Sydney car-share parking under debate

Car-share users could be forced to stick to dedicated parking bays in Sydney. 

Sydney on-street parking is at such a premium in the inner city that Clover Moore's City of Sydney Council will be asked to stop vehicles from car-share companies using council parking stickers reserved for local residents.

Cars belonging to GoGet, Hertz 24/7 and GreenShareCar should not be able to park on the street unless they are in a dedicated car-share parking bay, Liberal councillor Christine Forster told News Corp Australia.

If one of the 600 dedicated car-share parking spots is being used by another car, the car-share vehicle can park anywhere on the street, she said.

Ms Forster will move a motion at tonight's council meeting calling on car-share owners to give up their residents' parking permits and face the same timed parking restrictions as everyone else.

She said the council had already given up 600 publicly owned car spots, including 11 in the CBD, to car-share companies, making it even harder for locals to find a parking spot.
Ms Moore has given car-share companies a total of $208,000 to help them set up. Since 2011 they have had to pay a one-off $2250 fee for each parking bay.

"If a car-share vehicle is being returned to its spot, and another car is illegally parked in it, then the car share vehicle can simply park anywhere on the street because it has a residents' parking permit," Ms Forster said.

"This effectively means a car-share vehicle can occupy two spaces on the street. If a car share vehicle has to park in another spot on the street then it should be able to be fined if it breaks parking restrictions." Under the Car Share Policy, Ms Moore wants 10 per cent of all households in the City of Sydney - 9500 dwellings - to use car sharing by 2016. About 20,000 residents and business owners have joined one of the three car-share schemes, which argue that they increase the number of spaces available.