Demand for parking spaces in the City of Melbourne is extremely high, with more than one million parking transactions recorded every month. Read the frequently asked questions about parking so you can safely and legally park your car when visiting the city.
Yes. Our parking officers continue to patrol the city and resumed enforcing parking restrictions across the municipality in areas with green signs from Monday 11 May 2020.
It is illegal for anyone to park unsafely. This includes parking in a space for people with a disability without a permit, blocking driveways, footpaths, clearways or bike lanes, unauthorised vehicles parked in loading, bus and taxi zones, and vehicles parked in areas denoted by red signs including no stopping or no standing zones.
‘Motorcycle only’ parking areas are still in effect, and infringements will be issued to non-motorcycles parked in these areas.
Find more information about the parking rules that apply in Victoria.
Parking restrictions in green-signed areas were temporarily suspended for several weeks to assist key workers during the first stages of the COVID-19 restrictions.
Since then, we’ve been reviewing on-road parking conditions across the City of Melbourne on a regular basis, using data from pedestrian and parking sensors and considering feedback from residents and businesses. As cars continue to return to the city, now is the right time to reinstate parking rules and resume enforcing restrictions in areas marked with green signs.
From 11 May, our parking team will be increasing their enforcement focus in green-signed areas to ensure vehicle turnover across the municipality. It’s important that normal parking restrictions resume and are enforced so that everyone has fair access to parking.
There are many commercial car parks in the City of Melbourne, including more affordable options. Some car park operators have also reduced their fees. Please check with the individual car park operators to confirm fees. See list of commercial car parking locations.
Yes, normal parking restrictions apply so you need to pay for your parking as shown on the sign. Our staff are working hard to keep our streets extra clean during this time and high-touch areas including traffic light buttons and parking meters are sanitised on a regular basis.
You can also download and sign up to the PayStay app to pay for parking directly on your phone. We recommend everyone continues to practise good hand hygiene by using hand sanitiser before and after using meters/machines.
We have issued 8000 free temporary parking permits to frontline health and emergency services workers to acknowledge their ongoing efforts to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of our community during this challenging time. This includes authorised staff from seven Melbourne hospitals, as well as Victoria Police members.
These permits apply in the City of Melbourne municipality only and allow frontline workers to park in green-signed areas without fee payment or time restrictions. Even with a permit, it remains illegal for anyone to park unsafely, or in disability bays and red-signed areas including Tow-Away Clearway zones.
We’ve issued 8000 permits to authorised staff from Victoria Police as well as the below hospitals. If eligible, your employer will issue you with a permit sticker to put on your vehicle. Please note that these permits only apply when parking within the City of Melbourne:
- The Royal Melbourne Hospital, 300 Grattan Street
- The Royal Women's Hospital, 20 Flemington Road
- The Royal Children’s Hospital, 50 Flemington Road
- Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, 305 Grattan Street
- The Alfred Hospital, 55 Commercial Road
- St Vincent’s Hospital, 41 Victoria Parade
- St Vincent’s Private Hospital Victoria Parade and Grey Street.
- Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, 32 Gisborne Street.
Parking restrictions are in operation to encourage a regular turnover of parking bays, giving residents, workers, businesses and visitors a reasonable chance of finding parking. These restrictions are regularly enforced to ensure the safe and fair use of on-street parking in the municipality.
Without regular patrols the limited number of parking spaces would be occupied continuously by the same vehicles, reducing the amount of parking for others.
In the central city the rate for short-term on-street parking is $7 per hour. Half hour parking is $3.50. The table summarises on-street parking rates which are shown on parking meters and ticket machines.
| Central city |
1 hour space per hour |
$7
|
Central city
|
2 hour space per hour |
$7
|
| Central city |
3 hour space per hour |
$7
|
Central city
|
4 hour space per hour
|
$7
|
Central city
|
All day per hour
|
$7
|
| Outside central city |
1 hour space per hour |
$4
|
| Outside central city |
2 hour space per hour |
$4
|
| Outside central city |
3 hour space per hour |
$2.50
|
| Outside central city |
4 hour space per hour |
$2.20
|
| Outside central city |
All day per hour |
$1
|
Please note: half-hour fees in the central city are $3.50 and $2 outside the central city.
