Squeeze on for parking close to city

New zones mean resident permits, time limits and AT looking at park-and-ride fees

Auckland Transport is developing parking zones to appease frustrated city residents and is considering charging park-and-ride users.

In some residential areas — including suburbs like Ponsonby, Freemans Bay and Parnell, which have high parking demand but many properties without off street parking — residents will need to buy permits and time limits will be implemented to deter commuter parking.

It is not known how much permits will cost — but an AT trial in St Marys Bay, which began in 2012, has charged residents $70 a year for a resident permit, and allows each property to pay $70 for a visitor’s permit.

The St Marys Bay zone has a blanket two-hour time restriction between 8am and 6pm, on weekdays, with anyone wanting to stay longer needing to display a permit.

In Auckland, new permits will be issued annually, AT’s new parking strategy says.

Top priority would be given to residents of single title houses without off street parking, or apartments built before 1944, ahead of single-title houses with one off street space, other houses, apartments, and businesses located within the parking zone.

One permit will be allocated to each priority category before a second permit is issued and there will be a cap on the total number available. Permits will not be available to properties built after September 2013.

An AT spokesman said Freemans Bay would be the first suburb to be offered resident parking permits and community consultation would be carried out to determine other areas to be affected.

In parts of the region where many homes have off street parking, time restrictions will be applied to a quarter of the street’s available spaces, but no permits will be issued.

The AT document also addresses the issue of narrow streets on which parking could cause access problems — especially for emergency services. If a street is less than 6.5m across and is known to be problematic, AT will consult with residents to consider removing parking from one side of the street.

Meanwhile, users of the park-andride scheme, which allows commuters to park free at public transport stations before using buses, trains or ferries to get into the city, may soon have to pay to park at the facilities.