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TRAFFIC (PARKING) AMENDMENT BILL 1993*
NEW SOUTH WALES
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This Explanatory Note relates to this Bill as introduced into Parliament)
The object of this Bill is to amend the Traffic Act 1909:
to provide for the provision of paid parking (in addition to metered parking) by
councils (for example, parking might be paid for by using pre-paid parking
tickets); and
to permit the use of a single parking meter in connection with more than one
parking space; and
to provide that surplus revenue from the use of parking meters and pay parking
is to be utilised by councils to establish, improve or manage road, traffic,
parking or public transport facilities.
Clause 1 specifies the short title of the proposed Act.
Clause 2 provides for the commencement of the proposed Act on a day or days to
be appointed by proclamation.
Clause 3 is a formal provision which gives effect to the Schedule of amendments to
the Traffic Act 1909.
SCHEDULE 1--AMENDMENTS
Pay parking
Schedule 1 (5) inserts new Divisions 3 and 4 (containing proposed sections
10T10VD) into Part 3B of the Act.
*Amended in committee--see table at end of volume.
Proposed section 10T empowers a council (with the approval of the Roads and
Traffic Authority) to provide pay parking spaces in public streets in the area of the
council. The council is authorised to provide for the means of payment and to set the
relevant fees for pay parking (subject to any maximum fee prescribed by the
regulations).
Proposed section 1OU enables councils to enter into agreements concerning the
provision of pay parking on a common payment basis. Common fees for such parking
are to be fixed by the councils.
Proposed section 1OV provides that a council is taken not to have approval to provide
a pay parking space and is not entitled to charge for parking in the space if it fails to
comply with a condition of a relevant approval given by the Roads and Traffic
Authority.
Proposed section 10VA makes it clear that the proposed Division does not affect any
other power of a council to provide parking in a reserve.
Proposed section 10VB empowers a police officer, in an emergency, to direct the
removal of a vehicle from a pay parking space or, if necessary, to cause the vehicle to be
removed. (The proposed section also restates a similar existing power of the police in
respect of metered spaces.) It will be an offence with a maximum penalty of 5 penalty
units (currently $500) to fail to comply with a direction under the proposed section.
Proposed section 10VC requires councils to bear the cost of providing and
maintaining metered parking and pay parking. The proposed section allows councils to
collect the revenue received from metered parking and pay parking. That revenue is to
be used to meet the costs of pay parking, with any surplus available for use in providing
road, traffic, parking and public transport facilities.
Proposed section 10VD enables regulations to be made with respect to the manner
for designating pay parking spaces, methods of payment for pay parking, offences in
relation to devices or other things used in relation to payment for pay parking, common
schemes for pay parking and the maximum fees that may be fixed by a council in
respect of pay parking.
Schedule 1 (2) (c) inserts a definition of "pay parking space" in section 10Q of the
Act for the purposes of new Divisions 3 and 4.
Schedule 1 (1) and (3) make minor amendments consequential on the insertion of
new Divisions 3 and 4.
Parking meters
Schedule 1 (4) (b) amends section 1OR to allow a parking meter to be used in
connection with more than one parking space (currently the Act restricts the use of a
parking meter to only one parking space). Schedule 1 (2) (a) and (b) and (4) (a) are
consequential on that amendment.
Proposed section 10VD (inserted by Schedule 1 (5)) restates the existing power in the
Act to make regulations with respect to the installation and use of parking meters and
parking in metered spaces.
Other
Schedule 1 (6) amends Schedule 1 to the Act to enable regulations of a savings or
transitional nature to be made consequent on the enactment of the proposed Act.