Finding street parking in Sydney made easier under new trials

Parking in Sydney is set to be made easier with two new trials helping motorists find suitable places to park on the streets, as well as taking the confusion out of parking signs.

Finding a park in the street is set to become a lot less stressful under a new state government trial where technology will guide drivers to the most suitable spots.

The Transport for NSW trials are being rolled out at two Sydney suburbs with plans for the technology to be expanded across the city should it be deemed a success.

And while it is early days, experts say the technology also has the capability of directing motorists to free spaces in the street in real time in the future.

The first trial involves a “parking finder” website where motorists will be able to find spaces in Manly.

Developed by Spot Parking, the interactive Northern Beaches Parking Finder website allows motorists to input how long they want to park for before a map is shown where free spaces may be available.

The maps also highlight paid parking spots, council parking stations, park and ride and car share spaces as well as loading zones and no stopping areas.

Jenna McDonald welcomes a new parking app to be trialled in Manly which directs drivers to available spaces. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Spot Parking chief founder Elizabeth Zealand said she hoped her “code the kerb” technology would make it easier for Sydney motorists to navigate all the street parking options.

“As a pioneer in the collection and digitisation of kerbside data, we are delighted to be

working with Transport for NSW and councils to code the kerb to improve urban mobility,

reduce congestion and improve driver experience,” she said.

In Chatswood, another trial is underway involving the newly developed app UbiPark where drivers will be able to scan parking signs with their mobile phones to learn more about the parking rules that apply to the space they intend to park in.

Confusing parking signs will be made more clear under the new trial. Picture: Nicole Emanuel

The app is designed to remove any confusion when multiple conditions apply.

The new online solutions were selected from Transport for NSW’s Parking Innovation Challenge, which called on innovators to find new ways to use data to deliver parking information to drivers.

And in a move to help advance the technology, the data collected from the Northern Beaches Parking Finder website will be shared via the Transport for NSW Open Data Hub to enable other innovators to use the findings to create new digital products and services.

This could include directing motorists to vacant parking spaces around the streets in real time with the existing technology already having the capability to do so.

NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the department was working with both Willoughby City Council and Northern Beaches Council on the trials which will take place over the next 12 months.

“Technology is continuing to improve the way that we move across Sydney and this will

definitely help with reducing the stress of parking,” he said.

“These trials have been developed to help drivers find parking and reduce the amount of time they spend looking for a spot.”

Transport for NSW has warned handheld mobile phones cannot be used while driving except for wen they are secured in a holder.

When a phone is secured in a holder, unrestricted licence holders are permitted to use

the phone for navigation, audio calls or playing audio.

While Learner and provisional licence holders are not permitted to use a mobile phone while

driving, they could use UbiPark app to scan signs once they had parked.