Hundreds of free spaces for commuters could be cut in an Adelaide City Council parking overhaul

A free commuter parking scheme for workers is again under threat, with Adelaide City Council debating whether to scrap hundreds of free spaces on the CBD fringe.

Adelaide City Council wants motorists to use CBD car parks.

Cheap access to the CBD for workers is again under threat as Adelaide City Council plans another $100,000 trial to ban work commuter parking in North Adelaide and a free bus ride to the city.

Despite the same plan failing in 2020, the new council will again be presented with a plan to lock CBD commuters out of its mainly residential area, North Adelaide, and force them into the $20-per-day carparks it owns.

Council was on Tuesday night presented with a report on the last trial, which ended in 2020, during which time parking permits were issued to give residents priority.

Acting Lord Mayor Phillip Martin had asked for the report ahead of putting a motion for another trial to the new green-left-dominated council.

Acting Lord Mayor Phillip Martin has kickstarted another North Adelaide parking debate. NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

“No other city I know of allows circumstances to prevail in which commuter parking takes precedence over the amenity of residents, businesses and their staff and then subsidises those commuters in their remainder journey of travel to the CBD,’’ he said.

Mr Martin said the previous trial had determined that the most important people in the parking dilemma for council were ratepayers, followed by businesses, then customers, then city commuters.

“It was decided that the only way to stop people parking for ten hours, or eight hours, in those streets and impacting on the amenity … that there would be two steps to the proposal; that there would be a rationalisation of these parking spaces.

“One of the things that annoys North Adelaide ratepayers the most is to see people coming in and parking all day every day, and to see the Adelaide City Council funded free bus to travel into the city and out of the city.

“They are avoiding the need to use a city of Adelaide carpark and create revenue for the city.

“The problem persists to this day.”

Council charges workers around $20 for early bird parking at U-Park, which is similar to the hours pay rates for cafe workers.

Throughout North Adelaide, there are free parking bays where residential streets run along the Parklands.

Also CBD commuters can pay for parking up to ten hours as far north as Pennington Tce in North Adelaide, and for four hours as far north as Brougham Place and the Melbourne St precinct.

In total 340 parking spaces are made available.