Zoos with outrageous parking fees

Zoos in city centres or suburbs are always likely to charge high costs for parking, not least because their car park would be overtaken by non-visitors very quickly if it were found out to be free or cheap. In addition, as others have suggested, those zoos are much more likely to be accessible by public transport, which should be encouraged - and the cost of land is higher in those locations.

Out in the sticks there's much less justification - public transport is often thin on the ground (wrongly, of course, but we have to deal with reality as we find it!) and there is likely to be little other reason for anyone to want to park there.

I do remember being rather taken aback by the charges to park at Selwo Aventura - it was about €10 as I recall to park - right at the furthest edge of a loose urban area and a fair way from a bus route (and entrance wasn't the cheapest already!).
 
What about Disney's Animal Kingdom and the SeaWorld Parks. As far as I remember the parking fee there is/was somewhere between 20 and 25 bucks. And that added to an entrance fee of 70 to 125 USD...:rolleyes: (okay, with tax included;))

At Zoo Zurich, the parking fee is 2 SFR (= about 1.70 Euros/1.96 USD) the first hour, 9 SFR for 4 hours and 15 SFR for 8 hours. However, you have to keep in mind that most swiss zoos are easily accesible with public transport (although this might be not always cheaper as a parking fee).
 
There is an easy solution to keep non-visitors from using zoo parking in urban areas. Just charge the full zoo admission fee at the parking gate and let drivers scan their ticket at the walk-in gate. (Free zoos like Saint Louis and Washington DC are exceptions). I do agree public transport should be encouraged and I have used this myself on several zoo visits in both USA and Europe. I am not sure what to do about that - maybe paid parking is the only realistic solution? However, at least in USA, I don't know anyone who would take the bus just because a zoo charges for parking. They would rather just pay the parking. (And don't get me started on how many monster pickup trucks I see on the road here in USA...).
 
zoomaniac said:
New What about Disney's Animal Kingdom and the SeaWorld Parks. As far as I remember the parking fee there is/was somewhere between 20 and 25 bucks. And that added to an entrance fee of 70 to 125 USD...:rolleyes: (okay, with tax included;))
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I don't remember a parking fee at SeaWorld, I wasn't the one driving though so maybe there was and I just missed it.

Arizona Docent said:
I do agree public transport should be encouraged and I have used this myself on several zoo visits in both USA and Europe. I am not sure what to do about that - maybe paid parking is the only realistic solution? However, at least in USA, I don't know anyone who would take the bus just because a zoo charges for parking. They would rather just pay the parking
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The problem is that in most areas of the USA, our public transport is very limited and inefficient outside the big cities. Unless you don't have a car, taking the bus is a waste of time most places.
 
I’m glad my local zoo has free parking. I’m also grateful to have a car plus live close enough to walk (we used to ride our bikes or walk there during the summer) because getting there by bus would require transferring at least twice each way!

I have no problem with free admission / NON-PROFIT zoos charging for parking, though. The parking fee hopefully goes back into the zoo so they’re still getting money to “keep the lights on” so to speak. When you think that a lot of zoos charge $30 or more for admission and you get free parking, what’s the difference in flipping it around? But to change $30 admission then another $30 for parking, that’s too much
 
azcheetah2 said:
...When you think that a lot of zoos charge $30 or more for admission and you get free parking, what’s the difference in flipping it around?...
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Having visited well over a hundred zoos in USA and Europe, I can guarantee you there are NOT a lot of zoos that charge $30 or more for admission. Aquariums maybe, but not zoos.
 
Arizona Docent said:
Having visited well over a hundred zoos in USA and Europe, I can guarantee you there are NOT a lot of zoos that charge $30 or more for admission. Aquariums maybe, but not zoos.
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lol. I think San Diego is the only place I’ve paid that much. There’s a lot of zoos I’ve never been to so I don’t know how much they change and was basing my comment on the possibility that they did charge that much. My mistake. :)
 
azcheetah2 said:
lol. I think San Diego is the only place I’ve paid that much. There’s a lot of zoos I’ve never been to so I don’t know how much they change and was basing my comment on the possibility that they did charge that much. My mistake. :)
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The zoo parking actually had a fee when you visited? I know the zoo does have parking for free due to their deal with the city, at least in the parking lot immediately in front of the zoo, and the Safari Park is 15 for regular vehicles with RVs being 20. The only one I can think of that can cost that much possibly is Sea World but I haven’t been there in so long so I can’t say for sure.
 
@azcheetah2 No problem. Yes San Diego is very expensive, I think around fifty bucks? Compared to other zoos I have seen I don't really think it's worth that much. My local zoo I can buy an annual membership for less than that.

@Julio C Castro No I think she is saying the zoo admission was over thirty dollars, NOT that she had to pay for parking.
 
Arizona Docent said:
@azcheetah2 No problem. Yes San Diego is very expensive, I think around fifty bucks? Compared to other zoos I have seen I don't really think it's worth that much. My local zoo I can buy an annual membership for less than that.

