The zoo is pushing to build 1000 more car park spaces in the adjacent Royal Park: Melbourne Zoo bid for one thousand more car parks as visitor numbers surge
Seems rather unnecessary IMHO. Increase parking charges, and encourage more use of public transport. Zoos VIC is a conservation organisation, and so an environmentally sustainable message should be prioritised. There are plenty of local car parks to park at and then catch a tram/train from.
It seems totally necessary to me. The zoo claims that 84% of all visitors are arriving via cars and with the vast majority of visitors being families that means taking a tram/train is not a viable option. I cannot even imagine going to the zoo with my wife and 4 kids and then unloading the stroller, jackets and mountain of supplies onto public transportation. There aren't likely many families (the lifeblood of zoos) that would be opposed to a shiny new parking garage. There is a long list of North American zoos that need the exact same thing as visitor attendance numbers continue to rise around the globe and parking garages are a great solution as they are often multi-level structures that don't take up a large footprint.
I have to disagree with that assessment. If you have small children, then I concede you have a fair point, but many of the families that visit zoos have children that don't require strollers. I remember many years ago when my sister and I were in our early teens we were vsiting Melbourne and staying with an uncle. One day we walked to a tram station and caught two trams to the zoo, spent the day and then caught a couple of trams back again before walking the kilometre or so back to my uncle's place. No problems at all. And trams are very popular in Melbourne. It was also at this time that every second Saturday in Sydney I was catching a bus and walking 2 kilometres to Taronga Zoo before catching two or three buses home again at the end of the day. And having worked at Taronga I know a LOT of families in Sydney catch public transport to the zoo - sometimes with as many as six kids, with strollers and other assorted impedimenta. They make their way (either by car or bus) to a railway station, board a train to Circular Quay, catch a ferry across the harbour, and then get a bus to the top entrance. And then they do the reverse to get home again. They may be travelling for two hours each way, and I would hate to be one of those parents, but plenty of them do it. Hix
In terms of a multi-story carpark I find it very hard to believe people would accept one of these being built on park land. In Britain at least they are universally ugly structures. From what I remember of the surroundings of Melbourne Zoo, at least near the entrance, it would be a real shame to parking of any kind.
There is a new erea on the other side of the butterfly house were the old spider house was:Mini to Maxi | Zoos Victoria
Melbourne zoo visit:28/12/2016 I arrived early as it was less crowded.The gorillas were near the viewing glass and I noticed slight bits of aggression towards Yuska from Otana.The treetop monkey erea has changed.The line-up is now (Gibbons,empty,spider monkeys,second gibbon viewing glass,Capchuins,Capchuin,colubus,empty,Construction).Binjai was in the tiger exhibit along the Asian forest.Elephants had normal line-up of Ongard in the pool paddock,Females Mali and Man jai in main paddock and Bong su in the bull.I spoke to an orang keeper about breeding orangs and she said the enclosures are max sized at the moment with the amount of orangs in them so breeding won't commence until an export happens.The orang enclosure line up went ,Santan (netted enclosure),Maimunah and Dewi in the day room enclosure,Kiani,gabby and Menyaru in the open aired enclosure.Giraffe and zebra were separate and I only noticed 2 giraffe on display.I think they Nukuru and Makulu (no Twiga?).I saw the lone male bongo behind the fence behind the zebra exhibit.The Leopard ridge has started constructio.Harare was sleeping when I visited he looked a bit lonely without his brothers.The wild dogs definitely need a bigger exhibit since they were running on circles. BennettL
