Free all-day carparking is set to become a memory along Mount Maunganui's busiest beachfront roads, with the prospect of strictly enforced parking controls and meters.
Tauranga City Council is considering tough measures for next summer to ease the increasing difficulty of finding a park when holidaymakers flood into the Mount.
Council transport
officials have been studying ways to get a better turnover of carparking in the area north of Banks Ave, where the only time limits were in the shopping centre and the section of road fronting the Oceanside Twin Towers.
"The whole area is under huge pressure," council's transportation operations manager Martin Parkes told the Bay of Plenty Times.
Mount retailers will get a chance to discuss some of the ideas at a meeting tonight.
The main thrust of the investigation has been to improve the way existing carparks were managed to increase turnover and to create additional on-street carparks on some of the Mount's quite wide streets, like Prince Ave.
Mr Parkes said the problem with The Mall at Pilot Bay and most of Marine Parade was that people often parked up all day.
It meant beachgoers had to walk up to 10 or 15 minutes to reach where they wanted to go.
One option was to make some streets one-way in order to double the number of carparks by having angle parking.
Mr Parkes did not believe that free all-day parking was good use of road space. He said time restrictions were needed in areas where council wanted to encourage people to visit.
Mr Parkes said council wanted to create parking turnover in the immediate vicinity of Main Beach and Pilot Bay so more people could enjoy these areas. The further out people went beyond these core areas, the longer time restrictions became on parking - or it could be unrestricted.
Mr Parkes said parking was an extremely controversial and sensitive subject and he had no doubt that change would be unpopular with some people.
The investigation is part of the council's city-wide parking strategy adopted last year and local businesses and residents will be consulted.
Mr Parkes said parking restrictions had to be accompanied by the right level of enforcement to be effective. They were looking at shorter restrictions in the downtown to get a greater turnover of vehicles, although this had to be balanced against not rushing people who wanted to enjoy the cafe atmosphere without feeling rushed.
The investigation included charging for parking. Mr Parkes said charging made people more aware of when they needed to leave.
New restrictions might be limited to the warmer months, say from Labour Weekend to Easter, when the problem was worst.
"Tauranga is no different to a lot of other tourist destinations where they have time restrictions and charges ... we should not be viewed differently.
"We want to be fair to everyone. People that go there and park all day restrict the number of visitors that can go there. People get put off because they can't get over there and find a park - they end up avoiding the place."