in the morning to late
at night to minimise ‘peak hours’
6) introduce a ‘congestion charge’ similar to that introduced
recently on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, to dissuade people from driving
at peak times
7) provide a central notice board/website for staff and students to
find and provide car pooling
I encourage you to provide your thoughts on these options - or any
others - by going to the website
http://www.mq.edu.au/momentum/feedback.php and choosing ‘car
parking’ from the drop-down menu in the form.
As we’re currently in a non-teaching period, I’ll send a reminder
email in a couple of weeks’ time when all staff and students return to
the campus so that as many people as possible are aware of the issue,
and have an opportunity to contribute their ideas.[/FONT]
[FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]This message was sent by Tony Johansson and authorised by Chief Financial Officer. John Gorman.
Car Parking on Campus - we need your ideas
To all staff and all students
In this email I’d like to provide you with some background
information about car parking at Macquarie, explain some of the car
parking-related decisions made by the University administration and seek
your ideas regarding our management of car parking at Macquarie in the
future.
When discussing car parking, it’s first necessary to put the issue
into its wider context.
Current situation
Macquarie has 32,000 students, 4,000 staff and commercial tenants with
hundreds of employees, but only 5,341 car parking spaces. This total
figure also includes parking restricted to authorised visitors, to those
with disabilities, and 30-minute limit, and service vehicle parking.
Given that the majority of our staff, students and tenants would prefer
to drive to the campus, there will never be enough car spaces to
accommodate everyone.
To our knowledge, this is also true at every other metropolitan
university in Australia - none provides a car space for every individual
who would like one. At universities in the Sydney CBD, it is not unusual
for more than 90% of staff and students (compared to less than 20% at
Macquarie) to use public transport, simply because there is no other
viable option.
Because of the scarcity of car parking, most NSW universities only
offer parking permits to their staff and postgraduate students - not to
their undergraduate students. A significant benefit of the Macquarie
University campus is the opportunity to offer undergraduate students
parking that is only a short walk from their lecture theatres and
library.
We allow permits to be bought by all students and staff, as well as our
commercial tenants - and this year we will sell around 12,000 permits -
so that our parking space usage is optimised. However that does mean
that when the campus is particularly busy, some permit holders will not
be able to find a parking space.
As Macquarie traditionally has not been as well serviced by public
transport as the CBD-based universities, we have naturally been very
heavily reliant on car travel, but this situation has improved in recent
times with the opening of the train station on campus, new and more
frequent bus services and better access via bike paths.
Government restrictions
The NSW Department of Planning now requires the University to work
towards having 40% of our staff, students and tenants using
public/active transport options, such as buses, trains and bikes. Our
provision of car parking must reflect this target. This means that we
cannot build more car parks, even if we wanted to, and would not be
getting building approvals to do so.
This 40% goal is both a greenhouse gas emission/environmental target as
well as an infrastructure target - the Government obviously has a
responsibility to ensure that traffic is minimised on local roads where
possible, and anyone who drives to the University will be aware of the
congestion throughout the Macquarie Park region.
Our modelling tells us that to achieve this 40% target we will actually
have to reduce our total number of car parking spaces from its current
level of 5,341 spaces to 4,800 spaces overall - a loss of 541 spaces by
they year 2032. We will be as considerate to everyone as we can be in
how we do that - and we are planning to maintain current levels of
parking in the short term (even when new construction dictates that we
have to move car parks to allow for building work) rather than reduce
them - but we will still have to achieve that target eventually.
Macquarie is also committed to becoming more sustainable. Car travel to
and from the campus is a major contributor to our greenhouse gas
emissions. So even if the Government did not mandate that we move to
more sustainable transport use, we would want to do it anyway.
We need your ideas
We are keen to hear from anyone in the Macquarie community who has a
practical suggestion about how the parking situation on campus could be
improved. Here are some ideas to get you started. Perhaps we could:
1) provide more incentives for public transport use. A scheme is about
to be launched allowing continuing staff to pay off, after tax,
Macquarie-purchased annual or six-monthly rail and bus passes, but
perhaps we could explore the possibility of Macquarie subsidies for
students who use public transport
2) provide incentives for car pooling, such as reduced parking fees for
three or more passengers, or contribution for fuel costs
3) provide more facilities for alternative means of transport such as
change rooms, lockers and secure bicycle store rooms, like the new bike
shed being built near the current library
4) reduce demand by making parking permits even more of a premium item
(eg parking spaces for commercial tenants are currently priced up to
$2,000 annually, and staff have been able this year for the first time
to buy a guaranteed parking place for $700 p.a.)
5) change our hours of business by perhaps teaching/working on
Saturdays or by spreading out classes from early in the morning to late
at night to minimise ‘peak hours’
6) introduce a ‘congestion charge’ similar to that introduced
recently on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, to dissuade people from driving
at peak times
7) provide a central notice board/website for staff and students to
find and provide car pooling
I encourage you to provide your thoughts on these options - or any
others - by going to the website
http://www.mq.edu.au/momentum/feedback.php and choosing ‘car
parking’ from the drop-down menu in the form.
As we’re currently in a non-teaching period, I’ll send a reminder
email in a couple of weeks’ time when all staff and students return to
the campus so that as many people as possible are aware of the issue,
and have an opportunity to contribute their ideas.[/FONT]
Last edited by a moderator:
