Elected Member Briefing Note 2025, No. 19
About this Briefing Note
Report by: David Littlejohn, Strategic Lead - Economy, Development and Planning
EMBN Number: 019-25
Date: 6 January 2025
Subject: Perth parking - 2024 occupancy and duration of stay surveys
Responsible officer: Lachlan MacLean, Lead Officer Transportation and Development
Details
Purpose
To provide Elected Members with an overview of current levels of occupancy and utilisation within city centre car parks to provide further context to the Perth City Integrated Investment Plan report considered by Council on 4 September 2024.
Briefing Information
Our Transportation and Development team commissioned transport consultants Systra to undertake a series of occupancy and duration of stay parking surveys in and around Perth City Centre along with the analysis and reporting of the data with a comparison made with similar surveys undertaken in previous years.
The surveys were undertaken on Saturday 28 September 2024 and Thursday 3 October 2024 covering Perth City Centre on-street and off-street car parks collecting occupancy and duration of stay data.
The surveys follow on from previous annual surveys undertaken from 1996 to 2005, and then in 2010, 2013 and 2017, surveying one weekday and one Saturday towards the end of September or beginning of October to represent a normal week, that is not skewed by summer tourists, October school holidays or Christmas shoppers.
A consistent methodology has been used which provides both a detailed assessment of the current parking occupancy and duration of stay, observed in 15 minute periods, in the Perth City Centre area. The survey data was collected using a combination of manual surveys and ANPR/camera surveys. The allows for a direct comparison to previous years to allow trends to be observed.
The parking survey data will provide an evidence base for decision making on developments within the City Centre and will also form a key part of the evidence base for Strategic Action 2 of the Council's Mobility Strategy (Perth Circulation Plan).
The extensive data set has now been processed and analysed with a first draft of the report received from the consultants Systra. This is currently being checked by officers with the final report expected by mid-February.
From the initial review, the key points including data for the core off street city centre car parks are noted below.
Overall
Across the City, the weekday maximum occupancy level equates to 56% in 2024 (compared to 66% in 2017) and the Saturday maximum occupancy level also equates 56% in 2024 (compared to 67% in 2017), as detailed in Table 1.
The results of the weekday duration of stay surveys indicate that the number of vehicles parked for less than 1 hour has increased from 70% in 2017 to 73% in 2024. The number of cars parked for over 4 hours has remained at 7% when comparing 2024 to 2017. The average duration of stay across all areas surveyed has decreased slightly from 73 minutes in 2017 to 69 minutes in 2024.
The results of the Saturday duration of stay surveys indicate that the number of vehicles parked for less than 1 hour has increased from 70% in 2017 to 73% in 2024. The number of cars parked for over 4 hours has remained consistent at 4% between 2017 and 2024. Average duration of stay across all areas surveyed in each year has increased from 65 minutes in 2017 to 67 minutes in 2024.
Removing the capacity of Thimblerow and Perth Leisure Pool car parks (but with the same assumed demand) would result in a maximum occupancy rate of 61% on both weekdays and Saturdays, as detailed in Table 1.
