Commision News & Views with Commission Chair Anne Tolley

City centre parking has been a hot issue of late, which comes as no surprise. At the start of December, the two-hour free on-street parking trial – introduced as a Covid recovery measure mid-2020 – will end. This will be replaced by a $1 per hour charge for the first two hours and $5 per hour for any additional time.

One reason for this change is that many on-street parking spaces in the city centre are being used for all-day parking by people working in the area, making it difficult for shoppers and other short-term users to find a park when they need it.

Wider issues

There are wider issues at stake, however. Meeting the Government's climate change carbon emissions targets – which basically requires us to achieve carbon-zero status by 2050 – will be very challenging and we need people to start thinking now about how they can contribute to that effort. Transport emissions are by far the biggest part of Tauranga's carbon footprint, which reflects the fact that we're one of the most car-dependent cities in New Zealand. By ensuring parking charges will actually cover the cost of providing that service, we're really looking to encourage people to think about alternatives to using their cars.

Employers, particularly large employers, can play an important role by helping staff to use more sustainable ways of getting to and from work. Electric bikes, cycles, scooters, walking, car-pooling and public transport are possible options – and, the more people who use alternative transport modes, the more sense it makes to invest in the infrastructure to support even greater use of those alternatives. The approach taken by the ‘Wednesday Challenge' can also contribute to an important change in our transport thinking, but in reality it needs to be a ‘weekday challenge' to really make an impact.

Petition

We've just received a petition from city centre workers worried about access to and the cost of parking. We understand their concerns, but employers need to step up here and look at ways of helping their staff adapt to the new parking reality, which essentially means not clogging up available on-street parking and actually meeting the true cost of the parking service.

We know there is a capacity issue too, which will be partially addressed by planned parking development in the city centre, but that will take time and come at a cost to users.

In the meantime, we also have to grapple with short-term capacity reductions due to things like construction projects and the planned conversion of The Strand carpark to become a family-oriented waterfront park befitting of this stunning location. We'll be putting considerable thought into short-term measures to deal with parking demands, but the solution lies in sustainable, long-term thinking and the time to start that is now.