Lord Mayor Sally Capp defends scrapping free Sunday parking in CBD

Lord Mayor Sally Capp has continued to back a new council plan to halt free Sunday parking. See what motorists will be charged to park in the CBD.

The council says its plan is to improve ‘frustrating experiences for drivers in the city’. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Lord Mayor Sally Capp has doubled down on a new council plan to scrap free Sunday parking in the CBD.

The City of Melbourne on Thursday released its final Parking and Kerbside Management Plan, which includes changes to off-peak parking fees and the introduction of after-hours paid parking.

The Sunday Herald Sun last week revealed the council was planning to extend paid parking to Sundays and past 8.30pm.

All meter parking in the CBD will be restricted to two hours while motorists will be slugged $4 per hour for Sunday parking as part of the council’s plan to overhaul the city’s kerbside spaces.

With the council seeing increased demand for weekend street parking around the city, the introduction of paid parking on Sundays aims “to promote turnover and attract more customers for traders”.

Ms Capp told Neil Mitchell on 3AW that thousands of motorists try to pay for parking on Sundays.

“We are getting as many people in on Sundays as we do on Saturdays,” she said on Friday.

“We have thousands of people who try to pay for parking on a Sunday so we have decided to make it consistent on Saturdays and Sundays.

“We get a lot of feedback and the data actually shows, when something is free, you don’t get the turnover and traders are wanting to see turnover on that street parking so that more customers can come.”

Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp has defended the changes. Picture: Quinn Rooney

Ms Capp said a trial on Russell St revealed almost a 50 per cent increase of people when paid parking was introduced.

It will cost thousands of dollars to replace all meter signs with the change forecast to bring in an extra $2.7m of revenue.

“This isn’t about a revenue grab at all, this is about making our parking system work better for our traders and to keep our city moving,” Ms Capp said.

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra said introducing additional charges for city visitors will “stifle economic activity”.

“The best way to attract more people back to the CBD is to make the city more accessible and attractive,” Mr Guerra said.

“Unfortunately, this proposal does exactly the opposite and our members would strongly oppose additional parking charges, especially in the CBD which continues to struggle.”

Motorists will pay a discounted rate of $4 per hour for a parking bay on weekends and after 7pm, while the current hourly $7 rate will remain on weekdays.

The council will also scrap “useless” one hour parking restrictions.

All parking bays in the CBD will have a daily two hour limit from 7am to 10pm, meaning motorists will no longer be able to access coveted three or four hour spots.

Paid parking will be extended to Sundays and past 8.30pm. Picture: Jason Edwards

A council community engagement report revealed some respondents deemed current council parking fees “unaffordable” and “expensive”, while others branded the city’s one-hour parking bays as “almost useless”.

Some residents also complained about parking bays being removed for bike lanes and others raised concerns about disabled parking spaces being hard to find.

The council will introduce free parking for up to 15 minutes “to support quick trips” and will overhaul parking signage around the CBD to reduce “driver confusion”.

The council will also roll out consistent 30 minute loading zone time limits for delivery drivers and dedicated pick up and drop off zones in every street.

Ms Capp said the council wanted to “make parking simpler for people who drive into Melbourne”.

“Feedback from traders was loud and clear – they want to see more active management across on-street parking, to attract more customers and increase parking turnover,” she said.

Councillor and deputy City Transport lead Davydd Griffiths said the parking refresh would create “more accessible streets and deliver more economic benefits to businesses”.

“Our on-street parking can be complex with some parking signs, limits and charges confusing and inconsistent, resulting in frustrating experiences for drivers in the city. This plan will change that,” he said.

Parking changes will be rolled out from July pending council approval.

More than 760,000 trips are made into and around the city by motor vehicles every day.