| Car parking area | Capacity | Maximum usage (weekday) | Maximum percentage used (weekday) | Maximum usage (Saturday) | Maximum percentage used (Saturday) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Catherine's Retail Park | 1324 | 578 | 44% | 796 | 60% |
| Thimblerow | 200 | 74 | 37% | 173 | 87% |
| Caledonia Road area | 243 | 134 | 55% | 141 | 58% |
| Victoria Street area | 316 | 160 | 51% | 204 | 65% |
| Scott Street area | 175 | 188 | 107% | 141 | 81% |
| North Central | 236 | 234 | 99% | 205 | 87% |
| Rose Terrace/ Charlotte Street area | 192 | 155 | 81% | 150 | 78% |
| Mill Street | 204 | 153 | 75% | 137 | 67% |
| Canal Street MSCP | 328 | 168 | 51% | 121 | 37% |
| Edinburgh Road/ South William Street | 414 | 131 | 32% | 228 | 55% |
| Speygate/ Canal Street/ Tay Street | 217 | 164 | 76% | 151 | 70% |
| South Inch | 440 | 207 | 47% | 123 | 28% |
| Bell's Sports Centre | 220 | 89 | 40% | 98 | 44% |
| Kinnoull Street MSCP | 550 | 378 | 69% | 125 | 23% |
| Railway station area | 207 | 202 | 98% | 167 | 81% |
| Leisure Pool area | 365 | 131 | 36% | 167 | 46% |
| Lidl/Aldi Glasgow Road | 193 | 106 | 55% | 144 | 75% |
| Riverside Car Park (Rodney) | 58 | 6 | 10% | 17 | 29% |
| Riverside/ Dundee Road | 94 | 65 | 69% | 32 | 34% |
| Totals | 5976 | 3323 | 56% | 3320 | 56% |
| Totals (excluding Thimblerow and Leisure Pool) | 5411 | 3323 | 61% | 3320 | 61% |
Thimblerow
Peak weekday occupancy was 37% at 0945 (74 of 200 spaces were occupied). This is significantly lower than previous years. The peak occupancy on the Saturday was 87% at 1245 where 173 of the 200 spaces were occupied. The is broadly comparable with previous years surveys.
Perth Leisure Pool/Dewars
The peak weekday occupancy was 36% at 17:45, where 131 of 365 spaces were occupied. Note that peak time is significantly different to other car parks reflecting the different demand profile of the Leisure Pool/Dewars.
The peak Saturday occupancy was 46% at 10:45, where 167 of 365 spaces were occupied.
Kinnoull Street Multi Storey Car Park
On the weekday 2024, the peak occupancy was 69% at 1245, where 378 of 550 spaces were occupied. On the Saturday 2024, the peak occupancy was 23% at 13:45, where 125 of 550 spaces were occupied.
Canal Street Multi Storey Car Park
On the weekday 2024, the peak occupancy was 51% at 13:30, where 168 of 328 spaces were occupied. On the Saturday 2024, the peak occupancy was 37% at 13:15, where 121 of 328 spaces were occupied.
Scott Street
The peak weekday occupancy was 107% at 13:15, where all 175 spaces were occupied and there were an additional 13 vehicles in the car park. It has been assumed that this area was over capacity due to the high number of vehicles entering and circling the car park looking for a vacant space (Survey method - ANPR Camera). This has always been a particularly busy area with an average occupancy of around 99% over the previous surveyed years.
The peak Saturday occupancy was 81% at 14:45, where 141 of 175 spaces were occupied.
South Inch car park
This car park has seen a considerable reduction in car parking demand where the peak occupancy on the weekday survey was 47% at 12:00 (207 of 440 spaces) and at the weekend this was 28% at 11:15 (123 of 440 spaces). These figures are the lowest when compared to the previous four surveys, suggesting that the Scottish Water works may be impacting on the usage of the car park.
Bell's Sports Centre
The withdrawal of sport facilities at Bell's Sport Centre has impacted on the number of vehicles parking on site, with occupancy of the car park being 40% at 12:00 (89 of 220) on the weekday survey and 44% at 14:30 (98 of 220) on the weekend survey. This car park was previously over capacity in 2017 with 103% weekday and 110% weekend.
Perth Railway Station Area (includes St Leonard's Bank)
The peak weekday occupancy was 98% at 11:00, where 202 of 207 spaces were occupied. This is an increase of 11% when compared to the 2017 count (87% occupied).
The peak Saturday occupancy was 81% at 12:45, where 167 of 207 spaces were occupied. An increase was also noted in the Saturday maximum occupancy when comparing 2024 and 2017 data (62% occupancy in 2017).
The station car parks have seen an increase in the number of vehicles parking for both the weekday and weekend survey. Demand at Perth Station is probably higher due to all day parking being half the cost (£3 per day) than the lowest cost Council operated car parks. Charges at Perth Station are set by ScotRail.
Caveats and next steps
As noted above, the data for the various car parks has been extracted from a first draft of the report which is currently being checked by officers with the final report expected by mid-February.
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