# I hate paid parking in Melbourne **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 12, 2012, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-paid-parking-in-melbourne/643821 "2012-12-12T12:51:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-paid-parking-in-melbourne/643821/21 "2012-12-13T23:58:16Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Pfft. Then you’d be complaining about the long walk from Field 46E, Blue Lot, to the Tower. Madness! I will be carried there by fell beast-drawn chariots! ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-paid-parking-in-melbourne/643821/22 "2012-12-14T00:09:02Z")
> [@blueslipper](#): > > My gripes are more to do with council Scrooges with beach parking. My parking related gripes are with shopping centres which allow you three hours free and then charge an arm and a leg, even if you’ve spent hundreds, if not thousands, in their centres buying up big for Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-paid-parking-in-melbourne/643821/23 "2012-12-14T00:48:34Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I’ve got to say, even though that is a significant chunk of change, it isn’t totally out of line with what parking garages in the busy parts of other major cities charge. In downtown DC during the day, for two hours of parking you’d probably pay $12 to $20, something like that. I think that most cities tax the hell out of commercial parking, to the tune of 20% or so. Yeah, here in Chicago, I’ve paid up to $25-$30 for two hours. Expensive? Hell yes. Out of line? No. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-paid-parking-in-melbourne/643821/24 "2012-12-14T01:01:43Z")
I will contribute to the pain olympics: I pay $38 a day (CAN) for parking. I rarely drive though, usually taking transit luckily. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-paid-parking-in-melbourne/643821/25 "2012-12-14T06:43:47Z")
I remembered reading a story about parking in Melbourne on the Consumerist a few years ago: [Guy gets parking ticket in 30-second interval between pulling into space and putting money in meter, writes amusing complaint letter](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/05/guy-gets-ticket-30-second_n_525091.html) ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-paid-parking-in-melbourne/643821/26 "2012-12-18T09:10:45Z")
I think you are wrong about expensive parking in Melbourne - in fact Wilson Parking themselves say it is ‘affordable’, and who would know better than them? For instance, I work in the Docklands (and either cycle or train from Northcote), but their parking comes in at a very reasonable $16/hr for the first 3 hours (or part of), and $5/hr after that and generously no charges after 6 hours, so all you would pay is $63 in total per day. ---
**Author:** ![Cats\_pajamas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Cats\_pajamas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cats_pajamas)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-paid-parking-in-melbourne/643821/27 "2012-12-19T11:54:32Z")
Regardless of how “fair” you might think your liberal, pro-middle class political party in power is (any Western democracy), society is already owned by the rich, and they aren’t about to let go of it just to be nice guys. So, when when you man or woman of the people politician gives you a break financially, the rich understand that it is just for show, and probably a good idea to placate workers who might organize something more painful, otherwise. The rich bitch but let it go. Then, promptly monetize something else that used to be free to get back what they lost to your man or woman of the people. Parking might be one of the lesser of our troubles but is no less annoying or unfair than anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-paid-parking-in-melbourne/643821/28 "2012-12-19T15:27:34Z")
Hmmm. December join dates are nearly as crazy as July join dates, but lucid. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-paid-parking-in-melbourne/643821/29 "2012-12-19T17:36:36Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > I will contribute to the pain olympics: I pay $38 a day (CAN) for parking. > > I rarely drive though, usually taking transit luckily. I’m lucky that my office is a couple of miles north of the financial sector of Toronto because my daily parking rate is $18/day. Downtown core ranges depending on the building you’re parking in but it ranges from $20 - $40 and there’s not even a beach! I think I’d prefer Melborne. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-paid-parking-in-melbourne/643821.md?page=1)