SOUTH West Healthcare staff have been given a new option for car parking close to their workplace after continuing frustrations about on-street spaces.
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A free park and ride service started this week with morning and afternoon services linking the showgrounds and rear of the base hospital campus.
Every 15 minutes a 10-seater bus takes staff between the venues, making 22 trips a day between 6.45am and 9am and 3pm to 5.45pm.
It sparked an immediate response when introduced on Monday and by 9am yesterday there were 35 cars parked at the showgrounds. Numbers are tipped to increase as word spreads.
“It will be regularly monitored to ensure patronage remains at a viable level,” SWHC chief executive John Krygger said. “The initiative is a pro-active response to the March 25 start of construction of the $30 million South West Regional Cancer Centre.”
It is likely some on-street bays could be unavailable during the project work, but after completion 139 spaces will be provided in a new multi-level parking area at the corner of Ryot Street and Worland Grove.
The city council has recently revamped parking arrangements in the neighbourhood to ease tensions between residents and hospital staff and visitors.
The three-storey cancer centre to be built and managed by Epworth Healthcare will have two radiotherapy bunkers, allied health rooms, clinical consulting rooms, the South West Healthcare oncology unit and the Peter’s Project support therapy suite.
Site fencing is scheduled to be erected this week.