I would like to comment on two of your articles ‘Zoo Parking Good to Go’. 16 March, and ‘Joburg Zoo Parking Area to get a facelift”, 12 September last year.
The idea of additional parking at the zoo is great and forward thinking, however is a parkade the right solution or should the zoo first look at logistics and planning?
The current parking and entrance system is not correctly managed. The zoo has two entrances, but currently all traffic is directed to one entrance. The buses do not use the allocated bus drop-off area on Jan Smuts Avenue. This might be because of the lack of directional signage.
At some stage, the zoo used a third entrance, the open space near the museum as the overflow parking. This was great because visitors entered close to the lion enclosures.
The parking off the street is only a problem on the weekends and that’s because the overflow is not used.
I am not a resident of Forest Town, but I drive past daily and it is only [during] the weekends that you notice the number of cars on the street. During the week, the current parking area is more than sufficient.
The kerbing on the road is non-existent thus parking on the pavements is easy.
Can these be permanently converted into safe off-street parking? The article alludes to millions of visitors arriving at the zoo. According to their 2013 Annual Report, the total number of visitors was around 515 000 people. Of these visitors, a large proportion are school children who arrive by bus during the week.
The majority of other visitors visit the zoo on the weekends. So during the week the current parkade is sufficient. Will the new parkade accommodate the buses as well?
What will the daily cost be for visitors? Is this additional cost going to reduce the number of visitors? The burden to maintain and run the parkade is also concerning.
Will the zoo be allocated sufficient funding in the future for this? Have we exhausted all other options before starting with this parkade?
Direct the buses to the drop-off areas, utilise the overflow parking, create safe off-street parking, and [encourage] visitors to use public transport.
