COUNCIL’S PARKING CASH GRAB
Council testing lucrative pay-by-plate system
COUNCIL is testing new pay-by-plate parking meters designed to let it rake in more revenue from motorists and slash staff costs.
The meters, which don’t give change, require drivers to punch in their rego numbers and pay upfront.
The system is already being trialled at the Arts Centre and at parking bays in Holden Place, Bundall.
A council spokesperson said a wider roll-out would be considered if the trial is successful.
COUNCIL is quietly testing new pay-by plate parking technology in Bundall.
New meters that use license plate parking technology have been installed in two Gold Coast City Council managed off-street car parks in the busy Bundall commercial precinct.
Pay-by-plate systems are less expensive to set up and maintain and prevent drivers from taking advantage of parking meters that have time re- maining. In the US, the technology has been credited with increasing revenue and compliance, decreasing disputed tickets and slashing staff numbers.
The meters require motorists to punch in their license numbers and pay upfront. While they accept pay wave, card and cash, they do not give change.
The use of debit cards and credit cards means council does not have to empty the machines as often – which lowers maintenance costs.
If the trial is successful and the technology is rolled out across the city, it would stop motorists leaving their unused paid parking minutes to benefit the next driver to use the space. Instead, council would be able to pocket any unused minutes as the meter ticks over and starts again.
A council spokesman said the ‘pay-by-plate’ system was on trial in metered all day parking bays at The Arts Centre Gold Coast and two-hour paid parking bays in Holden Place, Bundall.
“The City is conducting a parking technology trial to determine the benefits of ‘paidby-plate’ over ‘pay-by-space’ in two off-street carparks,” the spokesman said
“This trial is being conducted so that officers can evaluate the pay-by-plate technology to determine how it will interface with our parking technology system.
“If the trial is successful, the City may consider using the technology in other off-street carparks within the city.”
The enforcement of license plates can either be done manually (where officer enter registration numbers into a handheld device manually) or by using automated license plate recognition (ALPR) technology in a handheld device or by vehicle mounted ALPR.
A senior council staffer said it was too early to say whether the pay-by-plate technology would be rolled out wider than the trial area. “The current trial will provide the necessary feedback and any decision on expanding the technology would need to be considered at Full Council,” the staffer said.
IT may be cold comfort when you’re circling local streets looking for a space, but the Gold Coast has the cheapest parking of any of Australia’s six largest cities.
While the cost is low, demand is high, with the city also having the highest percentage of car use as a mode of transport in the top six.
The apparent mismatch of high supply and demand with the low cost of parking could actually be contributing to locals’ ongoing reliance on cars to get around the city, although a lack of comprehensive public transport remains the biggest factor.
A Gold Coast Bulletin analysis of publicly available parking fees reveals the cost to park in CBD areas of the Gold Coast is 10 times less than in other cities.
The comparison also shows the council is one of the largest carpark operators in the country, owning and managing 21 off-street carparks on top of regulating more than 9000 on-street spaces.
Brisbane and Sydney councils operate just two carparks each, Adelaide City operates nine, while Perth’s are operated entirely through an external company.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows 68.8 per cent of Gold Coasters drive to work, compared to 52.7 per cent in Sydney, 60.2 per cent in Melbourne, 61.2 per cent in Brisbane, 66.0 per cent in Adelaide and 64.1 per cent in Perth.
Office workers are fuelling demand for parking along the Gold Coast, with commercial leasing agent Tania Moore, of Knight Frank, saying it was often the first question asked by prospective tenants.
Private carparks linked to commercial office buildings usually have one space available per 30 to 50 staff members, forcing most workers to park elsewhere.
“There’s high demand – for example, all the private carparks run by the Morris Group at Bundall are 100 per cent full, while at Robina there’s some vacant land that’s being converted to carparks now,” Ms Moore said. “I field inquiries regularly.” Ms Moore said private parking landlords were generally charging equal to or slightly above the council rates – about $95 a month at Southport, but a steeper $125 a month at Robina.
Private operators like Secure Parking and Wilson charge between $5 and $16.50 a day depending on location, while apps like Parkhound also offer privately owned spaces for about $5 a day.
The price of parking means the Gold Coast has not enjoyed the rise of parking-as-an-investment, which has seen single private car spaces sell for more than $100,000 in Sydney and Melbourne.
A Sydney owner has listed a spot for $475,000, bumping up the price from the $400,000 he listed it for in 2016 and well above the $330,000 price tag he’d had on it a year earlier.
A second space in the same residential building is listed at $295,000 and another 11 spaces for sale citywide.
Melbourne has about 10 for sale between $30,000 and $57,000, while in Brisbane there are two, for $45,000 and $48,000.
Dr Abraham Leung, a transport and land use researcher with Griffith University’s Cities Research Institute, said cheap parking reduced the cost of driving, making car ownership and usage more attractive.
“It may not directly lead to people’s reliance on cars, but it is a factor,” he said.
Dr Leung said reducing the number of spaces required in development closer to public transport could encourage more people to change their travel habits.
“A rule of thumb is that areas with better public transport, or more prone to congestion, should have less parking,” he said. “Better public transport should be offered at the same time, to encourage people not to drive.”
Dr Leung said car-dependent cities worldwide struggled with widespread public and political opposition to policies that aimed to tackle car dependence because car culture was well established.
“Parking should not be seen as a right, and it should not be seen as a free good as valuable (and limited) land is needed to provide parking in urban areas,” he said.
“It is not the most efficient way to use land as car parks as many parking spaces at commercial areas are largely empty at night time.
“Land for parking is essentially a valuable commodity and could be used as an effective policy tool for promoting sustainable transport.”