Tasmania’s biggest park and ride has opened at Claremont, giving commuters a new hub to catch express buses into the Hobart CBD.
The facility has 239 car spaces and 12 motorcycle spaces, as well as a separate area for bikes and other mobility devices.
Infrastructure Minister Kerry Vincent, who opened the car park on Monday, said it came as demand for public transport continued to grow.
“What this will allow for is express services in and out of the city and complement what we’re seeing is massive growth in people using public transport because of the free fares around the state,” he said.
Vincent said free fares had driven the increase, with Metro patronage up about 36% and regional services up about 47%.
Metro Tasmania chief executive Jessica Paton said free buses and free parking were a winning combination.
“This is a great opportunity for customers who aren’t necessarily close to a service right now to utilise this park and ride to gain an express service into the CBD,” she said.
Paton said three express services would run from the site to the city.
“These are realignments of our current routes and, as we always say, we review those and we will monitor for utilisation,” she said.
“If additional services are required, that’s something we will discuss with the department.”
The park and ride was built by Andrew Walter Constructions over 11 months.
Project manager Adam McKeown said the company was proud to partner with State Growth, now Building Tasmania, on the project.
“At our largest point we had over 100 subcontractors and contractors,” McKeown said.
The Claremont site joins existing park and ride facilities at Midway Point and Huntingfield, while another has recently been approved for Rokeby.