There are various payment methods available to drivers, including credit card, coins and cashless parking with PayStay.
If you wish to use paid parking areas, you must ensure you have sufficient coins prior to parking. Cars parked at expired meters or without valid parking tickets are liable to receive a parking fine.
Some parking machines provide credit card facilities as an additional option to coins.
It’s a good idea to have coins handy at all times, even if you wish to pay using your credit card. In the absence of a credit card payment option, drivers still have an obligation to pay for parking where alternative forms of payment remain. All parking machines accept coins.
PayStay (pay-by-phone parking) allows drivers to pay for on-street parking using their credit card and a mobile phone. The PayStay system is available throughout the municipality.
Read more about pay-by-phone parking.
If using PayStay, remember to check that you have a valid session (for the correct zone and vehicle registration) before leaving your vehicle unattended. If you have difficulty operating the PayStay system, you should pay for your parking time using alternative forms of payment (coins or credit card).
The City of Melbourne owns two off-street car parks at Council House in the central city and Elgin Street in Carlton, which offer competitive parking rates.
Find more commercial car parks operating within the City of Melbourne.
The time you can legally occupy a parking bay is shown on the parking sign and starts as soon as your car stops in the bay. For example, you may park for no longer than one hour in a 1P signed area. This requirement applies in all Australian states.
Your parking time starts as soon as your car stops in the bay, whether or not you remain in the vehicle (for example, if you choose to finish a phone call before paying for parking and leaving your car). Your parking time does not start when you pay the parking fee.
Your parking time does not start or re-start when you buy a parking ticket or pay a parking meter. If your parking time has run out or is about to run out, you need to move your car to a new bay.
The onus is on you as the driver to make payment for parking as soon as you park your car.
No grace period is provided for in the Road Safety Road Rules 2017. According to the Road Rules, vehicles are considered to be illegally parked as soon as the maximum permitted parking time has been exceeded, or as soon as a vehicle is found parked at an expired meter.
In the City of Melbourne, drivers are provided with five minutes grace after the maximum permitted parking time has been exceeded. This allows you time to return to your car and avoid incurring a fine. This is the only instance in which a grace period is applied.
Any grace period that is applied is a City of Melbourne practice, is not specified in the Road Rules and is strictly limited to five minutes.
If the maximum permitted time is purchased (for example, you pay for two hours parking in a 2P signed area), five minutes grace is added to the purchased time to allow for these activities.
If you instead elect to pay for less than the maximum permitted time (for example, you choose to pay for only one hour in a 2P signed area), it is your responsibility to conclude your parking activities within the time you have chosen to pay for. Five minutes grace will not be added in this scenario.
Availability of other parking spaces nearby does not alter the application of the Road Rules. Once the maximum permitted parking time shown on the parking sign has elapsed, you must move your car to another parking area. Drivers who park their car for longer than indicated on the parking sign may receive a parking fine.
Note: Moving your vehicle forwards or backwards within the same parking area does not satisfy this requirement under the Road Rules.
Eligible vehicles may park in a loading zone for up to 30 minutes, unless otherwise signed.
Find more information about which vehicles are allowed to park in a loading zone.
After parking your car, check the applicable signs and locate the designated parking meter for the area. Follow the instructions on the meter to pay for the parking time you wish to use. The onus is on you the driver to make payment for parking as soon as you park your car.
Some meter parking areas use multi-bay meters, where a single electronic parking meter services a number of parking bays. In these areas, check for the number painted on the parking bay or kerb alongside the parking bay where your car is parked and follow the arrow to the designated multi-bay meter. Follow instructions on the meter to pay for the bay in which your car is parked.
Payment is only valid if made at the designated parking meter and for the correct bay number in which your car is parked.
You cannot insert more money into a parking meter or purchase another ticket to stay longer than the time permitted by the parking sign.
