Commuters slow using park-and-ride
Commuters are proving slow in using a new $550,000 park-andride service at the Upper Hutt railway station.
Fewer than 25 cars are parking, more than two weeks after the opening of the 99-park facility which is only accessed off Goodshed Rd.
Built by the Greater Wellington Regional Council, the parking increases the Upper Hutt station’s free commuter spaces to 327.
The extra Upper Hutt parks were built at the same time as another 40 at Trentham which opened late last year.
While that has been at near or full capacity since opening, Upper Hutt has brought a different response, the city’s regional councillor Paul Swain said.
With only a single Metlink notice to commuters on the morning the car park came into use, the council had opted for a deliberately ‘‘soft opening’’, he said.
Park-and-ride commuters use a subway to access the Upper Hutt station but full lighting and CCTV security cameras still needed to be installed, Swain said.
Road signs indicating the carpark’s single entry/exit point on the railway station’s eastern boundary would also be in place soon.
‘‘So in that sense the park is not fully functional yet, but the decision was made to open it up.
‘‘In comparison to Tawa and Petone, for example, this is a different response because the parking here is in a new area, not just an extension of an existing area,’’ Swain said.
Most people wanting to use the new parking will need to take a different route in their to the station.
‘‘So it’s a matter of them learning about it first of all, and then it’s about getting them to change their behaviour.’’
The park-and-ride opening - soft or otherwise - came four months after a September deadline indicated by the regional council when the project was announced in June 2016.
Swain said that was because of unexpected issues with the excavation work on the former railway yard land.
The Upper Hutt and Trentham projects had a combined $750,000 cost which is half-funded by the New Zealand Transport Agency.
The regional council’s share was spread over two financial years, Swain said.
The development is expected to ease pressure on parking space in the city business area.