In 2023, the City of Melbourne introduced a Parking and Kerbside Management Plan that committed to regular reviews of the kerbside parking system based on proactive engagement in local areas and sharing the data that underpins decision-making.

Southbank has approximately 2,800 on-street parking spaces managed by the City of Melbourne. 16 per cent are restricted for certain users (accessible bays or loading zones). 95 per cent of the remaining parking bays are managed with a fee to encourage turnover and optimise availability of parking spaces. 71 per cent of the bays available to all users are time-restricted. Considering all usage types, 65 per cent of parking in Southbank is paid and time-restricted.

On-street parking constitutes a small share of the parking available in Southbank. A further 11,000 commercial public off-street parking spaces are also available. Some are provided by certain destinations and others by third parties for general use.

A key principle of these parking improvements is that the changes are not 'set and forget'. As part of our commitment to review them each year to make sure they are working well, we checked in with the Southbank community in November 2024.

This check-in process included two online workshop consultations and online surveys. Following this check-in, we completed further improvement works in January 2025.

We will be back in Southbank in the second half of 2025 to see how these changes have worked and hear from community again.

Over 500 survey responses and 52 session participants plus a range of submissions from community, organisations, businesses and visitors.

All of Southbank

"Probably shouldn't have on-street parking at all. Could be a lot nicer with trees and stuff that way. At the moment it's depressing and barren."

"Managing 2 wheeled vehicles needs to be made a higher priority - users leave them in the middle of footpaths or in private space."

"Motorcycles parked between a drop-off parking bay and the building entrance, blocking pedestrian access."

"The new parking restrictions severely prohibit visits from our family who live in the country. When they visited they used to stay overnight during the weekend but with the new parking restrictions they either have to move their car every 3 hours before 10pm. Including weekends which is ridiculous as the car spaces are empty."

"Parking is incredibly expensive and scarce in this area, and can be a major issue for events in the area as well as every day parking for workers."

"Probably shouldn't have on-street parking at all. Could be a lot nicer with trees and stuff that way. At the moment it's depressing and barren."

"workers parking is needed at key locations"

City Road Zone

"Weekend parking is especially restrictive for family and visitors. It would be helpful to be able to provide a visitor permit to allow guests to stay longer than the mainly 2h limits."

"The time limits do not cater for the majority of people in the area who work a 9-5 +++ on the whole it is too expensive."

"The introduction of 3 hour parking until 10pm restricts the availability of parking for theatre and concert goers."

Coventry Zone

"The different sections of Southbank need to be considered, what works for the City Road area will not work for Wadey Street/Dorcas Street areas."

"I cannot believe you are changing parking signs in Sturt St and Wells St. It is highly residential and you have not taken this into consideration."

"Recently parking fees have increased markedly. Very costly considering the nearby school - VCASS. Paid parking times have been extended. "

"Please return the all-day parking option."

"There are hundreds of empty parking spots around Vic Barracks every day. These used to be all day parking but have now been converted to three-hour parking. They are almost always empty."

"There has been no recognition that the "ANZAC" residential area south of Grant Street along Wells, Dodd, Coventry and Miles Streets is a different neighbourhood than the high-rise apartment on the river and along City Road."

Key recommendations were made from the above feedback. Below is an outline of these recommendations and next steps.

Completed improvements:

1. Different zones for different uses – we have established key zones across Southbank that reflect different parking demands. These include ‘City Road’ and ‘Coventry’.
2. No restrictions after 9pm – we have updated parking time limits to end at 9pm each day in the ‘City Road’ and ‘Coventry’ zones.
3. More time to park – we have adjusted parking time limits from two to three hours in select locations in the ‘City Road’ zone.
4. All-day parking – we have provided more untimed meter parking spaces (‘P Meter’) in the ‘Coventry’ zone.
5. We have updated the parking fee rate so off-peak rate starts earlier at 4pm on weekdays.

Accepted as priority consideration for the next annual review in the second half of 2025:

1. Reallocate more kerbside space for non-parking uses, including trees, pedestrian crossings and bike parking.
2. Design a standard lay out for parking at high-density building entrances that meets the needs of building including loading zones, Pick-up/Drop-off, car share, and accessible parking bays.
3. Changed boundaries to fee areas in Southbank so fees can be more easily be adjusted in different zones, including City Road Zone, Coventry Zone and Gardens Zone.
4. Consider restoring ‘P Meter’ long stays on one side of Dodds Street.

Under investigation, so we can understand if these recommendations are the right fit for your neighbourhood:

1. In the Riverbank area, switch controls from 2P/$7 per hour to the outside-of-CBD rate of 3P/$4 per hour.
2. Charge short stays of under 3 hours at a minimum rate.
3. Allow all-day parking (P Meter) to be charged at a single all-day rate at the meter, rather than pay per hour.
4. Introduce all-day fees. The suggested fees are $15 on weekdays and $5 on the weekend.
5. Allow users to purchase two weekend days of $5 per day in one transaction.

No change:

1. Retain parking controls 7-days a week and the 3P short stay limit.
2. No change to current settings in Gardens Zone.
3. Retain all day fee of $2 per hour in Linlithgow and Birdwood avenues.

We won’t set and forget the new conditions.

We will be back in Southbank in the second half of 2025 to see how these changes have worked and hear from community again.

Now that immediate works following the November 2024 check-in have been completed, we'll give the community time to adjust and then review the functionality and performance of the changes.

Any further feedback regarding these changes will be incorporated in the next Southbank parking review, which will happen in the second half of 2025.

For more information about the general improvements to parking we’ve made in Southbank, visit Better Parking. For more detail information about changes in your street go to Parking works.

You can have your say any time on parking in your neighbourhood by completing the survey.

In 2023, the City of Melbourne introduced a Parking and Kerbside Management Plan that committed to regular reviews of the kerbside parking system based on proactive engagement in local areas and sharing the data that underpins decision-making.

Southbank has approximately 2,800 on-street parking spaces managed by the City of Melbourne. 16 per cent are restricted for certain users. 95 per cent of the remaining parking bays are managed with a fee to encourage turnover and optimise availability of parking spaces. 71 per cent of the bays available to all users are time-restricted. Considering all usage types, 65 per cent of parking in Southbank is paid and time-restricted.

On-street parking constitutes a small share of the parking available in Southbank. A further 11,000 commercial public off-street parking spaces are also available. Some are provided by certain destinations and others by third parties for general use.

In Southbank, the cycle of regular reviews began with a round of engagement between October 2023 and January 2024. The engagement process included resident surveys, intercept surveys and discussion, a business survey sent to business owners, managers and employees.

There were 50 survey responses, 80% of which were from residents.

On average, residents were neutral about parking time limits and agreed that parking signage was easy to understand.

Residents generally agreed that some parking spaces are always full.

Conversely, respondents were generally neutral about the availability of on-street parking which suggests that although they may perceive parking to be somewhat scarce, this is not of concern.

Respondents tended to consider that at least some parking could be repurposed.

Recommendations have been made to council that include:

• Consistent controls across the neighbourhood.
• Extended hours for on street parking restrictions.
• Long term parking options moved to the Garden precinct.

The first set of changes for Southbank have been designed and implementation began in March 2024.

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 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. This review of how the changes are functioning and updates took place during a ‘check in’ from November 2024 - January 2025. Read more in the check in tab.

For more information about the general improvements to parking we’ve made in Southbank, visit Better Parking. For more detail information about changes in your street go to Parking works.

We will be back in Southbank in 2025 to see how initial changes have worked and hear from community again.

You can have your say any time on parking in your neighbourhood by completing the survey. The next review of your neighbourhood will use this data to inform future changes.