Happy to embrace a life with no parking at any time

Craig Lambie rents out his allocated inner-city parking space and cycles everywhere. Photo: Ken Irwin KEN

WHEN 26-year-old flight attendant Nikki Roberts moved to Melbourne from a quiet corner of south-east Queensland, she found the traffic stressful and the cost of running a car excessive.

When Roberts crunched the numbers, she realised she could save between $150 and $200 a fortnight doing without a vehicle and its associated upkeep, registration, fuel and toll costs. She channelled the spare cash into a new apartment - one unencumbered by a car space. 'I figure rather than having a car eating my money, I'd be better off having an investment and buying an apartment in the city close to everything and close to transport,' Roberts says. 'I don't need a car and so I don't need a car park.'

Roberts, who bought a car-space-free apartment in Fridcorp's elm development under construction in South Melbourne, is one of a small but apparently growing number of people - especially younger people - forgoing a car space when they buy a new inner city home. The most recent figures show that within the City of Melbourne, one in 1.9 dwellings went without a car in 2006, up from one in 3.3 dwellings in 2001.

'What the market is saying is that where the public transport is good, and where the local amenity is good, where there are activities, and I can walk to the IGA and I have the facilities all easy distance, then I'm happy to go without a car,' says Callum Fraser, a director of architects Elenberg Fraser.

For some, affordability is the big factor. Others are motivated by a combination of lifestyle and environmental concerns.

IT contractor Craig Lambie, 32, lives car-free in a Little Bourke Street apartment, and says he saves $7000 a year. He does have a car space, which he rents out - covering the cost of using car share operator Flexicar for the occasions when a car is needed.

Otherwise, he gets by with his bike and the train. 'Car space is land, valuable land, and we don't pay enough for it,' he says. 'If car spaces were a separate expense, we would always realise the cost, and start to compare it to other uses.' Not owning a car in the past had been seen as a sign of social exclusion and poverty, says Monash University chairman of public transport Graham Currie. But in the new era of inner suburban growth and environmental concerns, car ownership did not have the same cachet.

Professor Currie says car ownership is not the same predictor of wealth and social advantage it once was, given the increase in apartment and high-density living, and the introduction of car share companies.

In the City of Melbourne, there are three car share operators, with 26 on-street parking bays and six off-street in the City Square car park. Other arrangements exist in other car parks not operated by the city.

Kimberley Palmer, from Flexicar, says the company was in discussions with several developers about including its cars in new apartment complexes, although Flexicar preferred to have its cars on the street and accessible to all its members.

About 45 per cent of Flexicar members own or are paying off a home.