Townsville Parking Study highlights problems plaguing council’s parking approach
A right to information request has unearthed the controversial report used to justify Townsville’s paid parking expansion and doubled CBD parking fees. Read how it’s opened a can of worms.
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A right to information request for a controversial parking study has revealed that the CBD was almost entirely overlooked prior to Townsville City Council’s decision to double parking fees, and there was “no immediate need” for paid parking at The Strand.
The report also confirmed the absence of public consultation prior to the majority of Townsville City Councillors voting to pursue doubling parking fees to $2 per hour from late July, and expand paid parking to areas around North Ward, South Townsville, and Pimlico.
An outcry from businesses and residents prompted councillors to halt the decision on October 9, pending the outcome of further consultation and evidence gathering.
Councillors chose to rely solely on Brisbane-based PSA Consulting’s 2022 Townsville Parking Study Findings Report to guide their decision-making on paid parking, which examined existing parking supply and demand within and nearby Townsville city, to forecast future parking growth and utilisation.
Despite the significant public interest around the parking issue, and several councillors campaigning on a platform of increased transparency and accountability, Townsville City Council was unable to release the controversial report directly to the Townsville Bulletin, prompting the RTI request.
Gathering data through automatic licence plate scanning and manual surveys between December 2021 and March 2022, the PSA Report examined four on-street carparking areas at Palmer St, The Strand, Mater Precinct, Gregory Street and Mitchell Street, and the Aplin Street off-street CBD car park.
“The data for each precinct demonstrated a significant demand for parking both at present and in the future,” the PSA report concluded.
“Intervention is required to ensure that parking demand does not exceed parking supply and utilisation is kept to a maximum of 85 per cent where possible to ensure adequate utilisation and turnover of spaces.
“As the time limits were seen to generally be appropriate for each of the study areas, rather than continue to provide additional parking to meet the future demand, the introduction of paid parking is recommended as an approach that aligns with the objectives of both the Townsville Integrated Transport Plan Strategic Directions and the Townsville CBD Parking Strategy.”
PSA quoted studies carried out in the United Kingdom, New York City and Melbourne, touting the benefits of alternative transport, like bikes and public transport, rather than providing carparking – despite Townsville’s lack of uptake of these alternative transport, where just one per cent of people travel to work by bus.
“The outcomes of the literature indicate that catering to private motor vehicle use as opposed to active transport will incur a significantly higher societal cost, while the returns whether in terms of health benefits, environmental benefits or shopper spend will be lower,” PSA said.
“It is estimated that this paid parking would provide a potential source of income for council, rather than a financial burden, and could be contributed towards place making outcomes and improvements in attractiveness and accessibility to the study areas through alternative modes, including walking and cycling.”
The Strand study area
The parking study examined 517 parking spaces in The Strand, where the duration of stay was generally found to be less than 30 minutes, but just over 90 minutes on average.
“Overall parking utilisation across the study area does not exceed capacity in any of the street sections,” PSA said.
“As such, there is no immediate need for any intervention. It is noted that three street sections (The Strand between Gregory St and Howitt St, The Strand between Howitt St and Mariners Drive and The Strand between Sir Leslie Thiess Drive and King St) are approaching capacity (or are capacity) and over 75 per cent utilisation.
“By the time of the 2026 design horizon, all street sections in the study area are forecast to have utilisation rates exceeding 75 per cent.”
Gregory St and Mitchell St study area
Gregory St and Mitchell St study area contained a total of 376 parking spaces, with parking durations found to be highly variable between the different street sections, reflecting the variety of land uses.
Parking for less than 30min the most frequently observed duration, “although there were also a substantial number of vehicles parking for over eight hours”
“Longer term (all-day) parking should be discouraged in CBD areas. In the case of the Gregory St and Mitchell St study area, parking restrictions for up to three hours would be sufficient to cater for the majority of the parking demand,” PSA said.
“Some street sections (such as Mitchell St between Oxley St and Gregory St) were found to be over capacity (while) other street sections (such as Mitchell St between Gregory St and Howitt St) had parking utilisation rates below 50 per cent.
“About half of the street sections continue to have utilisation rates less than 50 per cent through to 2036 … with the other half already being overcapacity based on existing survey data.”
Palmer St study area
Monitoring a total of 322 carparks in the South Townsville area, PSA found that parking availability varied across days and parking sections, with the majority of vehicles parked for less than 1hr.
“The parking section on Morehead St between Palmer St and McIlwraith St was found to be over capacity for most of the day. Intervention will be required in this area to ensure that parking demand can be accommodated within supply,” PSA said.
“With the exception of Palmer Street between Plume St and Dean St, and Tomlins St between Dibbs St and Plume St, all street sections in the study area are forecast to be over 80 per cent utilised both currently and into the future.”
