By Cara Waters
Changes to parking in the City of Melbourne aimed at simplifying the experience enabled the council to rake in an additional $5 million in parking fines last year.
In 2023-24 the City of Melbourne collected $36.452 million in parking fines, up from $31.95 million the year before.
Contemplating space and time: Nicole Batch found the simplified parking signs in Lonsdale Street were still not easy to decipher.Credit: Chris Hopkins
The boost to the council’s coffers comes as the City of Melbourne’s debt is forecast to reach an unprecedented $216 million by the end of June.
The City of Melbourne overhauled its parking regulations two years ago in a bid to simplify signage and, where possible, apply the same rules consistently across different times of the day and week.
A council spokeswoman said more people were travelling to the CBD by car and were often staying longer due to extended hours of parking.
Lord Mayor Nick Reece said the changes to parking in the CBD had resulted in higher turnover of parking spaces.
“That’s more people finding a car park and shopping in the city, which is a win-win for drivers and traders,” he said.
Reece said parking signs and conditions were now simpler and more consistent.
“This has led to more on-street parking spaces being available, as well as a much smaller increase in parking fines than forecast – one of the anticipated benefits of the improvements.”
However, Nicole Batch, who parked in Lonsdale Street on Sunday, said the street signs were still difficult to decipher.
“We spent quite a bit of time looking at what all these signs mean,” she said.
Batch said she rarely drove into the city and while it was easy to get a park she was worried about the time limits.
“We’re going to a church service, and I don’t know that two hours is going to be long enough,” she said. “So that’s also a bit of a pain.”
Jasmine Greer and Mehdi al-Khaqany parked in Russell Street on Sunday. Credit: Chris Hopkins
Jasmine Greer, who parked in Russell Street on Sunday, said she had never received a parking fine in the CBD but the cost of the fines in the City of Melbourne, which ranges from $99 to $199, was “ridiculous”.
Greer said it was frustrating that street parking in the CBD was limited to two hours.
“That’s why we usually go to the QV [underground carpark] because it doesn’t have those time constraints,” she said.
Doctor Rebecca Clements, a post-doctoral fellow at RMIT, said enforcement was one of the most important parts in shaping behaviour around parking.
“Fines and pricing are two of the most … powerful mechanisms that we have for shifting behaviour,” she said. “It is important that there are well-enforced parking fines.”
However, Clements said it was disappointing the City of Melbourne had not done more during and after the pandemic to encourage more people to use public transport and active transport such as cycling and walking.
“It could have been a time where we gave much bigger and more integrated pushes away from car use,” she said.
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