We continuously seek community feedback about on-street parking, as specific neighbourhood engagement periods are just one element of our feedback collection. The following feedback relates to specific engagement periods for Docklands and Fishermans Bend.
The feedback we received during these engagement periods has informed the improvements we will roll out, and we won’t set and forget the new conditions once works are complete. We'll give the community time to adjust and then review the functionality and performance of those changes.
You can have your say any time on parking in your neighbourhood by completing the 'always on' survey. The next review of your neighbourhood will use this data to inform future changes.
First Consultation (February to April 2026)
The conversation
In 2023, the City of Melbourne released its Parking and Kerbside Management Plan, which committed to regular reviews of kerbside parking. These reviews include proactive engagement in our neighbourhoods, and sharing the data that underpins decision-making.
For Docklands and Fishermans Bend opinions were sought on the following topics:
- The allocation of kerbside space for parking and other uses.
- Business requirements for on-street parking, including commuter parking, visitor parking and loading zones.
- Resident parking options, including car-share, off-street private parking and permit systems.
- Visitor parking, especially for workers and recreational visitors including rowing clubs, sports teams and holiday programming.
- Enforcement of parking system rules.
Gathering insights
In Docklands and Fishermans Bend, the cycle of regular reviews began with a round of engagement starting in February 2026. This engagement included a range of activities to hear from a wide cross-section of the community. These included insights gathered through business surveys, intercept surveys, interviews, and targeted communications.
You can still have your say on the Docklands and Fishermans Bend Parking Review. The ‘always on’ survey allows community members to share their views on parking at any time, rather than only during formal consultation stages. It provides a way to capture both ongoing issues and new challenges as they arise, complementing formal consultation activities. You can have your say via the 'always on' survey at any time.
How we reached you
During this cycle of engagement, we followed the City of Melbourne’s engagement guidelines to deliver accessible and inclusive engagement opportunities for the Docklands and Fishermans Bend community. These included:
- Geo-located paid social media campaign to target people who live, work or visit Docklands and Fishermans Bend. This campaign was in both English and Simplified Chinese, and reached more than 8500 people.
- Postcards delivered to more than 14,000 registered addresses in Docklands and Fishermans Bend directing residents and businesses to our survey to provide feedback. Delivery was completed with a 93.16% success rate.
- City of Melbourne news item published on the Docklands neighbourhood page.
- Participate Melbourne news article published and direct email notifications sent to subscribers of the Docklands and Fishermans Bend Parking Review page.
- Two features were included in the Business in Melbourne newsletter in February and March, which achieved open rates of 50.16% (4,928 people) and 55.36% (5,564 people).
- In-person business surveys conducted over 4 days with three field interviewers, targeted across Collins Square, District Docklands and Victoria Harbour.
- In-person ‘intercept’ surveys conducted over 5 days with three field interviewers, targeted across Ron Barassi Park, Victoria Harbour, District Docklands, Yarra’s Edge and Fishermans Bend.
- Key stakeholder interviews with Docklands Primary School, Marvel Stadium and Docklands Chamber of Commerce.
- Additionally, we interviewed two City of Melbourne enforcement officers.
We also analysed all feedback related to parking in Docklands and Fishermans Bend received through the ‘always on’ survey since it opened in February 2023, during this review phase.
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Who we heard from
We heard from residents, visitors, businesses and workers across Docklands and Fishermans Bend. We gathered feedback from 474 community members during this engagement.
with residents, workers and visitors across the precinct.
including workers, owners and delivery staff.
with local business, primary school and community groups.
from survey commencement (February 2023 to April 2026)
111 intercept surveys were conducted across 4 two-hour sessions in key locations, including The District Docklands, Victoria Harbour, Yarra’s Edge, Docklands Drive and the Marvel Stadium. Intercept Surveys collected a range of insights from workers (43%), visitors (24%), residents (21%) and students (12%).
104 business stakeholders were interviewed in focused intercept surveys. Intercept surveys were collected from a range of industry sectors, including, restaurants and cafes, retail, professional services, health and wellness centres and entertainment.
One-on-one interviews with the following stakeholders were conducted:
- Docklands Primary School
- Marvel Stadium
- Docklands Chamber of Commerce
Up to April 2026, 255 responses were received about parking in Docklands and Fishermans Bend via the ‘always on’ survey. The demographic breakdown of respondents was the following: 53% identified as female, 40% identified as male, 19% were born overseas, 11% Speak a language other than English at home, 13% identify as LGBTGIA+ and 7% identified as a person with a disability.
What we heard
The engagement activities highlighted some key parking feedback. Click each heading to learn more about what we heard on each topic.
Increase parking access
Here are some examples of what people told us:
- “Need to have dedicated drop off points for the high use areas in front of hotels”
- “There is no space for drop off/pickup in front of my building“
- “Dedicated loading zones for apartment buildings for move in/outs and contractors”
Staff parking and business needs
Here are some examples of what people told us:
- “Commercial or delivery parking is lacking, and many delivery trucks park across or limit access to residential parking”
- “Trades are taking up the majority of the parking spaces. Get there early and then park all day, fines do not deter them”
Resident parking
Here are some examples of what people told us:
- "I wish there were permit areas for residents or their visitors to park"
- "Many delivery trucks park across or limit access to residential parking"
Visitor and recreation parking
Here are some examples of what people told us:
- “There are no visitor parking spots for any of the residential apartment complexes in Docklands”
- “Lorimer St, Yarra’s Edge, should have four-hour parking”
“A two-hour street parking limit is not adequate, as our training sessions run for three hours”- “Given there is no residential or visitor permit system for Docklands, it is already difficult for us to find parking for visitors”
Evening and weekend restrictions
Here are some examples of what people told us:
- “Most of my friends don't want to visit because it's too hard to find parking even for a weekend dinner after 6.30pm”
- “Longer parking time limits on weekends please (eg. 3 hours)”
- “Parking on Saturday and Sunday should be free to encourage visitors and locals to utilise the public facilities”
Enforcement
Here are some examples of what people told us:
- “We see a parking inspector once in a blue moon.”
Here are some examples of what people told us:
- “Parking facilities at no or low cost are difficult to find”
- “Since becoming a resident, I have lost contact with my friends because the parking costs and time limits put them off visiting”
- “The cost of commercial parking in Docklands has risen on weekends from $15 to $28 for just 2-3 hours, making it prohibitive to come to training”
Impact
Community feedback received through this engagement will inform the development of proposed parking changes in Docklands and Fishermans Bend, ensuring they reflect local needs and priorities.
These proposed parking changes will also be informed by parking data collected during this engagement period, in line with the Parking and Kerbside Management Plan.
Next steps
We will be back in Docklands and Fishermans Bend in mid-2026 to share the proposed changes to parking and hear from community if we have got the balance right.
We won’t set and forget the new conditions once works are complete; we'll give the community time to adjust and then review the functionality and performance of the changes. We will undertake a comprehensive review of how these changes through the regular review cycle.
