CBD parking model draws praise

IDEA: Tauranga retailer Bill Campbell hopes free parking will work in the CBD.

Rotorua's successful experiment with two-hour free parking in the downtown area has boosted Tauranga retailer Bill Campbell's hopes that it would work here.

The first seven months of Rotorua's 18-month free parking trial has reversed stagnation in the city centre and restored confidence to retailers, a Bay of Plenty Times investigation has shown.

Mr Campbell responded that Rotorua's experience showed that free parking for two or three hours would reverse the trend of Tauranga's outlying shopping areas taking the cream out of the CBD.

"I think it would be a roaring success," the free parking advocate said.

Both cities had suffered from new suburban shopping centres drawing customers away from traditional downtowns where people paid to park - leading to large numbers of empty shops.

Rotorua retailer Shiffa Harunani said the streets were noticeably busier and the increased turnover meant they no longer faced closure. Prior to free parking, their business had reached the point where they were struggling every day.

"I think it will really help Tauranga," she said.

Rotorua council committee chairman Mike McVicker said free parking had really led the way in revitalising the city centre, along with other measures such as improved security to get rid of the criminal element.

The other vital factor was the buy-in from retailers and their desire to take ownership of the issue in conjunction with the council, he said.

Rotorua's economic and regulatory services manager Mark Rawson said that although the 85 per cent occupancy of carparks in the four city centre blocks had only increased marginally, the turnover of vehicles had increased a lot. The downward trend in foot traffic had been turned around.

He explained that the strict enforcement of time limits by electronic sensors on each carpark in the free areas meant people working in the CBD who used to feed the meters and shift their cars now parked in low-cost areas ringing the city centre. The average parking time was now 35 to 40 minutes in the 120-minute free parking areas, while carparks ringing the area were being used for longer.

Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby said there was no doubt that paying for parking in the CBD was a deterrent to shoppers but it was hard to say how much Tauranga would learn from Rotorua because each CBD had its own idiosyncrasies. Data showing how much each free-parking scenario would cost the Tauranga council will be unveiled in about four weeks.