Yahoo Finance Parking fees: Driver hit with 'extortionate' cost that's more than the average Aussie earns an hour
A driver has been told it's better to risk a parking fine than bother trying to park in a secure facility in the CBD after seeing how much it cost.
Finding parking in CBDs across the country can be difficult and expensive, particularly as Australians are grappling with other rising costs. But one driver couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw how much they were being charged for to park for just over an hour.
They slotted their car into a spot at a Secure Parking garage in Barangaroo, a business hub in Sydney's CBD, and returned 89 minutes later.
The machine showed they owed a whopping $79 - close to $1 per minute.
Have you been hit by a large parking fine? Email me at stew.perrie@yahooinc.com
Employees are facing a gradual return to the office following the pandemic, and some have raised concerns they can't afford it as they'd have to cough up thousands in just one year to afford things like parking and commuting.
Secure’s website shows the garage in question - at King Street Wharf - has a payment system that goes up dramatically as the clock ticks.
If you’re in there for less than 30 minutes, you’ll be hit with a $19 bill. Being there for between 30 and 60 minutes costs $48, but it’s only $29 if you pre-book online. Parking in this garage for one to two hours is $79 drive-up and $39 online. It’s an extra $10 for two to three hours and then $93 if you’re there for longer than three hours.
The driver posted a photo of their bill on Reddit, saying: “This was a surprise this morning! Popped to Barangaroo for a meeting and bang.”
Yahoo Finance reached out to the driver for comment, who received sympathy in their complaint.
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It’s worth mentioning that the average full-time salary in Australia is $73,768 per year, according to Talent, which works out to be $37.83 per hour. Secure also doesn't have to do too much to maintain the parking spot and the company's main outgoings would be rent. So this parking garage is making more than the average Aussie pulls in and without really having to do much for the service.
One user wrote: “Gawd damn. Then again, I never park in the city without checking the rates as I'm driving in. I've had to do the immediate exit of shame a couple of times.”
A third said: "That's extortionate.”
Some even admitted to never paying for on-street parking, saying they’d prefer to risk getting a fine because they reckon it’s cheaper in the long run.
“A family member parks in a max 2P zone most days near his office for his full 8-hour workday and reckons he gets booked around once a month,” one person said. “Kinda bad but he just treats it as if it's a monthly fee for parking. Given the office complex parking is something ridiculous like $50 a day, he happily pays the fine every time.”
Yahoo Finance contacted Secure Parking to see why the rates were set so high - especially during a cost-of-living crisis. Secure was yet to respond.
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