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                    Parking in Melbourne? Here are our top five tips

                    Are you one of the one million people who drive into the city each month? Here’s what you need to know about parking in Melbourne without getting fined.

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                    Better parking in your neighbourhood
                    We’re delivering our Parking and Kerbside Management Plan. That means we’re reviewing and revising the parking in all neighbourhoods across the City of Melbourne to make parking simpler and fairer. Improvements include cheaper rates for off-peak times and free parking for short stops under 15 minutes with the EasyPark app. Find out more at better parking.

                    ​​Parking tip #1: Did you know your time starts when you stop?

                    Under the Victorian Road Rules your time in a parking space starts as soon as your vehicle stops in it.

                    Time spent in your car before getting out and paying for parking also counts toward the maximum time you can spend in a parking space (as indicated by the parking sign).

                    In order to keep the city moving, parking bay occupancy is monitored through more than 5500 in-ground sensors that are strictly enforced in order to keep the city moving. Here’s how this works and why:

                    ​Parking tip #2: Don’t refeed the meter

                    Under the Victorian Road Rules the time shown on a parking sign is the maximum time you can park there. Making additional payments (by refeeding the parking meter) won’t extend the time limit.

                    Once you’ve used up your time in a parking space you have to leave the area to give other people a chance to use it. Here’s how this works:

                    Parking tip #3: Did you know you can park for free on public holidays?

                    Yes, you read that right. Some parking signs don’t apply on a public holiday, and when they don’t, it means you can park for free and for as long as you like.

                    So which signs are these? On public holidays any parking signs with a day of the week written on them don’t apply.

                    This means if there’s a day of the week listed on a sign panel (for example, 'Mon–Fri' or 'Sat' or 'Sun'), that panel is effectively ‘blank’ on public holidays. Here’s some examples:

                    Four different parking signs.  

                    Find out more about public holiday parking or see a list of Victorian public holidays.

                    Parking tip #4: Get your rego right

                    Along with cash and card options, we also offer online payments for parking via the EasyPark mobile app.

                    When using EasyPark your payment is only valid if your parking zone number and vehicle registration are correct.

                    Making a mistake can be as simple as confusing o and 0 or l and 1. So always double-check your details to avoid receiving a fine.

                    ​Parking tip #5: Need parking help? You can request this online

                    Spot an abandoned vehicle or someone parked illegally? You can request assistance from a City of Melbourne parking officer using our online form.

                    Requests are radioed directly to our officers in the field with an average response time of around 90 minutes.

                    Along with fixed cameras and in-ground parking sensors, information from the public helps us locate abandoned vehicles, remove safety hazards and keep the city moving.

                    More information

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