Australian Capital Territory						
Road Transport (General) (Pay Parking Area Fees) Determination 2015 (No.1)
Disallowable instrument DI2015—203
made under the  
Road Transport (General) Act 1999, section 96 (Determination of fees, charges and other amounts)
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Section 96 of the Road Transport (General) Act 1999 allows the Minister to determine fees, charges and other amounts payable under the road transport legislation.

This determination sets the relevant parking fees for Territory-operated pay parking areas.  Under the Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Regulation 2000, pay parking areas fall into two categories: metered parking areas (which are established by the road transport authority under section 73(1) of the Regulation) and ticket parking schemes (which are established by the authority under section 76(1) of the Regulation).

The increases in parking fees made by this instrument are consistent with the Government’s policies to encourage greater use of sustainable transport options. They are also consistent with a Cabinet decision of 19 May 2015 to increase parking fees by 6% each financial year commencing 1 July 2015.

The fee increases provided by this instrument take effect on 1 July 2015, when the instrument commences.

The updated fees for ticket parking areas located in City (including Turner, Braddon, Acton, Reid, and Parkes), Belconnen, Woden (Phillip), Tuggeranong (Greenway), Dickson, Yarralumla (near the Albert Hall and Hyatt Hotel), Manuka (Griffith and Forrest), Kingston and Deakin, are set out in Schedule 1 of this determination.  These areas may be short or multi-stay off-street car parks or on-street parking areas.  The applicable fees for part-days whole days, multi-days, and CIT permits have been increased by 6% in line with a cabinet decision on 19 May 2015. The increase will see the maximum daily fee for a multi-stay (whole day) ticket parking area rise by $0.90 per day, to $14.90. 

The updated disallowable instrument includes a reduced number of parking categories (13) than in the previous disallowable instrument (18). This includes four (4) multi-stay (or all-day) parking categories, and nine (9) short-stay categories:
-	The four multi-stay categories are as follows:
	MS01: Premium all-day parking in the City Centre and surrounds – where all-day 	parking fees will increase by $0.90 to a maximum of $14.90 per weekday.
	MS02: All-day parking in Yarralumla – where all-day parking fees will increase by 	$0.70 to a maximum of $11.70.
	MS03: Other all-day parking in the City Centre and surrounds, and premium all-day 	parking in Town Centres – where all-day parking fees will increase by $0.60 to a 	maximum of $10.10.
	MS04: Other all-day parking in Town Centres, and in Group Centres – where all-	day parking fees will increase by $0.50 to a	maximum of $8.50.

-	The nine short-stay categories are as follows:
SS01: Premium short-stay parking in the City Centre and surrounds – with time limits of four hours or less – where the maximum fee will increase by $0.80 to $13.30 for four hours.
SS02: Premium short-stay parking in Town Centres – with time limits of four hours – where the maximum fee will increase by $0.70 to $11.70.
SS03: Premium short-stay parking in Group Centres – with time limits of four hours – where the maximum fee will increase by $0.60 to $10.10.
SS03a: Premium short-stay parking in Yarralumla – with time limits of four hours – where the maximum fee will increase by $0.60 to $9.60. This category has been so named as it could potentially be integrated with category SS03 in the future subject to stakeholder engagement.
SS04: Short-stay parking in the City Centre and surrounds, Town Centres, and Yarralumla – with time limits of three hours – where the maximum fee will increase by $0.50 to $8.00
SS05: Short-stay parking in the City Centre and surrounds, and Town Centres – with time limits of two hours or less - where the maximum fee will increase by $0.30 to $4.30.
SS06: Short-stay parking in Group Centres – with time limits of two hours or less - where the maximum fee will increase by $0.30 to $4.30. This is a different category to SS05 as meters in SS06 zones charge at a rate of $2 per hour, compared to $3 in SS05 zones.
SS07: Low-cost short-stay parking in Town Centres and Group Centres – with time limits of two hours or less - where the maximum fee will increase by $0.20 to $2.70.
SS08: Short-stay parking in the City Centre and surrounds, Town Centres, and Group Centres – with time limits of 30 minutes or less - where the maximum fee will increase by $0.10 to $1.10.

The updated disallowable instrument also includes parking areas of the same category in the same item within Schedule 1, regardless of whether they are in the same part of the Canberra, or on- or off-street. The previous disallowable instrument separates parking areas based on fee structure, location, and whether they were on- and off-street, resulting in 31 items within Schedule 1. The updated disallowable instrument includes only 13 items within Schedule 1 – one per parking category – listed in the following way:

	City Centre (including Turner, Braddon, Acton, Parkes and Reid) - off-street;
	City Centre (including Turner, Braddon, Acton, Parkes and Reid) - on-street;
	Town Centres (Belconnen, Woden, and Tuggeranong) - off-street;
	Town Centres (Belconnen, Woden, and Tuggeranong) - on-street;
	Group Centres (Dickson, Kingston, Manuka), as well as Yarralumla and Deakin - 	off-street
	Group Centres (Dickson, Kingston, Manuka), as well as Yarralumla and Deakin - 	on-street

This updated disallowable instrument also includes a number of changes to the parking areas included:
-	Some parking areas have been removed, as they have been sold by the ACT Government and are now privately operated. The sale of a car park at block 50 section 19 Kingston (off Eyre Street) is to be finalised in late June 2015, and, as such, is one of the parking areas in the previous disallowable instrument that will not be included in this one.
-	Consolidation of parking areas – especially in Woden where one large parking area to the west of Easty Street was described as five separate areas in the 2014-2 disallowable instrument. This area has been described as just one on the 2015-1 disallowable instrument.
-	The itemisation of meter parking locations. The previous disallowable instrument only included the suburbs where meter parking was in place and their hourly rates. As work is underway to replace meters with ticket machines, there is a need to include meter locations in the updated disallowable instrument, so that parking fees in currently metered areas can be enforceable once meters are replaced by ticket machines

The new fees for pre-paid all-day parking tickets that are usable in multi-stay ticket parking areas are set out in Schedule 2. 

The fee for CIT student pre-paid all-day parking tickets is in Schedule 3.  CIT student pre-paid tickets are available to eligible CIT students.  The ticket is usable in specific multi-stay ticket parking areas only, near the Reid CIT campus and the Tuggeranong Flexible Learning Centre of the CIT.  The fee for this permit has also increased by 6%.

This determination is a disallowable instrument and must be presented to the Legislative Assembly within 6 sitting days after its notification pursuant to section 64 of the Legislation Act 2001.