Vehicles parking in the central shopping in downtown Tauranga from March 18 will have a three hour time limit in any one place.

The decision, which goes against the Tauranga Council staff advice, was made at this week's city council meeting.

'The way I look at it is, there isn't enough parking so you have to ration it somehow,” says Mayor Greg Brownless. 'You either do that through price or time limit.

'I don't think it is fair to do it through price. I think it's fair that everybody has a chance at it, and you can't hog it all day.

'We used to have a two hour limit. We didn't haven't as much of a parking issue then. It wasn't as bad, and now obviously the place has grown, but there was some thought that some cars are just parking there all day. They just pay their money they can afford it. This will stop that.”

Those who do want to park all day can go to the outskirts of the CBD, says Greg.

The parking price has not been changed.

'The staff wanted to double the parking price s and let people stay as long as they like. We to share it round basically.”

The three hour parking limit will be in Grey Street, Devonport Road and Durham Street plus Elizabeth Street from Cameron Road, Spring Street from Durham Street, and Willow Street as far as Hamilton Street.

The decision is in the face of staff advice and on line survey results which rejected the three hour limit 64 per cent to 36 per cent.

The staff recommendation is to keep the status quo because they say benefits of the current no time limit system outweigh those associated with time limits.

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.