Once you have parked and paid for the maximum permitted time as shown on the parking sign, you must move your vehicle to another parking area.
If you did not initially pay for the maximum permitted time (for example, you paid for only one hour in a 2P signed area), you may add coins to the meter or place your new ticket beside the original ticket on your dashboard up to the maximum time shown on the sign (for example, you can pay for the remaining one hour allowed in the 2P area).
It is your responsibility to be parked for no longer than the time permitted by the parking sign.
Most parking areas in the City of Melbourne are governed by a number of parking restrictions, which are communicated on the parking sign.
Different restrictions apply at particular times of the day or on different days of the week to maximise the number of parking spaces available during various periods (for example, during peak hour).
Parking signs showing different restrictions on Monday to Saturday and on Sunday.
Due to the various restrictions which appear on parking signs, meters cannot be programmed to reject payment once the maximum parking time indicated on the sign has lapsed at particular times of the day, or on different days of the week.
You are required to read the relevant parking signs and insert only the required payment into a meter.
Read more about parking signs and hours.
If you encounter a fault with a parking machine, you should report the fault (via telephone or text message) by following the instructions on the meter. After receiving a fault report, a technician will investigate the fault.
No, the time restrictions indicated on the parking sign apply even if the parking meter or ticket machine is not in operation.
After parking your car, check the applicable signs and locate the designated ticket machine for the area. Follow the instructions on the machine to purchase a ticket, and display the ticket face up on your dashboard.
The onus is on you as the driver to purchase and display a parking ticket as soon as you park your car.
A ticket is not valid unless displayed face up on the dashboard, with the expiry time and all other inscriptions visible to a parking officer from outside of the car. Check this before leaving your car.
If a parking ticket is not displayed properly (for example, it is displayed face down or has slipped off the dashboard), parking officers are unable to determine whether the vehicle is legally parked. Any car parked in a ticketed area without correctly displaying a parking ticket is liable to receive a parking fine.
Sending the City of Melbourne a copy of your parking ticket after receiving a parking fine does not fulfil the conditions of parking in a ticketed area.
A parking sensor is a small electronic device that is installed underneath a parking bay to detect and record the time a car arrives and departs from a parking bay.
Sensors were installed in approximately 4600 parking bays in the central and inner city areas between August 2011 and May 2012.
The sensors record when a vehicle arrives in a bay; once a vehicle has overstayed the maximum time permitted in a bay, plus a grace period of five minutes, a parking officer in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle will receive a notification from the sensor. The officer will then check to see if a parking offence has occurred before issuing a fine.
The sensors are extremely accurate. They record the exact time that a vehicle enters and departs a parking bay. Each sensor conducts a self-test each morning to ensure it is in working order. If not, the sensor does not switch on for the day.
There has been no change to your obligations as a driver. You still need to pay for parking where necessary and observe the time limit on the parking sign.
No. Sensors and parking meters are two separate devices and are not linked.
Sensors offer a more consistent and accurate approach to parking management by encouraging drivers to comply with parking restrictions.
This supports the steady turnover of parking spaces and helps to make on-street parking more readily available for shoppers, visitors and residents. It also ensures the limited supply of on-street parking is managed in a fair and equitable manner for the large number of vehicles in the city each day.
City of Melbourne ran a communications campaign around the time the sensors were installed to inform residents, business owners and visitors.
There are ongoing measures in place to enhance awareness among motorists, including brightly coloured ‘Your parking time starts as soon as your car stops in the bay’ flyers attached to parking signage, meters and ticket machines around the municipality.
There is no change to how parking fines are issued. Once a vehicle has overstayed the time permitted in a bay (as indicated by the sign), a parking officer in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle will receive a notification from the sensor. The officer will check to see if a parking offence has occurred before issuing a parking fine.
Parking officers will continue to enforce parking restrictions for these bays in line with the signage. The expectation for commercial drivers using non-standard size loading zone bays remains the same – to observe the time limit on the parking sign.
The sensors are synchronised through a central server which is set to Australian Eastern Standard Time. The devices used by parking officers to issue infringement notices are also synchronised through this same server.
