PERTH'S PARKING POLICY: MANAGING PARKING AS AN ELEMENT OF THE URBAN TRANSPORT SYSTEM

The City of Perth is the commercial, institutional and cultural centre of the Perth Metropolitan Region, Western Australia. The region has a population of 1.3 million people and 800,000 motor vehicles. The State Government has invested heavily in providing the road and rail infrastructure required to ensure that access to the City of Perth is efficient for business and other purposes. As a result, the City of Perth is well served by a well developed regional road system and a public transport system based on high speed, high capacity electrified suburban passenger rail services and extensive radial bus services. The effectiveness of these investments has been compromised by rapid growth in parking, particularly for commuters working in the City of Perth. In the mid-1990s there were two parking spaces for every three persons employed there, and road congestion and air quality were becoming of increasing concern to residents and businesses in Perth. The Perth Parking Policy was developed to provide the State Government with strategic influence on the development and use of parking in the City of Perth. Elements of the Policy include controlling the types and amount of parking that can be provided, requiring parking bays to be licensed by the Minister for Transport and collecting a licence fee which is used to improve local access within Perth in order to reduce car circulation within Perth. This paper describes the intent, development and implementation. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD E200461.