An implementation plan adopted by City of Launceston last year identified a review of long-term free parking as one of nine priority areas to address the city's parking challenges.

In a letter to council obtained by The Examiner, a Launceston community member urged the council to change course on the strategy and the changes to all-day free parking in the CBD.

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The letter called the strategy's logic "flawed" and filled with "assumptions with no evidence at all".

A plan to remove all-day free parking from the "central activities district" identified as a five-kilometre area bordered by High Street to the east, Canning Street to the south, Margaret Street to the south and the East Tamar Highway to the north and along the Tamar.

The council adopted the strategy in November 2021 with data collected and presented in 2020. According to the report, Launceston's central activities district (CAD) has 1472 off-street car parking spaces across 13 council-owned car parks.

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The Examiner inquired about how many all day parks were in Launceston CBD but did not receive the data.

Chamber of Commerce president Will Cassidy said business owners in Launceston have said they want to see changes in the car parking.

"Businesses want to see a decrease in the hourly rate but an increase in parking fines," he said.

Mr Cassidy said he noticed the "battle" for car parks that his employees face.

"It is vital that employees can park at reasonable rates," he said.

"It's a constant worry for my staff here. When they are required to start later in the day, for example, it will be a real obstacle for them to find a car park."

The plan notes there is "excess parking demand" within the CAD, primarily between 9am and 6pm, but given majority of workers live in a 10km radius, "there is an opportunity therefore, for a large proportion of those working within the CAD to easily use active transport modes to travel to/from work."

The Examiner asked council about the loss of car parks due to developments at UTAS which removed parking from Willis Street and Inveresk half circle car park, and other developments like Rebel Sports, which will also temporarily remove parking.

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In the parking plan, it was stated: "Until recently, the adjacent Willis Street Car Park provided 133 public car parking spaces, but was closed to undergo redevelopment by UTAS as part of its new campus at the Inveresk Precinct. No new public car parking spaces will be provided as part of this development.

"There is an approved new car park to be developed on the old Gasworks site (90-110 Cimitiere Street) opposite City Park. It is expected to be operational towards the end of Q1 2022, and it will provide 288 spaces, of which 190 will be public. The City of Launceston's future parking strategy for this area will need to consider the needs of Park users, UTAS students and staff, and commuter desire for parking."

However the Gasworks car park is currently closed for redevelopment.

When asked how many all-day car parks were operated by City of Launceston and how full are they, the council did not directly answer the question.

The response was: "data on capacity and utilisation of the City of Launceston's off-street car parks, which cater to longer stays, can be found on page 10 of the Central Activities District Parking Implementation Plan."

Page 10 of the plan states there are 2100 on-street car parking spaces and 1472 off-street spaces with a mix of short, medium, and long-stay spaces across 13 council-owned car parks.

However, there is not a breakdown of how many are all-day, early bird or have other time limits. It also was produced prior to the progress of some of the developments such as UTAS' Willis Street development and does not break down how many car parks has been lost due to developments.

The council's report found 75 per cent of workers used a vehicle to get to their job in Launceston.

In a small poll taken via social media by The Examiner, it found 88 per cent of respondents struggled to find all-day car parking when commuting into the CBD for work.

The council said there was "opportunity" to encourage more people to use public transport but did not address how it was planning to provide options to suit ambulant and disabled people. However, the strategy showed there was a need for the council to improve disability parking across the CBD.

City of Launceston mayor Albert van Zetten also noted a lack of use in public transport.

"With only two per cent of Northern Tasmanians regularly using public transport to get to and from work, the service operates below capacity and is capable of transporting significantly more people into the CBD each day," Cr van Zetten said.

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The council developed the 852-space Northern Inveresk Car Park which is $4 a day to park, and offers the Free Tiger Bus to shuttle people into town from the car park.

"The bus service runs on a 15-minute loop between 7.30am and 9am each weekday, travelling from the car park to the CBD, making it an attractive and economical option for commuters who work in the city centre," Cr van Zetten said.

Last year, the Tiger Bus had an average of 4026 passengers per month and Mr Cassidy said it was often under-utilised.

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