Free parking drives 422,000 sessions in central Geelong

THE City of Greater Geelong is touting the success of its central Geelong free parking initiative in central Geelong over the past five months, with more than 422,000 2P parking sessions being used.

The city is trying to spur the revitalisation of central Geelong by making it easier for locals and visitors to support businesses in the CBD.

Drivers need to follow three steps to get two hours of free parking:

• Find a 2P parking bay
• Start a free session on the meter or via the EasyPark app, and
• Leave the bay when your time is up.

To support the community to take full advantage of this free scheme, the city has released a new map of central Geelong that shows where all 1,000 2P bays can be found.

Each vehicle is eligible for one free two-hour parking session per day.

“It is fantastic to see in our data that from July 14 until the end of November, residents and visitors had used 422,388 free 2P parking sessions while visiting central Geelong,” Geelong mayor, Geelong mayor Stretch Kontelj, said.

But, he said, more people could be making the most of the free initiative as they shop, dine, run errands, meet with friends or visit a gallery.

“Don’t forget, ‘Find 2P and park free’ when you’re in central Geelong,” he said.

Chair of the council’s finance portfolio, Cr Andrew Katos, said drivers were eligible for two hours free parking in 2P zones but not in 15-minute, 1P, 4P or all-day bays.

“Check out our handy new map that highlights where to find the thousand 2P bays in central Geelong,” he said.

“Once you find a 2P bay, you won’t be charged for parking when you start a session at the meter or on the EasyPark app.

“Keep in mind that parking across the region is free in the evenings and on weekends, however time limits still apply.”

To see the map, head to geelong.link/FreeParking