Elected Member Briefing - Perth city centre car park utilisation

About this Briefing Note

Report by: Stephen Crawford, Strategic Lead - Property Services

Date: 30 August 2024

Subject: Perth city centre car park utilisation

Responsible Officer: Kirsty Fleming, Working Smarter Project Lead; Stewart Skene, Team Leader Parking and Civil Contingencies

Details

Purpose

To provide Elected Members with an overview of current levels of 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.

Car parks included

Briefing Information

Background

At the Perth City Integrated Investment Proposal Elected Member's Briefing on Monday 05/08/2024, Elected Members requested additional information on the utilisation of Perth City centre car parks.

To provide members with an indicative snapshot of the usage of Council-run car parks (excluding street parking and private car parks) in Perth city centre, Parking Attendants conducted manual counts of vehicles using our car parks from Tuesday, 13 August to Tuesday, 27 August. This period is considered a peak time for city centre parking.

As one of the actions of the Draft Mobility Strategy, Economy, Development and Planning Services are currently preparing to undertake a full comprehensive survey of all car parking within Perth city centre in September 2024, with preliminary results expected by December 2024.

The Draft Mobility Strategy Action Plan, currently under consultation, includes actions to reduce car dominance in the city centre alongside exploring options to remove, reduce or reallocate on- and off-street parking, to create space for sustainable and active travel, as well as public realm enhancements. 

Zone 1 and 2 Utilisation Data - Weekdays

The car parks in zones 1 and 2 provide a total of 1,622 spaces.

Daily averages show the car parks between 31% - 46% utilised overall throughout the day.

Data shows a peak demand on Thursday 15/08/2024 between 1100-1330 where 978 vehicles (60% of zone 1 & 2 car park spaces) were in use.

Car parks included in monitoring data:

• Canal Street Multi-Storey Car Park
• Mill Street East and West
• Scott Street
• A K Bell
• Canal Street
• Charles Street
• Leonard Street
• Mill Wynd
• Milne Street
• Speygate
• Thimblerow
• Victoria Street
• West Mill Street
• Kinnoull Street Multi-Storey Car Park

The results including total cars parked during each monitoring times can be viewed in the weekday car parks usage bar charts (PDF, 136 KB).

Zone 1 and 2 Utilisation Data - Saturday 24 August 2024

Due to the Parking Attendants involvement in Perth Mela Festival on Saturday 17 August data was not gathered for this day.

On Saturday 24 August 12 of the 14 car parks were surveyed, providing a total of 1,032 spaces.

Daily average show the surveyed car parks were between 50% and 79% utilised overall through the day.

Data shows a peak demand between 1100-1330, with a total of 824 vehicles (79% of surveyed zone 1 & 2 car park spaces) were in use. However, this count did not include Kinnoull Street Multi Storey Car Park which is the largest in the city centre, therefore actual availability will have been higher.

Zone 3 Utilisation Data - Weekdays

The car parks in zone 3 provide a total of 1,007 spaces.
Daily averages show the car parks between 24% - 37% utilised overall throughout the day.
Data shows a peak demand on Tuesday 13/08/2024 between 1030-1300 where 490 vehicles (48% of zone 3 car park spaces) were in use.

Car parks included in monitoring data:

• South Inch
• Dewars
• Glover Street
• Bell's Sports Centre

The results including total cars parked during each monitoring times can be viewed in the Zone 3 car park usage bar charts (PDF, 130 KB).

Zone 3 Utilisation Data - Saturday 24 August 2024

2 of the 4 car parks were surveyed, providing a total of 633 spaces.

Daily average show the surveyed car parks were between 24% and 51% utilised overall through the day.

Data shows a peak demand between 1300-1530, with a total of 274 vehicles (43% of surveyed zone 1 & 2 car park spaces) were in use.

Overall

Based on the indicative data gathered, on average the majority of car parks in Perth city centre are less than 50% utilised overall. This finding challenges the common perception of a parking shortage.

Scott Street, Canal Street, Mill Wynd and Speygate car parks are regularly 90-100% utilised during peak hours. This suggests that the perception of a parking shortage may stem from users being unable to park in their preferred locations, rather than a scarcity of parking spaces.

Next Steps

As part of the Mobility Strategy a more conclusive parking study is scheduled for September 2024 with preliminary results expected by December 2024.