More wardens in city, but fewer tickets

Parking warden numbers in Wellington have leapt as parkers get pinged in the suburbs and the dead of night.

Wellington City Council figures show that parking warden numbers jumped from 41 to 57 in the year from December 2015.

The council’s parking boss, Brendan Jelly, pointed out ‘‘this is clearly not about revenue’’ as figures showed money going into the council’s coffers from tickets was slowly dropping.

This is backed up by the figures, provided after an official information request, which show 267,552 tickets were issued five years ago compared with 179,190 in the past financial year, when the council made more than $6 million from parking tickets.

Jelly said the jump in warden numbers could track back to when parking services were brought back in-house by the council two years ago.

The focus was initially on the central city – which remained ‘‘key for us’’ – but there had been a ‘‘dramatic’’ increase in requests from schools, shops and residents for wardens in the suburbs.

‘‘We are now able to regularly have

"We are now able to regularly have people monitoring parking in all of the inner-city suburbs, and, less frequently, the outer suburbs." Brendan Jelly, council's parking boss

people monitoring parking in all of the inner-city suburbs, and, less frequently, the outer suburbs.’’

More staff meant more patrols, leading to better turnover of parking spaces and more policing of bus lanes and clearways, he said.

‘‘The staff are also able to act as ‘city ambassadors’ – ie helping cruise ship passengers and other visitors with directions and other information.’’

The council’s policy of paying a living wage also helped with staff retention, Jelly said.

Of the nearly 180,000 tickets issued in the past financial year, the vast majority were during daylight hours, with the hour between 11am and midday – when more than 32,000 were issued – the the hardest-hit.

But the witching hours, from midnight to 6am, saw about 162 tickets handed out, largely for parking on yellow lines, over driveways, and ‘‘intersection offences’’, the council said.

On Monday, the Taxpayers’ Union ‘‘revealed’’ that 17 Wellington wardens lost their jobs after they were deemed to be under the skill level required for the living wage – which is currently $19.80 per hour.

Council chief executive Kevin Lavery said the claim was factually inaccurate.

‘‘Wellington City Council chose to bring our parking warden roles in-house over two years ago, in order to get better service and expect higher standards,’’ he said.

‘‘As part of that process, a range of new standards were implemented for staff in that role, including stronger customer service, being able to work with new technology, and a range of health checks.

‘‘As part of requiring these new higher standards, some people who were employed by the contractor were not subsequently employed by WCC. To say this happened because of the living wage policy is inaccurate.’’