Open-air car parks in Canberra's Civic are being built over, and daily parking prices in the city centre have risen since 2023.
Canberra's city centre is losing its open-air car parks as development moves onto the sites, and parking there is getting more expensive.
The median daily parking price in Canberra's CBD was $21.64 in the first quarter of 2025, up from $19.79 in 2023. At the government's premium Theatre Lane car park, four hours now costs $20, which is $2 or about 11 per cent more than the year before. A full day costs $22.
Some parking is being replaced. More than 1,000 car spaces have opened in Civic in recent years, including a 280-bay car park on Nangari Street that opened in mid-August. Roads ACT's Tim Rampton said that "there are still thousands of car parks in the city". He also asked people to think about taking the bus or light rail.
The ACT had about 337,000 motor vehicles in 2024. Car ownership there is lower than the national average, at 71.8 vehicles per 100 people compared with 80.6. Traffic on Northbourne Avenue fell 20 per cent in 2024, five years after light rail opened.
For Canberra commuters, fewer surface car parks and rising public parking prices make a reserved space near Civic worth more. That applies both to people looking for a long-term space and to owners who can offer one.
Source: The Canberra Times — Time is short for Civic's open-air car parks; some say that's a good thing
Photo: Nick-D / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Car park under construction on Nangari Street, Civic, Canberra, June 2025.