The ACT Government has been advised to get even tougher on commuter car parking around Canberra, with private consultants saying that the city has too many car parks and they are too cheap.
The advisers say the Government would have to charge nearly $28 a day for parking in some areas just to break even.
The report by international consultants Luxmoore says Canberra has cheap and plentiful car parking, subsidised mostly by the ACT Government, but that Canberra motorists do not seem to appreciate it.
The Canberra Liberals have accused the Government of ''burying'' Luxmoore's findings and say the report confirms that parking policies punish families.
The Canberra Times revealed yesterday that government revenue from parking fines had increased by 20 per cent to more than $9million in the 2010-2011 financial year.
But according to Luxmoore, despite an oversupply of car parks, ''demanding'' Canberra motorists want more.
''There appears to be an incorrect perception of shortage of parking bays,'' the report's authors wrote.
''A significant portion of available parking capacity is under-utilised.
''Drivers and developers are demanding more and more parking bays, and expecting the ACT Government to provide these.''
The most recent survey of Civic found there were about 680 spaces per 1000 workers and that the figures for the town centres varied between 800 to 1000 spaces per 1000 employees.
But the report's authors said parking is still too cheap in Canberra to achieve the Government's goal of getting more commuters onto public transport - and the capital was not alone.
''Parking is generally underpriced throughout Australian cities,'' they wrote.
''One way of achieving greater private-sector input is to restrain growth in the supply of parking and increase prices to the point where returns are sufficient to attract private-sector investment in parking facilities.
''Once this is achieved, supply, particularly supply of long-stay parking, will reflect actual resource costs and public parking will no longer be subsidised by public agencies.''
Liberals' transport spokesman Alistair Coe seized on a section of the report recommending that parks be made available from 9.20am to help commuters who had to drop children off at school.
''ACT Labor refuses to acknowledge that Canberra was built for the car and that needs to be met with proper planning,'' Mr Coe said. ''For many Canberra families, catching a bus is not an option.''
A Territory and Municipal Services spokeswoman said the Luxmoore report was being used to draft a strategic parking plan for the city.
She said that the Government would ''continue to price parking to encourage greater use of sustainable modes of transport and provide incentives for private-sector investment in parking''.
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