Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Parking revenues drop in city

By Carmen Hall
Bay of Plenty Times·
3 Jul, 2013 07:35 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Tauranga City Council has collected $1.29 million off motorists parking in the city over the past year.

New figures obtained by the Bay of Plenty Times reveal pay and display revenue was down slightly from $1.37 million in 2011/12 but The Strand has 50 per cent less parking available since the waterfront redevelopment. Parking revenue in that area has fallen from $115,634 to $53,136.

The decision to remove the parks angered the CBD's strongest advocate for free parking, retailer Bill Campbell, who said it had hit businesses hard.

"I think that is one of the big reasons the revenue for council has dropped. Since those carparks have been taken away it's hurt us personally and I think it will be the final nail in the coffin," Mr Campbell said.

At least five customers a day had complained to him about having to pay $3 to park in the central city for one hour, he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce CEO Max Mason said some businesses blamed parking charges for a drop in business.

The council's view was that it would not remove parking charges due to historical financial obligations. he said.

"Whatever the causes we all need to work hard ... to increase foot traffic and there are lots of positive developments planned. But that doesn't help those retailers who are struggling today and if we can support them, we should," Mr Mason said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Tauranga City Council transportation manager Martin Parkes said revenue from pay and display meters was used to pay for administering parking.

A reintroduction of parking fees on Saturdays from 9am to 1pm that starts this weekend has also angered motorists.

However, Mr Parkes said monitoring had shown there was no discernible change in the number of visitors to the city on Saturday after parking charges were removed two years ago.

"Saturday is the busiest shopping day and because time limits in the city centre have been removed there needs to be some mechanism for controlling parking otherwise people will park all day in the same place and no one else would be able to find a park," he said.

Paid parking had increased in Mount Maunganui up from $17,656 to $19,787 but demand was seasonal, Mr Parkes said.

"There is not a high demand for parking at the Mount because spaces are readily available in close proximity to main street where it's free of charge. So the bulk of that money is taken over the summer period when its a high demand for parking from mid-November through to mid-February."

Mount Mainstreet Manager Leanne Brown said the carpark was being used and that was indicative of more people going to the Mount.

"While we appreciate we don't have parking meters in the Mount motorists are still faced with parking tickets for exceeding time limits and other infringements."

But free parking was only one element of Mount Maunganui's success, she said.

"I am reluctant to get into the debate over whether free parking is the answer to issues in other areas of the city. However, we will continue to focus on giving people a reason to come to come here by trying to create some vibrancy ... give people a reason to come and they will."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

'Needs to be killed': Gang president allegedly ordered fatal attack on fellow member

03 Jul 08:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Oh hell, yeah': Pensioner moves from leaky caravan to new elder village

03 Jul 07:32 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

02 Jul 09:19 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'Needs to be killed': Gang president allegedly ordered fatal attack on fellow member

'Needs to be killed': Gang president allegedly ordered fatal attack on fellow member

03 Jul 08:00 AM

After nearly three weeks of evidence, counsel have begun delivering closing statements.

'Oh hell, yeah': Pensioner moves from leaky caravan to new elder village

'Oh hell, yeah': Pensioner moves from leaky caravan to new elder village

03 Jul 07:32 AM
Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

02 Jul 09:19 PM
'Scary stuff': Locals on crash corner fear it will take a death to get it fixed

'Scary stuff': Locals on crash corner fear it will take a death to get it fixed

02 Jul 09:11 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP