Where is Melbourne's Cheapest Parking

Where is Melbourne's Cheapest Parking

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Posted 2012-11-08 by Geraldine Masseyfollow
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You know the scenario. Friday night, you're running late for the show / movie / restaurant booking, it's raining, and you're driving around the city streets looking for an elusive free parking spot.

You finally realise that the chances of finding one are about as good as Damien Oliver riding in another Melbourne Cup, so you head into the bright lights of the nearest parking station to find that the price of parking convenience in Melbourne can be very steep indeed.


[ADVERT]Melbourne may currently have bragging rights as the world's most liveable city but it also has the unenviable reputation as the most expensive city in Australia to park. The fourth annual Colliers International Global CBD Parking Rate Survey in 2011 found that Melbourne is the third most expensive city in the world to park. The sad truth is that it can cost you as much as $88 for four hour's parking in Melbourne, with a median daily rate of $69.53. That's even more expensive than New York, Tokyo, London, Paris, and Sydney. Finding out the true cost of parking can be quite tricky because you're not always comparing apples with apples.

Metered Parking


If you want metered parking which, although elusive, is usually a cheaper option than a parking station, the cost will depend on where you park, and for how long. On-site signs will give you the information you need. The City of Melbourne website even helpfully explains that you need to "read the sign from top to bottom and from left to right". If this is for the benefit of those with reading difficulties or those whose first language isn't English, one would think they probably couldn't read these instructions anyway. But I digress. Over the last few years they have introduced a range of new technology for metered parking spaces. These innovations include in-ground sensors and licence plate recognition, so you're not going to get away with much. Since September 2011 they have also been conducting a trial of "pay by phone" for metered parking charges.
Car Parking Stations

Commercial Car Park prices vary enormously. Just to confuse you even further there are full day rates, hourly rates, flat rates, weekend rates and early bird rates, making it difficult to compare.


The City of Melbourne operates two city car parks and one in Carlton , all managed by GreenCo Parking. Their aim is to encourage short-term parking with prices that mirror on-street parking rates. The city stations are City Square Car Park (202–208 Flinders Lane) and Council House Car Park (200 Little Collins Street) and parking here will cost you from $2.50 for less than 30 minutes to $40 for 5 hours. Their Carlton station is at 215–217 Elgin Street, Carlton where parking convenience is available for $2 for less than hour and a maximum daily rate of $14.

Most Melbourne parking stations are run by either Wilson Parking or Secure Parking. Download Secure Parking's Melbourne Parking Guide here . If you join their Club Secure you can receive parking discounts and member offers. You can also apply for their Advantage Parker Card for 20% discount until September 2013 at a selected Secure Parking car park.

You can check out Wilson Parking's Melbourne CBD Parking Locator here and join their Platinum Park program here . Wilson and Secure both offer specials and discounts occasionally, usually to coincide with special festivals and events so it pays to check before you leave home.

CarParking.info and Apps


A different player in the parking game is CarParking.info . At this website you can input information about your destination and proposed arrival and departure times. It will then compare the costs of nearby parking stations and how far they are from your destination, allowing you to make a decision based on both price and convenience. You can also download their free Cheap Parking App at either the iTunes App Store or Android Market .

Over To You

The key to cheap parking in Melbourne, as in any other city, is to know your enemy and plan. A bit of research before you head out to that brilliant event or restaurant you just found out about on Weekend Notes can really pay off.

We'd also like your help. If you know of any parking bargains then please share them with our readers in the comments section.

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162243 - 2023-06-14 20:29:35

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