Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby admits the new parking initiatives announced by the city council and Priority One are not going to solve the central city's parking issues.
Mayor Stuart Crosby says free parking is not the answer to increasing the number of people who come into Tauranga's central business district.
The initiatives include free Bay Hopper buses into the central city on Saturdays, paying only $1 for up to three hours in the city's car parking buildings on Mondays, and free parking in parking buildings all day Saturday.
He says the initiatives address parking problems in the short term but should not be considered the final solution.
'In the medium and long term that requires further discussion, which I think there is a strong commitment to do by this new council.”
The new parking scheme starts on a trial basis from November 1 and its effectiveness will be monitored.
'Parking in the CBD is an issue and that's why we are looking to stimulate the parking opportunities.”
Most retailers spoken to by SunLive are applauding the initiatives, but some say free parking in the city would be the ideal option.
Stuart says he is happy to explore introducing free parking across the central city, but says the option must be approached with caution.
'Around the world where that's been trialled, it can create some problems, but my view is that I have an open mind and I'm happy to look at anything to do with stimulating the central business district; because we all know retailers are struggling at the moment.”
19 comments
retailers get behind
Posted on 15-10-2010 11:58 | By tabatha
At least something is being tried to try and liven up Tauranga. Retailers this should be the busiest time of the year, kick Mainstreet into gear as they seem to be dormant in getting public in. Tauranga is big enough to cater for all areas but carrots need to be dangled and the consumer will win and so will the retailers.
Parking Problems
Posted on 15-10-2010 12:16 | By maggiebop
I have friends in Chch who don't take their cars to town because the buses are inexpensive and frequent. In my experience if the Chch buses and Wellington trains were combined that would make an ideal transport solution for any other city.
Free buses
Posted on 15-10-2010 12:22 | By maggiebop
Chch has free shuttle buses through the city all day every day; don't have to pay more than $5 for a whole day's travel on other buses. Please explore the options for Tga.
Parking
Posted on 15-10-2010 12:30 | By Colleen Spiro
Why would you have a FREE BUS and FREE PARKING on a Saturday.- Would one be better on a different day????? Do you think people only shop on a Saturday!
The Wolf is thy shepherd
Posted on 15-10-2010 12:43 | By The author of this comment has been removed.
The only solution to this problem is to remove the cause of the problem from the equation. REMOVE COUNCIL. Hand over the parking to the downtown retailers (which in reality will NEVER happen because council have invested gazillions of ratepayers dollars into their LUCRATIVE parking revenue gathering empire) Let the people whose livelihoods are at stake decide what is best for them - NOT council. 1 less thing for council to be involved in. 1 less expense. Will go towards REDUCING the size of council, which will go towards Lowering Rates. Will save ratepayers money spent on consulting etc about what to do with the parking, AND how to revive the CBD (cos its none of their business anyway). MY PREDICTION: NONE of these things will be done, and we will CONTINUE to have the WOLVES in charge of investigating why the sheep keep going missing. Rates will continue to rise Council will continue to get bigger and more intrusive Parking and the dying CBD will continue to be a problem
foolish
Posted on 15-10-2010 13:08 | By Tony
Emply another consultant to have a look at the problem, I work down town and Im in and out all day finding a parking spot 6 or 7 times a day within 30 Mts from the door is easy.There is no one downtown so there are plenty of spaces The Problem is the cost Mon to Fri
re The Wolf is thy shepherd
Posted on 15-10-2010 14:28 | By tabatha
The solution is already in hand, remember the Council needs to be run by the elected ones and they in turn listen to the ones who elected them, simple, end of story no glamour simple positive politics. People elect people to do as the majority usually want.
