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Brisbane City Council - scams are us!

Parking in the city is becoming impossible

Motorists in Brisbane have watched as their city has virtually become a no parking zone. On the surface of it, it all seems quite reasonable - parking needs to be regulated so everyone can have a fair crack at a scarce resource; traffic flows are severely impeded at peak times if some inconsiderate so-and-so parks in a clearway etc. etc. The problem is, however, these stated goals are unfortunately secondary to the council's desire to make more and more revenue out of unsuspecting drivers.

What are they doing

Numerous tricks are being employed including:

1. deliberately confusing signs
2. clearways that are generally MON-FRI, but some sneaky ones are MON-SAT
3. loading zones and parking meter zones that magically morpf into unnecessary taxi zones 'all other times'
4. bus zones that are only used at peak times yet eliminate parking spaces 24hr/day.
5. Where previously many of the loading zones and parking meter spots became free at 5:30pm, more and more of these are now not available until 7pm, while many more are never available due to some other use.

Why are they doing this:

1. Parking fines are a growth industry - They've employed many more parking police and as a result they've pulled in 20% more tickets in the last year. (Note: people are not offending more, they're just getting caught more often, due to hight levels of enforcement)
2. The BCC wants more people to use their unprofitable bus service.
3. The Council runs a large number of the inner city parking lots, naturally, fewer on street parks will force more people into the pay parking stations. As parking becomes an even scarcer resource the prices can be forced up leading to even higher profits

Some other problems reported by Brisbane motorists include:

• Being booked for dropping someone off in a no-standing zone (technically illegal but no big deal, but easy pickings if you know where to stand to write tickets)
• Getting pinged for parking in after hours taxi zones - Have a good look at the signs before you park anywhere. Many parking spots that are regular metered parking spots during the day are signed as taxi zones after 7pm - even though you NEVER see a taxi using them and there is absolutely no need.  Classic examples where the parking pigs make a killing are (a) Charlotte Street near Albert, (b) Market Street, (c) Elizabeth Street between Albert and Edward.
• Being towed away from a clearway at 6:50pm - long after the peak hour that is the reason for the clearway, but often you will see a rush of greedy tow trucks lining up for one last swoop before the seven o'clock deadline. Disgusting!
• Getting towed from off street car parks. Apparently the council has recently amended the by-laws to allow cars to be towed from any "private" car park. Drivers come back to their car and wonder if their car has been stolen - in fact it has been and you will only get it back if you pay a substantial ransom to your friendly tow truck operator who shares his booty with the Council. If this happens to you, call the police to find out where your car is.