Car priority putting the brakes on Melbourne

​Motor Vehicles and Car Parking outline the issues and possible solutions relating to space, safety, congestion, pollution and cost when people choose to drive in the city.

Chair of the Transport portfolio Councillor Nicolas Frances Gilley said with Melbourne's daily population set to hit 1.4 million people per average weekday by 2036, the central city would not be able to cater for demand without major changes to the priority given to cars. 

"Make no mistake, with a few notable exceptions such as deliveries, disability and emergency services access, we are in the business of reclaiming space from cars for great shared living," Cr Frances Gilley said. 

"We need to optimise our city streets for people walking, cycling and taking public transport because that is how the majority of people move around and it's the most efficient way to move large numbers of people as our population grows.

"Our ambition is for a beautiful, liveable city where people can continue to enjoy all that Melbourne is famous for, our tree lined streets, pedestrian thoroughfares and outdoor dining." 

While driving creates congestion the issues continue once a vehicle is stopped, according to the discussion papers. There are 460 hectares of space dedicated to parking in the City of Melbourne, with on-street parking occupying space that could be used for wider footpaths and new bike paths and off-street parking underutilised.

Cities around the world are facing similar challenges with driving and parking. As a result Zurich, Hamburg, Oslo and New York have capped the total parking supply. 

"We need to change the way we think about car parking and ask ourselves if private vehicle storage is the best use of our most important public spaces," Cr Frances Gilley said.

"In San Francisco they introduced a dynamic pricing system for on-street parking that increases with demand, this resulted in a 50 per cent reduction in drivers circulating streets searching for parking.

 "There's a lot we can learn from cities around the world who are decreasing dependence on cars in order to remain economically and globally competitive. New York and London have converted road space to pedestrian zones and bicycle lanes, improving safety and increasing retail sales."    

Discouraging through traffic, providing high quality alternatives to driving and supporting vehicle sharing and car-pooling could be other solutions to reducing car dependence and congestion.

"Our city should be a place for people. At the moment 57 per cent of street space in the municipality is taken by roads and four per cent for on-street parking. That means over 60 per cent of the space is allocated to the 36 per cent of trips in and around the municipality made by private car; this is about redressing the balance."   

Feedback on the Motor Vehicles and Car Parking, along with five recently released transport discussion papers, will inform a new draft Transport Strategy later this year.

The community can submit opinions, ideas and feedback via City of Melbourne's Transport Strategy Refresh Participate website. An additional discussion paper will be released over the next month.