It’s always amusing when a key representative of Australia’s ‘growth lobby’ – the cabal of rent-seekers that benefits from never-ending immigration-fuelled population growth – falls victim to its own growth fetish:
Sydney’s road traffic congestion continues to be a thorn in the side of the city’s airport operator, blamed for a lacklustre performance of Sydney Airport’s once lucrative carpark business in the first six months of 2018.
…car parking and ground transport revenue rose a modest 2.1 per cent to $78.6m.
The traffic snarls are driving travellers onto Sydney’s expensive airport rail line.
In a note to investors, Macquarie Equities said parking revenue “continued to suffer from the impact of traffic congestion, thus diversion to rail remains”.
The note also pointed out the 2.1 per cent growth was below CPI and “$2m below our expectation”…
“The congestion on the roads is definitely a challenge and we’ve got to think of different ways to engage with people around that.”
Here’s the chart:
When a monopolist like Sydney Airports starts complaining about traffic congestion, you know there’s a problem.
Now spare a thought for ordinary residents wasting hours stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic and spending less time with their families. Unlike Sydney Airports, which at least benefits from ever-increasing passenger numbers, they receive no benefit from the population crush.
