Chloe Soutar, the co-owner of The Nourished Eatery. Photo / Sandra Conchie
Chloe Soutar, the co-owner of The Nourished Eatery. Photo / Sandra Conchie
Tauranga CBD shoppers and business owners have mixed opinions about the free-parking trial coming to an end next week.
The two-hours-free trial ends in the city centre on December 1 and will be replaced with paid on-street parking with variable charges, Tauranga City Council says.
From December 1 to January31, on-street parking in the city centre will be $1 an hour for the first two hours and $5 for each subsequent hour. From February 1 this will change to $2 an hour for the first two hours and $5 for each subsequent hour.
The trial began in mid-2020 to support retailers during a period of Covid-19 disruptions, however, the council said city centre retailers and customers had noticed most of the parking was occupied by workers parking all day.
Chloe Soutar, co-owner of The Nourished Eatery on Willow St, feared the new charges would mean “no one” would come into the CBD when they had other places that offered free parking.
The free parking trial ends next week. Photo / George Novak
“The council just doesn’t seem to care about us retailers who are already really struggling to keep our doors open after a significant decline in shoppers.
“This will definitely have a significant impact on us when more people don’t want to pay for parking and they will go elsewhere. Why would you want to shop here when shopping malls and Mount Maunganui city centre has free parking? This just absolutely doesn’t make sense.”
Soutar said they were yet to recover from the impacts of Covid-19.
“Already many of the shops in the CBD are empty and a hike in parking charges will definitely mean lots more shops will close their doors.”
Soutar feared the impact of the new charges during the Christmas-New Year period when they usually relied on extra shoppers to give their business an added boost in sales.
Damien Connor, the manager of the Bivouac Outdoor Tauranga store on Willow St, endorsed the new charges.
“It’s the best decision the council has made. We have lots of workers using the free parking spaces. People work at home for a few hours then pop into town for a couple more hours and take advantage of two-hour free parking rather than parking buildings. That was never the intention of the free parking regime.”
Shopper Nicola Cooper, from Bethlehem said she believed the new charges would encourage more people to shop elsewhere.
“I feel sad for the retailers who are already struggling from the impacts of Covid-19 and other social issues and the council needs to attract people to the CBD not turn them off.”
Sue King, from Te Puna, agreed.
“I think paying $1 an hour for the first two hours sounds reasonable when it costs $2.50 for the first hour in a parking building but only if the council introduces the same charges in Mount Maunganui city centre. Otherwise, people will just stop coming into the central city to shop.”
Hanna Orchard, 22, who is on a working holiday from California and parks her car in downtown Tauranga, said the hike in parking charges was “a bit ridiculous” when free parking was a major drawcard.
Welcome Bay mother Johnna Flavell who regularly visits the Tauranga CBD,
Welcome Bay mother Johnna Flavell, believed the new charges were likely to turn more people away from visiting the CBD.
“It seems a backward step to me if you’re trying to attract more people to want to shop in the city centre,” she said.
“And why would you want to pay for parking when I travel on the bus all day for $3.90.”
Without the income from fees, the free parking had been subsidised and paid for by council debt, with the council saying the change would help Tauranga move to a more equitable user-pays model.
These changes were adopted by Tauranga City Council commissioners on October 3, based on recommendations from the Tauranga central city parking-management plan.
In a media statement yesterday, commission chairwoman Anne Tolley said the community had told the council it wanted a “vibrant” city centre and variable pricing would encourage more short-term stays.
“We acknowledge paid parking will mean a new routine for some workers and we encourage them to use the parking buildings instead or try a different mode of travel like walking, cycling or public transport.”
The council was approached to respond to retailers’ and shoppers’ comments.
