Parking in the CBD
Parking in the Townsville CBD is changing!
The Townsville City Council has developed a comprehensive strategy to tackle the city's parking blues.
The plan includes opening new free all day parking parks on the fringe of the CBD, extending city loop bus services and reintroducing regulated on-street parking to bring shoppers closer to the shops.
Key features of the plan include:
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Expanding Dean Street car park to 1000 free all day bays when it reaches current capacity of 650 spaces. It is currently running at around 45% use.
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Approximately 150 all day free car parks in conjunction with Queensland Rail on land near the old railway station.
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100 free all day car parks (just opened at Aplin St) and work with developers of Central to provide an additional 150 bays in Fletcher St.
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Around 200 free all day car parks in conjunction with Main Roads in and around the old dental clinic site at Eyre and Leichhardt Streets, North Ward.
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Launching the expanded "Redbus" inner-city loop 25-minute service. Council will contribute $60,000 for the service from parking revenue. Service will be co-funded with Sunbus and State Government and include stops at Dean St, Stanley St, Flinders St Mall, Flinders St East, The Strand and ferry terminal on Sir Leslie Thiess Drive.
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Expanding operation of the 10-minute shuttle service from Dean St to CBD via the old railway station (cost $60,000).
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Converting short-term parking in CBD to regulated $1 hour parking with pay and display machines.
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Encouraging private land owners in the CBD to provide temporary car parks.
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The Council sees the plan as the first genuine attempt to resolve the parking issues in the city for some years.
Recent studies showed that the free short term parking was not working as it has been congested by long term parkers moving their cars from bay to bay due to a lack of available options. Getting car parking right is integral to injecting life back into our city heart, especially with the huge investment in the redevelopment of Flinders Street.
All revenue from the changes to parking will be reinvested into parking improvements.
Townsville will be offering more free parking in close proximity to the CBD than any other similar sized city in Australia.
Parking strategy report
The parking plan follows a council report into existing CBD parking strategies which highlighted major issues.
These included parking spill-over into inner-city residential streets, restricted access to businesses and workers occupying short term parking areas meant for shoppers.
The plan will be fully implemented in the last quarter of the year after the new car parks have been built and the extended city loop bus services is up and running.
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Metered parking in the CBD
Please take note of parking signage in the CBD as time limits are strictly enforced.
Paying a parking fine
If you have incurred a parking fine, you can pay it online by clicking on the link.
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