Tens of thousands of public servants working in and around Canberra's Parliamentary Triangle face the end of an era on Tuesday with their last day of free parking outside their workplace.
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They might get on their bikes from now on, start catching the bus to work, or maybe simply adjust their weekly household budget to reflect the changes.
But no matter what individual decisions are made, National Capital Authority chief Malcolm Snow says parking in the triangle changes forever from Wednesday morning.
Mr Snow said there was no excuse for not being aware of the new regime, under which motorists pay $12 for an all-day park in the national precinct. He noted that workers in the area had enjoyed a good deal on parking for a long time.
"You need to have been living under a rock somewhere not to have heard or read about the introduction of this scheme," Mr Snow said.
"There may be people who might be surprised that it's come about, but we've been doing quite a lot in terms of our communication to let it be known that this was coming in and what the arrangements would be."
Mr Snow said he was aware the new charges would cause resentment, but the Triangle's commuters were only being asked to do what motorists in other cities had been facing for decades.
"There will always be people, and I'm sure there will be people, who object to paying $12 per day for the pleasure of parking," Mr Snow said.
"But in a sense, Canberra and this part of Canberra is catching up to what people would reasonably expect to have to do if you're in a town centre or a city centre.
"This part of Canberra has had it good for quite some time in relation to access to free parking and now the decision has been made to introduce paid parking."
The NCA chief executive said that Wednesday marked another watershed in the history of the city; the end of the car as king of the road in the national precinct, with pedestrians, cyclists and public transport passengers all given priority over private vehicles.
"We don't apologise for the fact that we've got the car on the bottom of that triangle because it is fundamentally about improving access for all modes," Mr Snow said.
"This is why in our capital works program we have set aside funds for a dedicated cycle lane on King Edward Terrace, and we will be providing additional cycle racks, we've worked closely with Pedal Power ACT, identifying opportunities to make things easier for cyclists.
"We will make sure that walking paths, cycling paths and conditions for those users are improved over time and we've got the funding now to achieve that."
So everybody had a decision to make before Wednesday morning dawned, Mr Snow said – to persevere with their cars, and pay the price, or to try something new.
"My feeling is people will make a decision to continue to drive their car or to move to some other form of transport," he said.
"They will make a decision to change their budgets to reflect the fact that they are incurring an additional cost and they need to factor that in to their cost-of-living.
"Buses, cycling, walking – these are all alternatives that people could move to as a result of the move to paid parking."