How can we raise $10 million per year for our streets?
We’re banging on about spending a lot of money…So what you got tonight was a little bit of an entree of the debate that we’re going to have around the budget, because to do all of those things, we need to have the money for it…And therefore, what I encourage all of you watching tonight, and all of you who are here tonight, is to work with your ward councillors and work with this council…How can we make better use of our assets and our staff?…We have to be bold, and we have to take hard decisions in order to be able to finance the work that we want to do…I invite you all to participate in those discussions so we get a better budget out of it in the long run.
Mayor speaking on 11 February 2025
Charge commuters a reasonable fee to park all-day in Yarra
Commuters like driving to Yarra because 3/4 of on-street parking bays are offered for free.
This compares with off-street parking costing commuters up to $27 per day.
Council could ask commuters to pay a fee to park each day in Yarra, aligning with the $11.40 for a daily Myki (public transport) fare. For example, if Council charged a fee to park all-day, the number of spots occupied by commuters might fall from 2/3 to 1/3 of Yarra’s 47,000 bays. If those 1/3 were used for 250 days each year (5 business days per week for 50 weeks), then the revenue would be $44 million per year (1/3 x 47,000 x 250 x $11.40 = $44 million). Council can do this by selling digital permits via a smartphone app, without increasing the main cost for enforcement, i.e. the number of parking inspectors.
Charge residents & businesses $1 per day to park in Yarra
Yarra sells residential & business parking permits for 15 cents per day ($56 per year). These are in high demand, with council issuing approximately 20,000 permits each year. If the price was increased to $1 per day then Yarra would raise an extra $6 million per year. This price would be comparable to the fee charged by the City of Vancouver for residential on-street parking permits in the high demand West End area. Note that such a change would not impact the households who receive a free parking permit, based on approved concessions.
These ideas aren’t new
Increasing the price of parking to provide revenue for safe travel infrastructure isn’t a new idea. Here’s a local resident suggesting it in 2016:
Revenue from the state government’s congestion levy
After advocacy from Streets Alive Yarra, and negotiation in the Legislative Council, the state government will return a portion of the congestion levy to councils to support active transport. This adds a further $3 million per year of revenue that can be allocated toward infrastructure for active transport.
Conclusion
Council can easily access enough revenue to allow it to allocate $10 million per year to infrastructure for walking and biking. The main opportunity is to charge non-resident commuters a reasonable fee ($11.40) to park all-day, which could raise up to $44 million per year. Charging residents $1 per day for permits could raise $6 million per year. In addition, the state government offers $3 million per year from the congestion levy.