Smart parking management in an Australian urban centre

The Parking management in the smart mobility age project began in September 2018, undertaken by the lead partner, Brisbane City Council, with research from Queensland University of Technology and University of Queensland. The project has just been completed, and we have here some of the main findings from the research.

Theme1: Brisbane’s kerbside parking utilisation patterns, occupancy estimation and availability forecasting

One on-street and one online survey were conducted to collect data on people’s parking use in Brisbane. Camera-based surveys were also conducted using fixed and mobile cameras to better understand patterns of kerbside occupancy.

Patterns of parking use were investigated considering different parking performance indicators. Customer profiles were identified for Brisbane City. Algorithms have been developed and validated to integrate parking occupancy data with payment transactions, to estimate actual occupancy based on payment data and to forecast parking availability.

Majot findings

• the type of parking users is different in the three locations considered in this survey – for example, there are more casual visitors in Alice St (which is close to QUT and the City Botanic Gardens) as opposed to more delivery visits to Elizabeth St and Turbot St;
• the timing of parking utilisation depends on trip purpose;
• those who park their vehicles in the CBD for work/business tend to park there more frequently and for longer periods of time compared to other parking users;
• proximity to final destination is potentially an important determinant of on-street parking choice;
• there is a higher likelihood of using the parking space close to the CBD Centre for dropping off passengers as well as delivering – potentially due to easier access to shopping malls and businesses;
• the CBD East has a higher likelihood of being used for tourism and business – there is a higher chance of finding parking in this location, while it is also close to parliamentary precinct, botanic gardens and QUT;
• the CBD West has a higher share of visiting medical centres and specialists;
• overall, frequent parkers often do not search for parking; and,
• around 40% of people who parked their vehicles in the CBD did not pay for the parking (often stayed for less than 30 minutes).

Theme 2: Data standards, management approaches, technology providers, and data sharing

In Brisbane (and other cities in Australia) it was challenging to undercover private operators’ opinions about sharing their data – primarily because of their reluctance to discuss relevant matters associated with their business model.

The team reviewed international standards and common business models for sharing parking data. Parking information management systems, their advantages and requirements were studied. A performance-based framework for parking management was proposed. A Microsoft Power BI dashboard was developed to integrate and visualise data on the Council’s off-street parking occupancy and payment transactions.

Theme 3: Parking use surveys, choice mode, and cruising for parking

Significant effort was dedicated to collect data from a wide range of data sources (including different Council sections), and to clean, prepare, and integrate it for modelling. Several models have been developed to better understand, explain, and predict drivers’ cruising for parking, payment behaviour and choice. The findings have potential implications for enforcement and parking regulation.

Major findings

• The study results reveal that arrival time is a significant determinant of cruising behaviour.
• Approximately 80% of the drivers who parked every day in the CBD found parking in less than three minutes, while almost 50% of those who parked occasionally in the CBD had to search for parking more than five minutes.
• The purpose of trip also impacted cruise time for parking; drivers who travelled for work or business were more likely to cruise for parking compared to all other trip purposes.
• One surprising finding of this study is the negative association between relative traffic volume and cruising time; drivers who tended to search for on-street parking in the Brisbane CBD were more likely to avoid peak traffic.

The findings, in general, highlight the need to provide real-time and reliable parking information to regular commuters to minimise their “total travel time” and to reduce congestion in the CBD.

These findings suggest that a lack of parking planning and a guidance tool can inhibit the effective use of on-/off-street parking by different user groups. Provision of a parking information system can mitigate cruising for on-street parking in the CBD, especially if it integrates the prices of both on-street and off-street parking facilities and enables customized comparisons between the prices.

Opportunities

This work has identified the following opportunities:

Understand uptake of smart parking – digital parking experience

Analysis of the uptake of digital versus analogue parking will be conducted – identifying how system flexibility can meet customer needs based on other cities experience with moving to all digital parking systems and removal of coin payments.

Enhance license plate recognition algorithm for parking detection

An algorithm and approach will be developed to identify real-time illegal parking using mobile phone wide view cameras to distinguish vehicles parked on the kerb from moving traffic. This solution can be used to determine illegal parking use in real-time and determine actual parking occupancy without the need for in-ground sensors.

Parking pricing and time limit evaluation

Analysis of Brisbane parking users’ behaviour in response to different on-street/off-street parking prices and pricing/time limit changes over time. This will include estimating impacts of different future pricing strategies on behaviour that supports evidence-based decision-making and policy development.

Expected project impacts

The iMOVE research has supported Council’s transition toward smart, data enabled parking management by demonstrating how digital payment systems can improve customer choice, system resilience, and network efficiency.

Expanding pay by app parking to a dual provider model, with PayStay joining CellOPark from March 2026, aligns with smart mobility principles by embedding competition, reducing reliance on fixed infrastructure, and improving service reliability.

Strong behavioural evidence underpins this shift, with pay by app now accounting for more than half of Brisbane’s 4.5 million annual parking transactions and credit card meter payments declining by 18% since 2020. Importantly, digital parking platforms generate high quality data that enables adaptive parking policy, improved kerbside management, and better integration of parking within the broader urban mobility system, supporting the objective of keeping Brisbane moving.

Brisbane City Council, Transport Assets and Operations

Final report

A final report was produced and is being used internlly.