Editorial: Parking fees? I'll keep moving

Parking revenue was up $500,000 in the last financial year compared with the $1.4 million gathered the previous year. Photo / George Novak

I confess, I hate paying for parking.

I am one of the many people, who given the option of going somewhere with paid parking or free parking, will pick the free parking option.

I'm also one of those people who rarely carries cash - so having loose change for parking isn't always an option.

I'm thankful for the text to park option offered in a lot of paid parking areas, but I end up paying an extra fee purely for using that service.

Sigh, more money being spent on something which I could get free somewhere else.

In yesterday's paper we reported the city council had collected more than $1.9 million from motorists over the past year.

Revenue was up $500,000 in the last financial year compared with the $1.4 million gathered the previous year.

Central city free parking advocate Bill Campbell says paid parking has killed city foot traffic and several other retailers seem to agree.

A few weeks ago we reported about Rotorua's successful two-hour free parking experiment which has been heralded as successful.

The first seven months of Rotorua's 18-month free parking trial has reversed stagnation in the city centre and restored confidence to retailers.

Mr Campbell said 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 central city.

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.

Ideas are being thrown around to figure out what to do with the issue of parking in the central city.

Mr Campbell is petitioning for businesses to pay a targeted rate which would enable free parking for shoppers.

However, monitored free parking is also being considered, with financial models being drawn up.

I know I would be visiting the central city more often if I didn't have to worry about how much time I had left on the parking meter, and I'm sure others would agree.