Fancy paying for Sturt Street parking on your smartphone? It may be happening sooner than you think.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The next phase of the city's Smarter Parking Plan will be set before council next week, with councillors to vote on a tender to install new parking technology in the CBD.
As part of the tender, 146 new car parking meters will be installed, replacing the 200 that currently line the streets of central Ballarat.
The contract is also for number plate recognition technology to be put in place, as well as a new smartphone app which would allow people to pay for their parking.
Existing payment methods, including coins and credit cards, will still be available under the new system.
The vote on the tender will take place at next Wednesday's ordinary council meeting. It will happen in camera - behind closed doors - due to the contractual matters being discussed.
The City of Ballarat's director of infrastructure and environment Terry Demeo said that 10 companies had put forward tenders for the contract.
The results of the vote will be made public shortly after the vote is cast.
Mr Demeo said that the plan would be put in place as soon as the tender decision is made, with the new meters and apps to become available "as soon as possible".
He said the installation would be scheduled around the busiest shopping times "to cause the least amount of disruption."
Around $1.6 million was committed at the most recent budget this year to put the new technology required for the city's Smarter Parking Plan in place.
ZOOM IN TO BALLARAT TO SEE THE PAID ZONE IN PINK, TIMED ZONE IN BLUE
Other elements of the new parking set-up have already started, with the new signs and restrictions in Zone 2 - the mostly residential area just outside of the main CBD - already installed.
Under the new plan that was approved in February this year, all parking in the CBD would be free for the first hour, with it costing $3 for each subsequent hour. Off-street parking will be capped at $6.50 per day.
The plans, which have been discussed for a number of years, will see an increase in paid parking in the centre of Ballarat.
Several councils around Victoria already use mobile phone apps to allow people to pay for parking. There are a variety of other methods in place. The City of Yarra, for example, uses parking sensor technology to track how long vehicles have been parked.
In some places where number plate recognition technology has been installed, the number of fines collected reportedly has dropped as drivers become more compliant.
Last year, the Andrews government made a commitment of 1,000 free car parking places for central Ballarat, although no firm decision has yet been announced on where the parking would be.
With an influx of workers imminent to the newly installed GovHub, and more workers expected when the Ballarat Base Hospital upgrade is complete in 2026, the topic of parking is likely to continue to feature over the next few years.
Have you signed up to The Courier's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in Ballarat.