Streets Alive Yarra offers the following feedback regarding some of the items on the agenda for the 11 March 2025 Council Meeting.
7.1. Extension to existing E-Scooters contract
Streets Alive Yarra supports the officer recommendation to require e-scooter operators to pay $3.20 per day per scooter (up from $1 per day), because this better reflects the costs imposed by hire e-scooters on our community, and is a step toward identifying whether hire e-scooters have a viable business model. As we wrote in our submission to the 17 December 2024 council meeting, we would also like to see the e-scooter operators contribute to the costs to establish, and then rent, on-street e-scooter parking bays:
7.5. Parking Permit Fees
Streets Alive Yarra supports the officer recommendation to defer any decision on changes to parking permit fees until the upcoming Kerbside and Parking Strategy can be developed and consulted on. Yarra has many types of permits and parking restrictions, and they should be reviewed in a holistic manner, with careful consideration given to the state government’s housing targets, which will result in an 80% increase in Yarra’s population by 2050.
Residential parking permits are sold by council at a price, e.g. 14 cents per day for a first residential permit, that is well below market value, which means that they are being subsidised. At the moment, the 16,176 residential properties with parking permits (or approximately 30% of residential properties) are being subsidised by the remaining 70% of properties which don’t have permits. This is inequitable, in a similar way to how waste collection fees were inequitable when they were collected as part of general rates, because the households who had a private waste collection service were subsidising the households who had a council waste collection service. This inequity was removed by separating out the waste charge.
If anything, parking permit fees, e.g. 14 cents per day for a first residential permit, and free all-day parking for commuters (by swapping cars in 2P or 4P zones), are too low, and should be increased to $10 per day for commuters, and $1 per day for residential permits. This would act to decrease the subsidy, and increase equity between households in Yarra.
Item 8.1. – Notice of Motion No.2 of 2025 – Implementation of Richmond Shopping Strip Parking Pilot Program
If this motion is passed, Streets Alive Yarra suggests that officers consider the following when preparing their report:
- Yarra in 2025 is not the same as 20 years ago, when demand for parking was much lower, and it was easy to park in front of Coles and duck in to pick something up. Now, demand is much higher, which means that parking needs to be more carefully managed.
- Yarra in 2050 will have a much higher population, perhaps 80% higher if we meet the state government’s housing targets of 44,000 extra homes by 2050. Many of these new dwellings will have off-street parking and will need some way of getting to local shops. There simply won’t be enough space for these new residents to park out front and duck in (for up to an hour). Instead, we should be designing our shopping streets to attract most of these new residents by walking, biking, or public transport.
- Free parking, even if limited to one hour, does not necessarily lead to increased business for traders. Shops are more accessible (by car) if drivers know that there will be a vacant car parking bay nearby. Offering free 1-hour parking risks the majority of the bays being occupied most of the time, thus dissuading potential customers.
- In a high-demand inner-city environment, it’s better to use demand responsive parking charges, which are the minimum fee necessary to ensure that 15% of bays are usually vacant. Typically, the charge varies through the day, as demand changes. When demand is low, such as later in the evening, the fee reduces (perhaps even to zero). When demand is high, the fee is high, which encourages people to park only as long as they need.
- Parking policy should reflect how Yarra is likely to change in the coming years. We know that Yarra’s population is increasing, and so are the number of vehicles, as well as demand for parking. Phasing in the use of demand responsive parking charges is one way of future proofing Yarra’s parking policy.
8.3. Notice of Motion No.4 of 2025 – Report on Current Status of the Capital Works Programs
Streets Alive Yarra supports transparency and open government – refer to our post from 2021. If this motion is passed, we suggest that council publish an online view-only searchable interface to all of council’s projects, noting that council defines projects with unique Project ID. As soon as a project becomes ‘active’ it should appear in the online list.
View-only data on each project should include:
- Project ID
- Project Name
- Project description
- Responsible division, branch, and unit
- Date of project becoming ‘active’
- Date originally planned for completion
- Date expected to complete (can vary through the project)
- Date actually completed (once it has been completed)
- Date cancelled (if it was cancelled)
- Reason for cancellation (if it was cancelled)
- Project budget
- Funding source(s) and amounts
- Actual amount spent (once it has been completed)
Such an online searchable view-only interface would offer transparency to both councillors and residents, regarding projects that are of interest to them.
Published 7 March 2025. Spelling & grammar corrected 11 March 2025.