PARKING CUT PRAISED
Businesses welcome one-hour park trial
BUSINESS owners have praised a council plan to further cut parking periods in the Toowoomba CBD to free up space for customers.
The councillors yesterday voted to trial reducing parking in the centre strip of Ruthven St between Margaret and Russell Sts from two hours to one hour.
It comes after an 18-month discussion between the council and the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce, which was exploring major issues with the CBD’s parking layout.
The matter was also punctuated by a heavily-backed petition from business owners in February calling for action to stop CBD workers taking up customer parking.
Centre parking in Margaret St, between Ruthven and Neil Sts, was also permanently reduced to one hour after a similar trial in December 2017.
Co-owner of Ruthven St business Bungalow and Basket Sally Cleary said the move was positive, but hoped the council followed through with it.
“This is what we asked for in February, so I’m pleased it’s now come to fruition,” she said.
“Like we said from the beginning, this might not solve the problem, but it’s a step in the right direction.
“Every time I leave of an afternoon, there is always free parking there on Margaret St (thanks to the reduction).”
The Margaret St trial revealed an overwhelming number of business owners supported the change, but no qualitative data was collected by the council about where CBD workers parked instead of in the centre strip.
A previous trial of one-hour centre parking across the whole CBD in 2014 showed a 25 per cent increase in the use of the 140 centre parking spaces.
Infrastructure portfolio leader Cr James O’Shea said the trial was a step in the right direction.
“The stakeholder engagement team spoke to businesses, and 87 per cent said they wanted one-hour parking to remain and 95 per cent said there were no negative impacts,” he said.
Cr O’Shea questioned whether all stakeholders in the CBD knew where the most suitable parking areas were for their needs, noting that council parking lots on Station and Water Sts were never at capacity.
Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce CEO Jo Sheppard was pleased to hear about the trial, calling for the council to finish its strategy around parking.
The trial is expected to start on August 5.