Parking Sensors

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Ensuring the steady turnover of parking spaces helps to make parking more readily available for customers, visitors, and residents. It also ensures the limited supply of public carparking is managed in a fair and equitable manner.

Smart parking sensors have the capacity to monitor the length of time a vehicle stays in a parking bay, which will assist us to better manage public parking in high-demand areas and reduce congestion associated with drivers looking for a place to park.

Sensors are installed in the road pavement beneath parking bays and record the length of time that the parking bay has been occupied by a vehicle. The sensors do not record any images or identifiable information associated with the vehicle.

Further information on smart parking sensors can be found by viewing the City of Newcastle Parking Plan or our frequently asked questions.

Where are smart sensors installed?

Since 2018, we have trialled smart parking sensors to collect data on parking at beachside carparks and to manage parking at the Strzelecki lookout.

In consultation with the community, we will now look to install smart parking sensors at key commercial precincts to better understand challenges and identify opportunities to optimise parking.

Three high demand locations including Darby Street Cooks Hill, Hunter Street Newcastle, and Beaumont Street Hamilton have been selected as potential sites for smart parking sensors in 2023.

*Following positive feedback from an online survey with the business community, CN will now progress with the installation of parking sensors within the Darby Street commercial precinct to support the needs of businesses by improving parking turnover.

In May 2023, sensors will be installed in existing parallel and angled parking spaces on:

  • Darby Street between Bull Street and Queen Street
  • Council Street between Darby Street and the Council Street carpark exit
  • The Council Street public carpark behind The Hotel Delany

Data returned from the smart parking sensors will help us understand how parking is utilised in Darby Street and will guide future reviews of parking restrictions.

Additional locations for parking sensors are under review for commercial precincts in Beaumont Street, Hamilton, and selected areas of Hunter Street, Newcastle.

Installation is planned to occur later this year in Hamilton, with areas in the Hunter Street precinct in Newcastle under consideration for installation in line with current infrastructure works in this area.

*An online survey conducted by the City of Newcastle in April 2023, found that at least 60% of businesses surveyed in the Darby Street and Beaumont Street precincts support the installation of parking sensors.