New Ponsonby parking scheme hopes to drive away commuters

June 12, 2017

New Ponsonby parking scheme hopes to drive away commuters

Notices warning Ponsonby commuters and residents about a parking permit scheme. Photo: Sophie Baird

The lack of residential parking in Ponsonby is now being addressed, with a new scheme being rolled out by Auckland Transport.

The restrictions currently being rolled out serve to discourage commuters from outer suburbs parking in residential streets for the day.

Ponsonby residents and businesses located within a designated zone now have to apply for a $70 annual permit to park a car within the area or buy a $5 coupon to park for the day.

The parking scheme will be enforced from Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. People visiting the area or tradespeople will be able to park for free within the zone for up to two hours.

Nearly 300 submissions from Ponsonby residents and businesses in the new parking zone were received late last year.

Seventy-four per cent of submissions were in favour of the proposal but there were concerns the problem would move into other areas of Ponsonby and affect local businesses.

Ponsonby resident and member of the Western Bays Community Group, Chris Bailey, said he was not satisfied with how Auckland Transport (AT) had dealt with residents but felt the scheme was necessary.

“AT has provided a lot of good information but it hasn’t been easy to read. They haven’t told us why it’s necessary, what to do if you have a problem and what options are there.”

Mr Bailey said AT had tried to find a one-size-fits-all solution which didn’t help with unique living arrangements.

“People think you can only have one permit per household, but that’s not the case. We asked AT to clarify this. They said they would but they didn’t.”

In a feedback report published by AT, residents said major transport problems needed to be addressed before introducing the scheme.

AT media advisor James Ireland said Ponsonby would soon be a part of a new bus network next year.

“The bus network will operate at least every 15 minutes from 7am to 7pm all week. This will provide easier bus travel to and from Ponsonby which will relieve on-street parking congestion even further.”

Mr Bailey said AT needed to prioritise creating reliable public transport above implementing these schemes.

“When I catch the Link bus to come to work, it’s either seriously delayed or full. If you leave an hour to get to work and get there 30 minutes late, you’re going to use something else.”

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