Consultation
Posted on 15-10-2010 15:02 | By Jitter
There has been one major problem with council over the past six years and the same will occur over the next three years with Crosby still in charge eg downtown parking. They go through the very expensive and time consuming public consultations and submissionson on the ten year plan, major projects/decisions and then ignore what the majority of the submitters (ratepayers) want eg the Mount Hot Pools the majority of the 966 submissions received chose :- Refurbishment only (335) and minimum up grade (151) totalling 486. The balance of 378 opted for either the two storey (220)or the one storey (158)development. 102 didn't know what they wanted. Refurbishment would cost around $1 million so council went with single storey redevelopment costing $9 million.If TCC ask for submissions just so they can go through the motions and be seen to be doing the right thing and then select what they want or think the ratepayers really want then why waste so much time and money on public submissions.
Only the Mayor is in the loop ...
Posted on 15-10-2010 17:38 | By Murray.Guy
Only the Mayor is in the loop in regard these parking initiatives. We've yet to actually meet as a new council. We're off to a real 'inclusive start' as a governance team.
Typical
Posted on 15-10-2010 20:04 | By tibs
I note he tells us it's not the answer. That's fine but I don't see his suggestion of a suitable answer. I liked the honesty of the original meters, where if you paid for 30 mins parking, that's what you got. I you left early then the next person parking got the balance. But now you get a double pay situation, if you leave any spare time in the space, the next person has to start from scratch and pay for any overlap of time. In the words of Arthur Daley "A nice little earner"
wrong
Posted on 15-10-2010 22:52 | By Capt_Kaveman
now if i pay for 1hr thinking i need that much then after 20mins drive away and then realise i need to do something else close by and cant find a park n the same zone so who has to move as by law i still have payied for that park
parking costs
Posted on 16-10-2010 11:12 | By may-hem
The Mayor has no worries about parking in town, he has a taxpayer funded carpark available 24/7! Why doesn't the Mayor lead by example, and pay for his own parking as everyone else downtown does. Think of the money the ratepayers would save! At around $6.00 per day x 364 days is around $2500.00. Add onto that the Councillors carparks, council vehicle carparks and staff carparks...the cost to ratepayers escalates quickly.
at what cost
Posted on 16-10-2010 21:46 | By shocked 1
Great lets apply free parking then where is the mayor and his little boys club going to make up for the short fall ? remember if it is free parking we are then not going to be writing out the pile of parking tickets either. maybe pay another consultant $$$$ to work out the true cost I would prefer to see the roads open and retailer friendly, how many shops in the last 6 years have gone out of buisness as a result of laying new cobbles etc the council wont go bust they will just put the rates up and Stu will still get his mant benefits
Just a thought...
Posted on 19-10-2010 08:11 | By cag16
As Tauranga is owned by it's residents does it not stand to reason that we shouldn't pay to park on our own streets? What do you think would happen if we ALL refused to pay?
PARKING FEES OR NOT
Posted on 21-10-2010 11:03 | By The Master
THERE IS NOT ENOUGH THAT IS ACTUALLY THE PROBLEM, PARKING METERS OR NOT DOES NOT FIX THAT!
STRAND PLAN = PARKING MESS FROM HELL
Posted on 21-10-2010 11:04 | By The Master
The planned Strand development will only make it worse than now, that means bye bye to 280 odd parks. Like has some BOFFIN actually noticed that as yet?
PARKING PLAN ...
Posted on 21-10-2010 11:06 | By The Master
Destroyed first, replace with a parking building 5 years later, like has anyone spotted teh gap there or what?
STRAND DEVELOPMENT $20M
Posted on 21-10-2010 11:09 | By The Master
Spend $20m going on $30m. wipe out 290 odd car parks and like they already know what affect that has on CBD business after the huge mess in WILL-OWE street. like lets go for the jackpot ...... it is so simple ... LESS CAR PARKS MEANS LESS PEOPLE IN THE CBD. EVEN a pre-schooler can figure that 1 is less than 2.
SOLUTION = MORE PARKING !
Posted on 23-10-2010 11:45 | By The Master
But of course why should the CBD users pay for parking when no one else does ? Like if COuncil is to be "FAIR" to be "SEEN TO BE FAIR" to be "IS FAIR", then surely parking meters in the Mount also and a number of other places would be the thing to do. At least in the Mount at summer you would be getting something from all the holiday makers, they would contribute something to providing all the services they enjoy, right!
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