Reserved parking is especially useful for:
- special events including weddings
- busy VIPs who need to be on schedule
- filming
- construction or maintenance
- loading or unloading equipment
- removalists.
Please note, if you require parking bays over multiple city blocks (known as ‘street segments’) you will need to submit a separate application for each city block.
Parking spaces can be reserved outside the Town Hall. These spaces are on the north side of the road, closest to Swanston Street. Bookings can be made for essential vehicles only for either two, four or seven spaces. Vehicles for special guests or volunteers should be parked off-street.
Requests must be received by the City of Melbourne no later than five working days before you require the permit. Once a booking is accepted, customers will be provided with a written confirmation; all fees must be received by 10am on the working day before the service is required.
Reserved parking cannot be booked in:
- Clearways (while they are operating)
- No Stopping areas
- bus stops
- construction zones
- parking bays reserved for people with disabilities
- narrow streets or lanes where it would prevent normal access for other traffic
- taxi ranks
- Bourke Street Mall
- Swanston Street (between Flinders Street and LaTrobe Street).
If your reserved parking bay is for a truck then you will need to book a minimum of two bays.
If your reserved parking bay is for a normal sized bus then you will need to book a minimum of three bays.
Yes. Cancellations or amendments must be received by 10am the working day before the reserved parking is needed.
Yes. Subject to availability, extensions will be granted provided the request is received by 10am the previous working day. Payment must be received prior to the service being delivered.
The parking is reserved by placing a temporary sign over the existing parking signs. These signs will be padlocked so they cannot be removed. You must park between these signs to be legally parked. At the end of the reserved time the signs will be removed. You must not remove the signs yourself.
Your reserved parking will be between padlocked signs over the existing parking signs.
If the area you have reserved does not have these signs please park in the closest available parking bay and contact the Permits team on 9658 9658.
The online application form lists all possible street segments (city blocks) that can be reserved in the City of Melbourne.
- First, you choose the street you wish to park on.
- Next, you choose the section of the street by selecting the two closest intersecting streets.
- You can then nominate the side of the road you wish to park on: north, east, south or west.
- If you would like to reserve parking bays on the centre of the street, you will be able to select centre north, centre south, centre east or centre west.
You also have the option of listing nearby landmarks to indicate the parking location. This could be in the form of nearby parking meters, building addresses or obvious landmarks.
You should immediately contact us on 9658 9658 or after hours on 9658 9638, quoting your permit number.
No, City of Melbourne parking officers do not have individual quotas or numbers of infringements they need to reach in a given period, nor do they get bonuses or commissions.
When a parking officer issues an infringement notice, they do so in good faith and on the basis of the information and evidence that’s immediately available.
If illegal or unsafe parking has occurred and a customer is either in their car or returning to their car before the officer has printed an infringement notice, the officer is able to cancel the process.
However, once a parking infringement notice has been printed, it cannot be voided by the officer.
If a person believes they wrongly received an infringement and that they had not parked illegally or unsafely, then by law they are entitled to one internal review which the registered owner of the vehicle, or the nominated driver, must request.
As a local government body which must operate fairly, consistently and transparently, this process means that infringements go through an auditable, legal process.
Our parking officers use a range of ways to determine how long a vehicle has been parked. This includes visual observation and tyre markings, as well as data from in-ground sensors, which automatically record when a car arrives and exits.
A parking officer will take notes and may take photographs to accompany the infringement notice, which will be used as part of internal reviews of infringements.
Even though no one enjoys getting a parking infringement, our parking officers generally report friendly and positive interactions from drivers and the general public. Most people appreciate that enforcement encourages the smooth flow of traffic and that parking officers are simply doing their job.
However, it’s not uncommon for drivers to become upset about getting an infringement. Occasionally this results in verbal or physical abuse towards the parking officer.
City of Melbourne takes these matters very seriously. No one should ever feel unsafe or threatened in their workplace, and it’s important to remember that the streets are a parking officer’s workplace.
