Fees to go at two city centre carparks in Geraldton

City of Greater Geraldton councillors have unanimously agreed to abolish parking fees at two carparks in the city centre.

From July 1 all-day ticketed parking will be scrapped at parking station one, opposite Dome Cafe on Foreshore Drive, and parking station four, between the post office and Geraldton Regional Art Gallery.

People will be able to park in both carparks for free for a maximum of two hours.

During May’s council meeting, councillors also agreed to scrap parking fees on the weekend and reduce the cost of all-day parking.

The changes will be trialled in the 2019-20 financial year as part of the updated City Centre Car Parking Management Plan.

Mayor Shane Van Styn said the changes would help increase the turnover of vehicles parking in the city centre.

“People like to park near the doors,” he said.

“This will discourage all-day parking and assist with the activation of the CBD.

“Parking fees should be a way to control parking, they shouldn’t be a driver for revenue — that’s why we have rates.”

There is currently a mixture of free on-street parking time restrictions along Marine Terrace, Cathedral Avenue and Durlacher Street, with limits ranging from 15 minutes to two hours.

During the trial the free time limit will be changed to one hour across the board.

Councillors have also adopted a revised version of the City’s overarching transport and parking strategy.

A key objective of the strategy is to encourage people to walk, cycle or use public transport around the CBD.

“What we don’t want is to have more cars in the city,” Cr Steve Douglas said.

“I’m really pleased the strategy talks about alternative transport options. I strongly support this so we don’t end up with a clogged city centre.”