Orange City Council has identified some parking overstay hotspots in the CBD reducing the opportunity for vehicle turnover to support business.
The hotspots include sections of Summer Street, Anson Street, Byng Street, Lords Place and Kite Street. The hotspots were identified as part of a trial of new equipment in the Council licence plate recognition vehicle. The upgrade includes camera mountings to improve legibility and accuracy of the images taken. Across the 6-hour trial period, 135 vehicles were found to be overstaying the time limit. No parking tickets were issued as part of the trial of new equipment.
Planning and Development Policy Committee chair Cr Mel McDonell said the data shows there was work to be done.
"No-one likes parking time limits and they like parking tickets even less. But they play an important role in making the CBD work and that is about making sure there is equitable access to the businesses there," Cr McDonell said.
"In the absence of time limits and tickets the CBD could quickly jam up, reducing access to business and impacting surrounding residential streets. You often hear that parking tickets are about revenue raising but Orange City Council would be happy to see revenue fall if it was a result of parking limits being followed."
The issue of motorists not complying with parking time limits has been raised by CBD businesses.
The data of the trial will be used to guide the operation of the licence plate recognition vehicle. For people looking to spend extended periods in the CBD Cr McDonell encouraged motorist to become familiar with network of carparks. Information about parking in Orange and the location of carparks can be found at Parking – Orange City Council
The procedure for the vehicle is as follows:
- The system is mounted in a marked council car, with signs stating 'Orange City Council Mobile Parking Patrol.' The equipment consists of a car-mounted fixed camera linked to a lap-top. As the car drives along, the camera takes photographs of parked cars in time-limited parking zones. The exact time, date and location of each photograph is also recorded in the computer. The computer also analyses the image and records the license plate details.
- When the patrol car makes another pass through the same area, it compares the license plate details and can determine if a parked car has over-stayed the time-limit.
- If safe to do so the parking officer then parks the patrol car nearby, and walks to where the potential offending car is parked.
- After checking that there are no mobility (disabled) permits or residents parking stickers on the car, an infringement notice is left under the car's windscreen wipers.
