Uni car park available to public

IN a first, the University of Otago is set to open its new car park to the public.

Otago University property services director Barry MacKay said its 152space car park at the former Wickliffe Press site, on the corner of Clyde and Albany Sts, would be open to staff, students and the public.

Instead of allowing staff to reserve parks, it would be run on a casual basis, Mr MacKay said.

‘‘The main reason is to provide staff, students and visitors with a flexible, convenient parking solution which recognises that not everyone needs or wants a permanent park.’’

The car park is set to open soon, but because of a delay in the pay machine and barriers arriving and being installed, it had decided to let people use the car park free of charge until that equipment was in place.

It was expected to be installed in early September.

The system would then be similar to the one at Dunedin Airport, with payment made at the exit.

Users will be charged $2 an hour up to a maximum of $6 per day.

The imminent opening of the car park comes as the university’s massive building programme left it 400 parking spaces short of its requirement by the Dunedin City Council to have 2201 parks.

The strain on parking has proved so great the university has contracted a consultant to review its parking arrangements.

It is considering a range of options to fix the problem, including raising prices, getting rid of personal parks and providing more parks.

Mr MacKay said yesterday the review document was being finalised before going through internal approval processes.