Tauranga parking move goes to vote

Councillors are being advised to reject a proposed three hour parking limit in the CBD. Photo: Supplied.

A decision on whether to limit city parking to three hours goes to the vote in council today.

It's a hang-over from the December 19 Council meeting, where Councillors resolved to consult the public about introducing maximum three hour time parking limits within the core retail area only.

The surveys on Facebook and Survey Monkey from January 15 – 29, rejected the three hour limit 64 per cent to 36 per cent.

The Facebook poll reached 18,727 people with 763 voting against and 424 in favour.

The staff recommendation is for councillors to drop the three hour time limit recommendation as the benefits of the current no time limit system outweigh those associated with time limits.

The benefits of the current system are that people can choose their own time limit. It is an easy to use system determined by price only, and customers don't have to search for a parking place that suits their need.

It also addresses concerns raised by retailers who in the past have stated that time limits do not allow enough time for their customers.

Customers are entitled to park for as long as they are prepared to pay for, eliminating the practice of car shuffling from space to space when a time limit expires.

If they do decide to proceed against the advice councillors can make a decision to proceed with the 3-hour time limit via an amendment to the Traffic and Parking Bylaw 2012.

A flurry of parking changes were proposed in a notice of motion filed by councillor Terry Molloy in November 2017.

In order to bring pedestrians back into the central city he proposed driving up long term parking prices.

Proposals including CBD parking be free for the first two hours and $6 an hour after that, raising daily parking for CBD commuters from $6 to $36 a day on-street or $12 in a parking building, which were rejected earlier.

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5 comments

Consultation!

Posted on 20-02-2018 13:03 | By maildrop

So a thousand people have told Councillors what to do? It's not representative and it's not consultation as I know it. This lot are unreal.


parking for elderly

Posted on 20-02-2018 15:12 | By jaydeegee

A party of semi-mobile seniors wanted to have lunch at a restaurant on the Strand or Wharf Street. Could we find parking within easy staggering distance? not a chance! Not all semi-mobile people have Mobility Cards and anyway we could find only 2 mobility parks near Red Square - too far to walk and already occupied. No parking behind the railway line at the bottom of Wharf Street as the area is blocked off for a kids play ground. To make matters worse the central CBD carpark was full. Because of accessibility problems we decided to have lunch outside of the CBD. So who missed out? The restaurant of course. We have lunch together fortnightly so bad luck for the cafes along the Strand and on Wharf Street. Thought Tauranga was senior friendly?


Parking Issues

Posted on 20-02-2018 17:09 | By Fernhill 6

Allot of the problem with the parking issues in Tauranga stem from the decision about 4 years ago to get rid of free buses for school children in Tauranga. Not only has this created more traffic at peak times due to parents dropping off/ picking up their kids (Rather than paying out more money again) it has also created parking issues in town as well. As the traffic increases in these peak hours, people get into town/ work later and have limited places to park their cars. Look at the difference on the roads when the kids are at school compared to the school holidays. If everyone was charged a further $10 in their rates to provide Free bus services for kids then less people would be using their cars. Provide Park & Ride services & use the Train lines for commuters as well. It's not rocket science!!


Governance by Facebook?

Posted on 20-02-2018 19:34 | By Bill Gibson-Patmore

To use the modern Facebook-popular vernacular... FFS! . . . It seems that those in council - elected or employed may only regard Facebook as authoritative, so might we all now be driven to use modern phrases of Doh! . . . LOL . . . and . . . WTF . . . in order to correspond with our local authority? . . . I only know what I have read in SunLive columns, but it does seem absolutely ludicrous - and constitutionallly unsound - to call a couple of online surveys a sound basis for public consultation. . . . I would venture to suggest that the citizens, stakeholders, and ratepayers (these are the people who empower council, councillors, and staff) have NOT been consulted. . . Dudes! . . Time to bail! . . GTFOOH! . . .Bill Gibson-Patmor


love itt,

Posted on 21-02-2018 20:25 | By Wonkytonk

free parking,,,as the saying goes it its free gotta have a catch..? thanks, tauranga CC, i live is western bay, get free parking to go to CBD, work, but now this saves me money! no way would i shop in town, the businesses are in the wrong place, are rubbish. But thanks for the free parking 3 hours...oh i do buy a coffee sometimes but then again so do many of us who work in the CBD. Most of us don't shop their so business who are not doing well maybe its because you are expensive, need to change, are ......$^!@


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