Auckland needs 10,000 more park and ride spaces: AA

Auckland is seriously under-supplied with park and ride spaces and needs to build 10,000 more spaces over the next decade, says the Automobile Association.

The programme would cost between $150 million and $250m and could be funded by a daily charge of $2 to $3 on new spaces, according to the motoring body.

Auckland Transport has quashed the AA's goal, saying it is sticking with a plan to build 10,000 new spaces by 2046. It is, however, open to the idea of charging to use park and ride stations.

It gets crazy around here, people park on the grass, on the sidewalks, everywhere

Malcolm Savage, Albany commuter

AA spokesman Barney Irvine said members see park and ride stations as a practical and convenient component of public transport but there were simply too few spaces that often filled up by daybreak.

A survey of 1000 AA members who commute to the CBD and who live close to rail stations and the Northern Busway found overwhelming support for more investment in park and ride stations.

"I just look at the congestion around here and in the streets and there is obviously not enough parks," said Malcolm Savage, a regular user of the Albany park and ride station - the city's biggest with 1100 carparks.

When the Herald visited the Albany station on Friday at 7am it was two-thirds full and filling fast.

"It gets crazy around here, people park on the grass, on the sidewalks, everywhere," said Savage.

The city worker, who lives in Albany but too far away to walk to the station on a cold day, said feeder buses do not work for him. It's the same for Maureen Hynes, who says feeder buses from her neighbourhood in Torbay are too infrequent and take too long to get to the park and ride station.

"After a certain time it's impossible to get a park. You have to be here by half seven or quarter to eight," said Hynes.

David Hayward, from Browns Bay at the Albany Park and Ride station. 18 August 2017 New Zealand Herald. Photo Jason Oxenham.

Auckland University lecturer David Hayward said you could not continue building carparks forever but bemoaned having to wait up to 20 minutes for a feeder bus from his home in Browns Bays.

"And when I get back (to the Albany bus and ride station) at the end of the day there is no guarantee that I'm going to get a bus easily -.really the car is a whole lot more convenient," said Hayward.

Asked if Albany could do with more carparks, he said: "There is clearly a demand for it."

Hayward did not feel good about paying a fee at the park and ride station but said a charge could be justified if there was a noticeable improvement in services.

Interestingly, AA members are not adverse to paying for park and ride, said Irvine.

The survey found 67 per cent would be prepared to pay $2 or more a day for a parking space.

Irvine said park and ride played a crucial role for successful public transport systems around the work, but Auckland lagged behind similar size cities like Portland in the United States, with 10,200 park and ride spaces. Auckland has 3800.

Perth is another similar size city to Auckland with 16,700 park and ride spaces. Even Wellington, a third of the size of Auckland, has 5200 park and ride stations, according to the AA.

Irvine said to catch up with current demand and keep pace with a growing network, Auckland needs 10,000 new spaces over 10 years, with the first 5000 by 2022. Planning needs to start now, as we crack on with the Northwestern Busway, Ameti in southeast Auckland and expansion of rail, he said.

The investment, he said, could add 5000 or more new users - a significant increase on the 85,000 people currently using the train or Northern Busway each workday.

Irvine said the main argument against investment in park and ride is the price tag with each space costing between $15,000 and $25,000, saying this could be overcome by charging people to park in the new spaces.

"Charging should only be on new parks, not the ones already built or those in the pipeline. Reserved monthly parking and easy payment options need to be looked at too," he said.

Irvine stressed that investing in park and ride was about complementing, not replacing, feeder bus services, which take time to develop and will always exclude a significant chunk of commuters who have no choice but to drive between home and station.

In a statement, Auckland Transport said its plans for an additional 10,000 park and ride spaces by 2046 was based on growth projections and to ensure the city's public transport network was as effective as possible.

"We would all like this to be done as soon as possible but the cost of land purchase and construction must be considered and we have to balance construction in the right places with available funding," it said.

Auckland Transport is building 484 carparks at the Hibiscus Coast busway station and resource consent has been lodged for a further 127. It is also preparing plans for extra spaces at Papakura and a park and ride station at Westgate.

Auckland Transport said charging for park and rides could be a useful way to recover costs but it could also discourage public transport use.

Park and ride around the world

Auckland
Population: 1.6m
Park and ride spaces: 3800

Wellington
Population: 500,000
Park and ride spaces: 5200

Perth
Population: 1.75m
Park and ride spaces: 16,700

Brisbane
Population: 2m
Park and ride spaces: 20,700

Portland
Population: 1.6m
Park and ride spaces: 10,200

San Francisco
Population: 3.2m
Park and ride spaces: 49,600