Easing the squeeze

BY PETER FARAGO
A NEW park-and-ride service in Geelong comes just in the nick of time as the latest commercial construction boom begins across the city centre.
Hoardings began appearing around Westfield Bay City last week, while a car park closed on the site of the Transport Accident Commission’s new headquarters in Brougham Street.
The ratepayer-funded park-and-ride service started last week as car parks across the city begin to vanish for the construction period.
Some of the parking spaces may never return for public use.
But for many people who advocated a park-and-ride service as a solution to traffic congestion in the city centre, this is a welcome enterprise.
Some had called for park-and-ride services to ease traffic congestion and solve an impasse over through-traffic that City Hall wanted to direct east of the city along McKillop Street.
Well this is a chance to prove that this service can help ease the squeeze in central Geelong.
The success of this service depends on city workers, especially from east of Garden Street, using it.
If the business is a success, it could provide an impetus for civic leaders to radically alter the city’s transport strategies and focus more on public transport options.
Fiddling with major intersections like Myers Street and Ormond Road will help people get in and out of the city but it’s never going to ease congestion if the amount of vehicles in town doesn’t drop.
This is where alternative solutions, like a park-and-ride system, can be of service.
Improved public transport options can help, too, but park-and-ride can be a more ideal option for city workers because it allows the flexibility of using a car to get straight home instead of relying on a bus system that follows a rigid route and timetable.