(18/7/2018) Budget 2018-19: Making it easier to park in Freo

Parking in Fremantle will be made easier thanks to a number of initiatives funded in the City of Fremantle’s 2018-19 annual budget.

The most significant change is the investment of $105,000 towards an improved pay-by-phone app, which will allow motorists to find and pay for parking on their mobile phone.

The City of Fremantle’s Director of City Business Glen Dougall said the app would have a range of benefits for visitors to Fremantle, including only having to pay for the exact amount of time parked.

“Parking will be timed down to the minute, so there will no longer be any need to guess how long your stay will be,” Mr Dougall said.

“You’ll simply be able start a parking session when you arrive and stop it when you return to your car – all from the convenience of your phone.

“You won’t have to go to a meter, you won’t need to fumble around for change and you won’t need to pay the minimum credit or debit card amount, which is currently set at $3.

“The new app will also have a parking locator, where people can search for parking based on criteria like the cost per hour, time restrictions, and going forward for loading zones or ACROD parking.

“Businesses will also be able to set up a corporate account which will be very useful for tradies and corporate fleets.”     

People who don’t have a smart phone will continue to be able to start and stop parking sessions through a phone call, text message or interactive voice response.

The investment is also seeking to extend the capability to include residential parking permits.

Residents will be able apply and pay for a permit online, and they’ll be linked to licence plates so there will no longer be any need to display a printed permit.

Another benefit is that all systems will be integrated with the City’s parking enforcement system which will provide live data to our infringement system to ensure few infringement errors occur.

The tender to supply the new parking app, as part of a broader parking management system, is currently being considered by the Fremantle Council.

The 2018-19 budget also allocated $165,000 to replace the electronic parking signs at the main entrances to the Fremantle city centre on Queen Victoria Street, High Street and South Terrace, to make it easier for visitors to locate parking in the CBD.

A further $45,000 has been allocated to replace and rebrand the signs in the City of Fremantle’s carparks.

The new signs will be designed to encourage people to use the pay-by-phone system, make applicable fees and time restrictions clearer and update wayfinding information to help people find their way from the carpark to their destination.

There are approximately 5000 parking bays available in the Fremantle city centre, including over a thousand on-street bays and more than 2300 bays in the 28 off-street carparks managed by the City.

The Queensgate carpark is on track to be reopened before summer as part of the Kings Square Renewal project, however the Point Street carpark will be closed towards the end of the year to make way for the Ancora Apartments and DoubleTree by Hilton hotel development.

For more information on where to park in Fremantle visit the Parking page on our website.