Parking fines across the city will increase by 30 per cent from 2 September.
The rise follows extensive benchmarking against other like-sized councils across Queensland, which showed Cairns has some of the lowest fines in the state, and a two-week public consultation period.
Parking fines are an important disincentive to drivers parking in restricted areas, such as taxi, bus and accessible parking bays.
They also encourage motorists to adhere to time limits, which are in place to ensure a regular turnover of vehicles so more residents can go about their day-to-day activities, whether it be having lunch with friends, getting their tax done, or shopping.
As parking fine amounts are tied to the State Government penalty units, there have been smaller increases annually in line with penalty unit increases.
Parking regulations apply to all kerbside and centre median bays and off-street carparks.
From 2 September, the new fines for the most common parking infringements are:
- Failing to pay for parking - $96
- Staying longer than the permitted parking time - $96
- Parking in a taxi or loading zone - $193
- Parking in a bus zone - $241.