It does not matter if the driver feels justified in their reaction, the City of Melbourne will document these incidents and reports them to Victoria Police for investigation.
If the centre panel of the sign reads (2P Meter) ‘until 8.30pm’, you are required to pay $11 to stay for the rest of the night.
No. If you arrive in the city after 8.30pm and park in an on-street metered space, you do not have to pay to park.
The most important thing is that you read the signs carefully.
There are a range of meters and parking spaces in the central city, to ensure better access for all motorists in the city. The new night time parking fee generally allows you to park from 6.30pm to 8.30pm and remain legally parked for the rest of the night.
Always check the parking signs.
If you are parking in the central city in a 1P, 2P or longer term on-street car space, you are able to pay your meter from 6.30pm to 8.30pm and stay for the rest of the night. You do not need to return to your meter if you have paid the full applicable fee to stay until that time.
For the 2019-20 financial year, fines range from $83 to $165 depending on the offence.
Parking officers enforce the Road Rules and parking restrictions. Officers encourage voluntary compliance by motorists. This means whenever a driver is with their vehicle they are given an opportunity to move their vehicle before a parking fine is issued. If you fail to comply with a request made by a parking officer, you may receive a parking fine.
When undertaking reviews of parking fines, the City of Melbourne takes into account all of the available information, including:
- information collected by the parking officer who issued the fine
- photographs taken by the officer (there is no legislative requirement for an officer to take photographs to support a parking fine, but most officers take photographs in the course of their work)
- information provided by the applicant in their request for internal review (and any supporting documentation)
- requirements under the relevant legislation.
The following grounds are not considered valid reasons for the withdrawal of a parking fine:
- re-feeding a parking meter
- being new to or unfamiliar with the City of Melbourne or a particular road rule
- appointments or meetings running over time
- a parking ticket displayed incorrectly (for example, face down or blown off the dashboard)
- not noticing or misreading a parking sign
- being unaware of which vehicles can use loading zones or permit zones
- incorrectly displaying a dual registration or transferable parking permit
- running out of petrol or experiencing vehicle issues that did not require repair/towing.
No one likes to get a parking fine. Some common parking mistakes that could lead to receiving a fine are:
- re-feeding parking meters
- failing to check that a parking ticket is displayed properly
- not realising who can park in a loading zone
- not noticing the parking sign
- underestimating the time required for appointments and meetings.
A private enforcement agreement (PEA) is a contract between the City of Melbourne and owners or occupiers to prevent illegal or unauthorised parking on privately owned roads.
A private parking agreement (PPA) is a contract between the City of Melbourne and owners or occupiers to prevent illegal or unauthorised parking on private property.
You may need a PEA if unauthorised vehicles are preventing owners, tenants, staff or customers from being able to park on a privately owned road or road-related area.
Once a PEA is in place, parking officers will attend the area as part of a regular patrol or on request, and will encourage compliance with parking rules and regulations.
The City of Melbourne. Any motorist who parks illegally in the City of Melbourne is at risk of being fined.
A road or area will not be eligible if it:
- is a commercial multi-level or underground car park
- requires 24-hour enforcement services
- requires security access
- has poor visibility and/or poor radio reception
- is otherwise considered unsafe for parking officers to patrol.
Contact the Compliance Administration team at City of Melbourne on 9658 9658 to be sent an application pack.
Application fee
There is a fee of $568.18 plus GST (or $625 GST inclusive), payable if your application is accepted. This includes processing of your application, evaluation of the parking plans, site inspections, other administration costs and maintaining the agreement for one year.
Annual fee
PEAs cost $568.18 plus GST (or $625 GST inclusive), per year. This fee is payable within 30 days of receiving the renewal notice, and covers ongoing administration costs involved in maintaining the agreement for one year.
Yes, further costs may be involved in meeting the following requirements:
- Parking plan – to be drafted by a recognised traffic engineering consultancy firm and submitted to the City of Melbourne.
- Site works – such as purchasing and installing signs and line marking. Works should be undertaken by a registered traffic control company.