Mater Study Area
There were 338 parking spaces monitored in the Pimlico study area with the greatest frequency of parking duration found to be less than 1hr.
After an hour, the PSA found an even distribution in the length of stays, prompting it to suggest there was an “ongoing requirement for longer term parking in the study area”.
“Many street sections were found to have significant capacity issues throughout the day, with demand in some survey times found to exceed existing supply (but there) is no clear trend as to the peak times for parking in any street sections,” PSA said.
“Immediate intervention will be required for the street sections where demand exceeds supply.”
Despite flagging that its data may have been over-inflated due to the occurrence of construction activity during the survey periods, PSA said, “parking in the study area is expected to be significantly overcapacity in all but three of the street sections”.
Aplin Street study area
Containing 35 parking spaces, the CBD’s Aplin St study area was found to be below capacity for the full survey period with the most frequent duration of stay found to be less than 1hr.
“Paid parking would be effective in this off-street parking area to discourage longer-term parking,” PSA said.
“Parking utilisation was found to never exceed capacity throughout the survey period, however does reach a maximum of 94 per cent.
“Interventions should be implemented to ensure that there is sufficient parking supply to cater for future demand.”
CBD parking problem left unresolved
While Townsville City Council may have walked back its paid parking expansion, its failure to revisit the decision to double CBD parking costs, despite the lack of supporting evidence in PSA’s 2022 Townsville Parking Study, and lack of public consultation, remains a sore point for the business community.
Filling the council’s public consultation void, Townsville Bulletin surveyed CBD businesses in September about the impact of the parking hike, who uniformly panned the decision, saying it hurt them on a number of levels.
Located on Flinders St, Gecko Interiors owner Lucy Downes has added her voice to the mix, decrying how CBD businesses were granted “no such reprieve from council’s poor judgment”.
“After all, you only have to look at the CBD to see how parking meters drive locals away.
“If a community has the choice of precincts that are free to visit and precincts that aren’t they will choose the free options. Particularly when we are in a cost of living crisis.”
She said it was “infuriating” and “hypocritical” for council to respond to calls for consultation with Strand businesses and acknowledge the impact of the new meters and yet double down on keeping CBD fees inflated because the city heart “has had parking meters for a long time” and “other councils have parking meters in their CBD's”.
“As a town’s population increases over the decades, resulting in urban sprawl, it is a big ask to expect residents to make the trek into the CBD, and pay on arrival when they now have free access to shopping centres in closer proximity,” she said.
“Yes, the CBD has had parking meters for a long time but as the city evolves and other shopping/ dining destinations emerge we can’t continue to cling to outdated infrastructure that is now a clear deterrent to visitation.
“The unprecedented number of empty tenancies, boarded up arcades, for lease signs, and increasing anti-social behaviour in the CBD is evidence of that.”
She said comparing Townsville to other councils with parking meters suggested a lack of will to position Townsville as a progressive, vibrant city, distinct from others.
“If council were adamant about that argument they would have stood their ground about introducing parking meters on The Strand as Cairns has 290 paid parking meters along The Esplanade,” she said.
Working on the coalface in the CBD, she hears every day what visitors, travellers and investors say upon arriving into Townsville and “it’s grim”.
“They are shocked that a town of this size has an abandoned, desolate CBD. They expect a bustling precinct with boutiques, shops, cafes, people, services and entertainment. Many vow to never return,” she said.
“Surely now is the time for Townsville’s leaders to demonstrate a vision for the future and position the city as one that favours innovation over stagnation.
“If it’s broken, fix it. And that requires consultation and open communication lines. I rarely receive replies from council to my emails and pleas for consultation.”
Unable to convincingly explain how he’d pay for it, Townsville Mayor Troy Thompson received no support from his fellow councillors for his motion last week to abandon paid parking in the CBD altogether.
A Townsville City Council spokesman previously failed to acknowledge the adverse impact of hiking parking fees on businesses, saying the CBD’s issues were ongoing and existed prior to the council’s introduction of increased parking fees.
When approached for an interview regarding the CBD parking issue, Division 3 Councillor Ann-Maree Greaney opted to instead email through a statement which largely repeated comments provided by the council spokesman in September.
“(At the) last council meeting, the majority of councillors made their position clear that paid parking in the city centre is essential in balancing the needs of businesses, residents and workers, with the revenue contributing to the delivery of core services,” Cr Greaney said.
“Townsville city centre’s challenges have been ongoing and existed prior to council increasing parking fees by $1 on July 29 this year. Council is not immune to the challenge of rising costs across the board, and it is important to note this is the first parking rate rise in 14 years.
“I am, of course, open to hearing from and working with businesses or others who may have tangible suggestions to reactivate the city centre.”
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Originally published as Townsville Parking Study highlights problems plaguing council’s parking approach
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