Queen Elizabeth Drive parking upgrade

Queen Elizabeth Drive (QED) car park is set to receive approximately 28 parking meters as Waverley Council embarks on a parking system upgrade across the local area.

The meters will replace the manned booth and boom gates that currently secure the entry and exit to the car park, and will be installed by December this year. The wider upgrade will see the replacement of 262 parking meters in Waverley.

Mayor Sally Betts said the metered system would make parking more convenient, allowing residents to electronically enter details rather than having to carry their parking permit. She said there would be no disruptions to the Bondi community, either during construction or upon completion of the new parking meters.

“The introduction of metered parking will have no negative effect on the local residents or businesses,” Ms Betts said. “Rather than residents with permits having to drive through the boomgates, they will simply to be able to drive in and enter their details in the meters.”

Bondi Precinct Convenor Gabrielle Tobias agreed that there would be little disruption to the community but questioned the cost-benefit ratio of replacing a system, which she said appears to be working well.

“I can understand updating the existing meters, but Queen Elizabeth Drive getting completely new meters seems to be a very expensive outlay for something that everybody seems to think already works fine,” she said.

Ms Tobias raised concerns over the lack of community involvement in Council’s decision-making process, calling for more “open and transparent discussion” to take place.

“It seems that Council have not spoken to the community about this issue since it was originally discussed in 2009, meaning that many new residents have not had a chance to be involved in the discussion,” she said.

According to Council, the upgrade is necessary in order to get Waverley’s parking meter network to a standard compliant with data security regulations to be imposed by banking institutions in 2014.

Ms Tobias said the costs Council had provided her with estimated the price per meter at $15,000. She also noted the meters would require ongoing maintenance and would need to be upgraded approximately every five years.

“The main concern with the community is the cost compared to what is currently in place,” Ms Tobias said. “It seems that keeping the boom gate would be cheaper than installing the parking meters.”