Illegal parking has become prevalent along Auckland’s Meola Rd.
Cars are driving along and across bike lanes to park on grass verges and Auckland Transport (AT)’s efforts to stop the problem have met with limited success.
Meola Rd connects the Aucklandsuburbs of Point Chevalier and Westmere. On Saturday mornings, the road is particularly busy, especially around Seddon Fields, the home of Western Springs Association Football Club.
When RNZ visited at the weekend, 10 cars were parked on one small area of grass near the club’s entrance. Several had their tyres on the pavement, partially blocking the bike lane. Just metres away was an Auckland transport sign warning of $100 fines plus towing costs for parking on the grass.
Western Springs AFC general manager Steven Dillon said parking had been a persistent issue.
“You can certainly see that there are people parking in areas that they shouldn’t,” he said.
“There are clear signs, which AT has put up quite recently. It’s very hard, of course, for us to monitor that as a community sports club. But there are certainly people who are parking on areas that they shouldn’t be, and you can see the damage is obvious that is being caused.”
Motorists have driven down the cycle lane to park on the verge. Photo / RNZ
Auckland Transport said the signs on Meola Rd went up in mid-May. But some of the infringements issued that month had to be waived.
It said it could not enforce the fines, as most of the area belonged to the reserves and the Museum of Transport and Technology (Motat).
In a statement, AT said: “The majority of the grass area on Meola Rd falls under the reserves and Motat, so we are unable to enforce the no stopping/parking off the roadway in those areas.”
Bollards have just been installed. AT said it was part of a long-term upgrade.
Motorists are ignoring signs about parking on Meola Rd. Photo / RNZ
The football club said it was doing its bit to try and ease parking congestion, Dillon said.
“There’s been ‘bike to football’ campaigns that we’ve run with various different organisations. We’ve also invested in additional bike racks and things like that to go in and around the club. We’ve promoted the bus routes, we promote carpooling. We’re trying to promote everything we can to reduce some of those stresses.”
On the other side of the road, Meola Reef Reserve is another problem area. It is popular with dog walkers and the 10 parking spaces were often full.
In one spot by the reserve, motorists had driven down the cycle lane to park on the verge. The grass had churned to muddy puddles.
Damaged grass from illegal parking. Photo / RNZ
Bike Auckland deputy chair Duncan Laidlaw was concerned by the behaviour.
“Obviously, it’s a massive safety risk,” he said. “We’ve got people cycling, kids cycling to sports or cycling to school and you’ve got someone driving a motor vehicle down the cycleway, there’s not a lot of space then for them to get out of the way. It also damages the cycleways and often there’s infrastructure underneath.”
Motat said it had also seen illegal parking, especially at the weekend. It was working with AT subcontractors on more signage.
But there could be another solution to Meola Rd’s parking problem.
Motat said it had space allocated to build a 250-space carpark alongside its existing car park on nearby Motions Rd
However, Motat does not have the funds to pay for the carpark. The museum wants to talk to potential funders and is in discussions with Auckland Council about how it can move forward on the plan.