@Julio C Castro No I think she is saying the zoo admission was over thirty dollars, NOT that she had to pay for parking.
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Ah understood, that was my bad :D
 
Lincoln Park Zoo's high parking price is exactly why a) I'm a member (free parking is a perk) and b) I always encourage my friends who are visiting the zoo to use public transportation. I went to Shedd Aquarium a few weeks ago on a free day and parking in the Soldier Field garage was $20 - which actually is fairly inexpensive by Chicago parking garage standards but it's still ridiculously high.

Brookfield Zoo is $15, which I thought was a bit steep, especially compared to the admission price (almost $25). I ended up paying almost $40 to get in, and it was just me that went.
 
Arizona Docent said:
There is an easy solution to keep non-visitors from using zoo parking in urban areas. Just charge the full zoo admission fee at the parking gate and let drivers scan their ticket at the walk-in gate. (Free zoos like Saint Louis and Washington DC are exceptions). I do agree public transport should be encouraged and I have used this myself on several zoo visits in both USA and Europe. I am not sure what to do about that - maybe paid parking is the only realistic solution? However, at least in USA, I don't know anyone who would take the bus just because a zoo charges for parking. They would rather just pay the parking. (And don't get me started on how many monster pickup trucks I see on the road here in USA...).
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Just a word on public transportation coming from one whom has used public buses to getting to zoo's in US for over 40 years now. One would hope that public transportation would be included along at least one route that would encourage others that they to could go to the zoo. Some cities actually have limited service and only operate during the summer months, and or only weekend service. It's a shame cause some of the greatest visiting days are in the off season, and in bad weather. Once years ago I actually walked from downtown Oklahoma City all the way to the zoo, and back. Ya it was a leg of journey, but at that time of year I remember resting in a local park along the route and was able to observe a lot of tiger swallowtails hanging out in the trees! I assuming I got to catch a little migratory behavior starting to happen.
 
Melbourne Zoo introduced a parking fee to help visitors arriving by car. The zoo is in the middle of a large park and has excellent train and tram (streetcar) connections with the city centre. Commuters were parking in the zoo's parking lots then taking public transport to work. A 6 hour limit with a $2 fee put a stop to that, and opened up parking to zoo visitors again.

Otherwise most zoos in Australia don't charge for parking. Taronga Zoo has a $15 per car charge in their parking garage, but they are situated in one of the most expensive suburbs in Australia. Adelaide Zoo is on the edge of the city and best I can remember does not have it's own parking so I imagine street parking there might be expensive.
 
Tierpark Langenberg in Switzerland advertises itself as free. When I arrived on the site, it turned that only paid parking is available, and the zoo is free but the parking costs CHF10. I didn't go there out of principle.

It remembered me of the story how Nasreddin promised to give away his own steed for free, but later added that its horseshoes cost ten gold coins.
 
I can absolutely understand your anger, @Jurek7. However, that being said you should notice that parking fees are a not unimportant source of income for the Wildnispark Zuerich, which is a foundation and runs the Tierpark Langenberg and the Naturerlebnispark Sihlwald (Forest, Museum, Otter exhibit, woodfire stations, playgrounds).
 
Jurek7 said:
Tierpark Langenberg in Switzerland advertises itself as free. When I arrived on the site, it turned that only paid parking is available, and the zoo is free but the parking costs CHF10. I didn't go there out of principle.

It remembered me of the story how Nasreddin promised to give away his own steed for free, but later added that its horseshoes cost ten gold coins.
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Are there ways to avoid this parking fee? For instance access to public transport or bike racks provided? Maybe they see it as a way of encouraging visitors to use some more ecologically acceptable form of transport?

Reserve Zoologique de Calviac offers a discount to visitors who arrive by bus or bike. How would you feel about that? Would you see that as discrimination?
 
@MRJ: Yes, this is possible (Tierpark can be easily reached by bus, the Museum and Otter exhibit are right at a train station). And yes, this is exactly the intention.
 
@MRJ There is a bus line. I checked - one bus per hour.

When you think that an average bus has capacity of about 80 passengers and maximum 4 children trolleys, then a proposal of making more people come to a zoo by bus is not serious.
 
It really depends from where you are coming and where you enter the Wildpark/Tierpark. Beside the bus Jurek7 mentioned (240), there is also bus 140 (with a 10 min walk to the park entrance). Or you can take the SZU train to Wildpark Höfli, from where it is just a 5 minute walk (not wheelchair accessible) to the lower entrance of the park.
Interested people may check here:
Anreise | Wildnispark Zürich
 
Zoomaniac, the second bus is barely 2 an hour, and the train is 30 minutes walk on foot. Anyway, public transport leads you only once per hour to the zoo. And, on top, the main visitors are families with small children, for which long travel in suburban public transport is uncomfortable.

Fahrtauskunft

This is, unfortunately, common that restricting cars ignores that the public transport is not there to take over. And the people who preach it don't know the public transport themselves.
 
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