Plan to reserve more inner-city parking spots for car-sharing companies

A plan to practically give away inner-city parking spots to commercial car share operators has been meet with some strong opposition. Councils argue car-sharing reduces overall vehicle numbers on our roads, but should they be taking up already scarce spots?

A GoGet car parked in a suburban Melbourne street. Picture: Mark Wilson

More than 130 street car parks in the crowded inner-city suburbs will be handed over to commercial car share operators for less than $1 a day under a plan by the City of Yarra.

Residents in the congested lanes of Fitzroy North, Richmond and Collingwood will have even less access to parking outside their homes under the proposal.

The city already has 152 car share spaces but the latest push is for a total of 283 by 2024.

The location of the spaces is not revealed in the council report, only numbers for suburbs.

The tiny suburb of Alphington has no car share spaces but would get 13, while the crowded streets of North Richmond would have a total of 45, if approved. Central Richmond would double its number to 42.

Yarra councillor Stephen Jolly said he would oppose the plan in its current form.

“Gifting more scarce parking spots to a private company running an under-utilised business is madness,’’ Cr Jolly said.

“It’s privatisation dressed up as saving the planet. Haven’t we learnt the lesson of O-Bikes?”

Increased development as well as busy dining and business precincts in the northern and eastern inner-city has heightened the demand for on-street parking.

A GoGet car parked in a suburban Melbourne street. Picture: Mark Wilson

Bays proposed for the car share service would be located in shopping strips and resident streets, the report said.

But the council would not sacrifice metered bays nor its revenue for the service.

The council report said when car ownership was replaced by a convenient car share service users cut their total vehicle use by 15 to 50 per cent.

“Independent research indicates that one car share vehicle in urban Melbourne can replace between 7-10 privately owned vehicles thereby reducing congestion and parking demand,’’ the council report said.

Yarra Mayor Danae Bosler said the council would vote on the car share policy on Tuesday night.

Locals worry about the number of spots being taken up by car share companies.

“The proposed policy limits the number of new spaces available to car share providers to 131 additional spaces,” she said.

“There are an estimated 40,000 on-street carparking spaces in Yarra. Many of them are for resident only use.’’

Councillor Bridgid O’Brien said she broadly supported the concept of car sharing and noted some residents in Alphington were car sharing not for profit.

“However I’m not sure about those private companies taking up public carparking spaces in Yarra,’’ Cr O’Brien said.

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“We don’t have enough data on exactly where these carparking spots are going to be and which spots they are to be taken.

“Nor do we have much data on who will be using this particular service.’’

Yarra councillor Misha Coleman said she hoped car-sharing would expand and reduce the need to own a car.

Car share companies would apply to run the service.

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