Orange City Council is making it easier for shoppers and visitors to enjoy the festive season in the CBD, with two key initiatives designed to support local businesses and improve traffic flow during the busiest retail period of the year.
From Wednesday 3 December to Wednesday 24 December 2025, parking at the Ophir Car Park will be free, giving families a cost-saving incentive to shop local and spend more time in the CBD. The initiative was supported by Council following a Notice of Motion from Deputy Mayor Cr Tammy Greenhalgh.
Cr Greenhalgh said the decision reflects Council's commitment to supporting the local economy.
"Christmas is the most important trading period for our retailers, and free parking is a simple, practical way to help," Cr Greenhalgh said.
"We want to make it easier for people to visit the CBD, shop local, and enjoy everything Orange has to offer during the festive season. This initiative has proven popular in the past, and I'm confident it will make a real difference again this year."
While the parking is free across the car park the two-hour time limit for the 36 spaces in the car park bordering Moulder and Kite streets will remain time limited. The balance of the car park is all-day parking.
To help ease congestion during the busy Christmas shopping period, Council will trial a portable traffic signal on Kite Street, operating on one lane for eastbound traffic to give cars exiting the city centre car park more frequent opportunities to move through.
Vehicles traveling east on Kite Street will meet a red light/green light traffic signal just before they reach the pedestrian crossing near the entrance and exit to the City Centre carpark. A red-light stopping vehicles on Kite Street will give time for vehicles to leave the City Centre carpark onto Kite Street. In busy times without this signal set up it has caused gridlock in the carpark and made it difficult for vehicles to leave. The signal will be for eastbound traffic only.
- Trial period: Monday 8 December until 2pm on Christmas Eve, Wednesday 24 December
- Operating times: Monday to Saturday, 10am-2pm
- Purpose: To assist vehicles exiting the city centre car park and improve traffic flow during peak shopping times
- Important: The existing wombat crossing will continue to operate as normal and independently of the traffic signal
- Temporary measure: If the trial does not improve traffic flow, the signal will be removed. Adjustments may be made during the trial, and if successful, similar measures could be considered for future peak periods such as Easter
Orange Mayor Tony Mileto said the trial aims to ease congestion during the Christmas rush:
"Traffic exiting the city centre car park can bank up at this time of year, so we're trialling a single traffic light to improve flow," Cr Mileto said.
Both initiatives aim to make shopping in Orange easier and more enjoyable, while supporting local businesses during the festive season.
