With more people living and visiting West Melbourne than ever before, and changes to the way people use on-street parking, we’re making adjustments to parking to help keep your community moving.
We spoke to the community in 2024, worked with parking management experts, crunched the data and studied how people are using on-street parking spaces in West Melbourne. This helped us to develop proposed parking changes that will deliver simpler and more available parking. To learn more about what the West Melbourne community told us in 2024, visit our consultation summary page.
We know that businesses, residents and visitors use these spaces in a variety of ways, so we want to know your thoughts on the proposed changes to make sure we have the balance right.
You can explore the proposed changes by selecting the interactive spots on the image, or read the text only description of the proposed changes below.
What we heard
The number of parking permits issued in West Melbourne matches the number of permit-excepted parking bays, so no change is needed.
Proposed change
If you have a resident permit, the number of bays you can park in won't change.
What we heard
Parking signs are inconsistent and don’t account for weekend pressure on parking, especially during events.
Proposed change
We're making parking signs simpler and more consistent, and updating paid parking bays to 7am to 7pm, Monday to Sunday.
What we heard
Free one-hour parking bays (1P signs) support short stops and residents.
Proposed change
There will be no changes to free 1P parking across West Melbourne.
What we heard
Metered one- and two-hour parking (1P Meter and 2P Meter) does not provide enough time for people parking in West Melbourne.
Proposed change
We will extend all one- and two-hour metered parking bays to three-hour parking (3P Meter). This will support a greater mix of stays, and you pay only for how long you stay. There will be no change to the existing parking rates in West Melbourne.
What we heard
Some streets have demand for parking into the evenings – and having extended parking times (after 7pm, with selected exceptions for resident permits) is working well, so no change is needed.
Proposed changes
If parking conditions already apply later than 7pm in a street (for example, until 10pm or 11 pm), this won’t change.
What we heard
Loading Zones are essential for both businesses and residents, but signs are inconsistent and can be confusing.
Proposed change
We will simplify all Loading Zone times to 30 minutes from 7am to 7pm, Monday to Sunday.
There are growing pressures on parking and traffic across West Melbourne such as road upgrades, the 2025 opening of Arden Station and inconsistent metered parking in already metered locations.
The map below shows where proposed paid parking changes will occur.
You can also download a PDF of the map: Proposed changes to paid parking bays to improve availability (PDF 8648 KB).
You can explore the proposed changes by selecting the interactive spots on the image, or read the text only description of the proposed changes below.
What we heard
There are growing pressures on parking and traffic across West Melbourne such as the West Gate link to Dynon Road and the 2025 opening of Arden Station.
Proposed change
Parking meters will be installed in a 200 m radius of North Melbourne station. All bays that let you park for two hours or longer will become paid parking. This will help make sure people using the station do not park their cars in the area for long periods of time, taking up limited kerbside space for local businesses and residents.
What we heard
There is an existing network of metered parking in West Melbourne (see map), however, on each street with metered parking, some bays are not included. This puts additional pressure on parking availability in these locations, with people leaving their vehicles in these un-metered bays for long periods.
Proposed change
On streets where parking meters already exist, we will make parking more consistent by making all bays that let you park for two hours or longer, paid parking.
In addition to the above proposed changes, some changes to parking in West Melbourne will also be progressively rolled out across the entire municipality:
The introduction of ‘15 minutes free parking’ when you log your parking session with the EasyPark app for any paid parking bay.
This has been introduced in the CBD, Carlton and Southbank.
In the CBD, free 15-minute parking sessions increased from 30,714 in July 2023 to 63,812 in July 2024.
This supports a range of parking needs including pick-up and delivery, quickly stopping at a shop or business, running errands or picking up a friend.
Short stay signs such as P10 (10-minute parking) or 1/4P (15-minute parking) will be changed to a “No Parking” sign you see here.
A "No Parking" sign means you are not allowed to park your vehicle in that area, but you can stop for a maximum of two minutes to quickly drop-off or pick-up passengers or goods – as long as you stay within three meters of your vehicle and do not leave it unattended. This makes spaces more available for quick stops and ensures turnover remains high.
Keep clear spaces across West Melbourne will be reviewed to ensure the best use of road space.
Some existing Keep Clear areas in West Melbourne are no longer in use because businesses have moved. These spaces will be reviewed, and parking will be updated if there is no longer demand for this space.
Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners
The City of Melbourne respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land we govern, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong / Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin and pays respect to their Elders past and present. We acknowledge and honour the unbroken spiritual, cultural and political connection they have maintained to this unique place for more than 2000 generations.
We accept the invitation in the Uluru Statement from the Heart and are committed to walking together to build a better future.
