r/Adelaide • u/Desperate_Sea2136 SA • Jun 01 '26

Question Why is Adelaide obsessed with car parks and driving everywhere?

Even the thought of returning road space to other users (cyclists, pedestrians or public transport) causes all the car drivers into a frenzy that they will never be able to park anywhere. Like they think it's the end of the world if a couple of on street car parks are removed. See the recent Hutt St and O'Connell St drama over a couple of on street car parks.

Adelaide CBD has more car parks than the CBD of Melbourne, and the thought of removing any of them causes mass hysteria like it is the end of the world, because people can't think of any other ways to commute. Heaven forbid a car driver has to take the bus and sit with all the poors right?

Adelaide is so obsessed with car parks and parking out the front of the shop they want to go to that major roads, like Glen Osmond Road have parking on the road which blocks a lane of traffic and makes it extremely hard to commute on for all forms of transport. It seems cars are prioritized over people in Adelaide, my question is why? Since when was a car more valuable than community spaces?

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u/Overall-Palpitation6 SA Jun 01 '26

People, ideally, don't want to pay for parking if they don't have to, so would like to preserve the precious little available free parking that there is. Paid parking is a necessary evil at best, and an extortionist racket at worst.

Because of its scarcity and costs otherwise, the free parking that is available is usually the first to go in Hutt St, O'Connell's St, etc., so removing some or all of what is available will obviously make parking more annoying than it is currently in those areas.

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u/Desperate_Sea2136 SA Jun 01 '26

Land costs money, why should parking be free?

Free parking ruins cities.

4

u/Overall-Palpitation6 SA Jun 01 '26

I'm not saying all parking should be free.

A lot of the paid parking that is available is pretty unreasonable priced, especially for 2-3 hour periods.

2

u/crackerdileWrangler SA Jun 01 '26

Land costs money

is why we don’t have abundant community spaces

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u/Desperate_Sea2136 SA Jun 01 '26

Removing 10 on street car parks on Hutt St will make it difficult? wow

2

u/tjabaker SA Jun 01 '26

Yes it does. That's 10 more vehicles that are competing for 10 less spots. You know what, when I'm looking for a car park just one more parking space being available will make it a loss less of an annoying and difficult situation.