Mountain Scene asked council to provide a breakdown of carparks available in the wider CBD in July, 2019, compared to this July.
The Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) response points out the last survey was completed last October — and they haven’t conducted a follow-up survey or manual count since.
The spokeswoman also notes "some roads and parking areas" were closed due to construction during the last count, so weren’t included.
Areas directly affected by construction when the survey was carried out were Man St, from Camp St to Thompson St, where 82 carparks had been available, the Rec Ground carpark at Robins Rd, where there had been 74, and Henry St — part of the new arterial bypass — which used to have 42 parks.
In all locations, per last October’s survey, zero parks were counted.
But the LGOIMA response shows 80 parks have been removed — the largest decrease is in Park St, from the Queenstown Gardens to Coronation Dr, where the number of parks have halved, from 98 to 49.
In 2019, 93 of the parks were free all day, four had a 15-minute restriction and one was a permit park. There are no longer any all-day parks there, with 47 having 15/60-minute restrictions, depending on the time of day, and two are permit parks.
Eleven paid parks have been removed on Ballarat St, between Stanley St and Henry St, though there’s been an additional 19 parks put in at the lower Ballarat St 180-minute pay and display.
Ten 240-minute parks have disappeared from the Queenstown Gardens, excluding the Queenstown Ice Arena parks, taking the total there down to 60.
There are now about 191 free, unmarked all-day parks, in Park St between the Frankton Track and the Queenstown Gardens entrance, a reduction of about five, and another five have been removed from Gorge Rd, between Robins Rd and Stanley St, taking the total there to 20.
Previously, all 25 of those parks were free all day — now there are three of those parks, and 17 with a 180-minute limit.
And while 22 parks have been added on Robins Rd, from Camp St to Gorge Rd, that’s resulted in the removal of 47 all-day parks.
In July 2019, of the 51 parks there, 36 were for all-day parking, there were seven 15-minute parks, and eight 60-minute parks. There are now four all-day parks, 10 for up to 15 minutes, eight for 60 minutes, and 51 ‘15/60 min’, where the duration changes depending on the time of day.
The number of parks at the Boundary St carpark (140) and Lower Ballarat St carpark (33) remain unchanged.
The information provided doesn’t include the addition of the 130-space pay and display Lakeview carpark, which opened in October, 2022. Conversely, it has also not captured the parks on CBD streets themselves, and Brecon St, between Man St and the Skyline gondola, which was upgraded and had carparks removed.
