An accessible bay is not a normal bay painted blue
This is the single most common misunderstanding in car park marking, and it is why so many sites fail an access audit despite having blue bays that look perfectly reasonable.
An accessible parking space is a designed element. It has its own dimensions, it needs a shared area alongside it, the symbol has a specified size and orientation, and the space has to connect to a continuous accessible path of travel to the building entrance. Gradient matters. Signage matters. The number of bays a site needs is determined by the total number of spaces.
Painting a standard bay blue and adding a wheelchair symbol produces something that looks like an accessible bay and does not function as one. A person who uses a wheelchair cannot deploy it beside a car parked in a standard width bay, which is the entire reason the shared area exists.
The parts that get checked
- Bay dimensions. Wider and longer than a standard space, set out in AS 2890.6.
- The shared area. The hatched zone alongside or behind, which gives room to transfer to a wheelchair or use a walking aid. Often shared between two adjacent bays.
- The symbol. The international symbol of access, at a specified size and orientation, positioned within the bay.
- Bollard or signage. Vertical signage identifying the space, and in some cases a bollard within the shared area.
- Gradient. The bay and shared area need to be reasonably level in both directions. Paint cannot fix a fall that is too steep.
- Path of travel. A continuous accessible route from the bay to the entrance, without kerbs, steps or obstructions.
- Location. Accessible bays should be the closest spaces to the accessible entrance.
- Number provided. Determined by the total number of spaces on the site.
Line marking can fix the first three and part of the fourth. Gradient, path of travel and location are civil and building matters, and if those are the problem, marking will not solve it. An honest contractor tells you that rather than painting anyway.
Why this one carries a deadline
Most line marking is discretionary. Faded bays are annoying, and the job gets done when it suits.
Accessible parking is different, because it sits at the intersection of the building code and discrimination law. A site can receive an access audit as part of a lease, sale, refurbishment or insurance review. It can also receive a complaint from a member of the public under the Disability Discrimination Act, and that arrives with a process and a timeframe rather than a suggestion.
That is why these jobs tend to be the urgent ones, and why it is worth having the bays checked before someone else checks them for you.
What to ask a contractor
- What bay and shared area dimensions are you working to, and from which standard?
- Are you marking the shared area as well as the bay?
- Is the symbol size and placement to the standard?
- Does the site have enough accessible bays for its total number of spaces?
- Is there anything here that marking cannot fix, such as gradient or path of travel?
A contractor who can answer those five without hedging is someone who has done this before. One who says "we just paint them blue" is telling you something useful.
Check the current standards before you rely on this
This page describes accessible parking and access requirements as they stood in September 2026. The National Construction Code and the Australian Standards are revised, and what applies to a particular property depends on its building class, its age and the approvals it holds.
The authoritative sources are the National Construction Code, published by the Australian Building Codes Board at abcb.gov.au, and AS 2890.6 and AS 1428.1, available from Standards Australia. For what applies to a specific site, speak to a building certifier or an access consultant. Where anything here differs from those sources, they are right and we are not.
We are not access consultants, certifiers or lawyers. Obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act are a legal question and warrant your own advice.