Rates hike pushes search for parking online
Sydneysiders are gritting their teeth at the prospect of feeding yet more hard-earned into government coffers – this time on account of a massive increase in the Parking Space Levy.
The beginning of the new financial year saw the levy increased from $950 to $2,000 a year for off-street, non-residential parking spaces in the Sydney, North Sydney and Milsons Point business districts – a jump of 110 per cent.
But for Francis Armstrong, the founder of findacarpark.com, the increase has led to a welcome boom in business.
The site is designed to bring together people with vacant car spaces, who lease them to motorists for a privately negotiated fee.
Armstrong says he has seen a 40 per cent increase in Sydneysiders using the site over the last six months.
While he is prepared to attribute the majority of this increase to the economic climate, Armstrong said he expects business to improve as a result of the increased levy. “When Victoria increased its parking charges in 2006 by 100 per cent, from $400 to $800, we saw a 35 per cent jump, straight up,” he said.
Created in 2005, the nationwide site now claims 5000 individual users a day. The problem, Armstrong says, is not the number of people visiting, but the number of spaces. “It peaked at 2500 spaces, and now it’s down to a few hundred – south of 380 I think,” he said.
“[Less spaces are available as] more people are going to work, because Melbourne’s public transport has been having so many problems.”
The majority of the spaces offered on findacarpark are in the CBD, from residential and office apartment blocks.
According to Mr Armstrong, the average monthly rental for a car park in NSW is $298.25.
by Shant Fabricatorian
