Auckland parking fees among world's most costly

Long-term is dear, but Auckland casual day parking rates are among cheapest in the world. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Monthly parking rates in Auckland are more expensive than in most big cities around the world, says a global survey.

The Colliers International Global Parking Rate Survey looked at 147 central business districts around the world last year to rank cities based on parking rates.

The survey found that for monthly parks where motorists were guaranteed a space, it was cheaper to bring cars into central Frankfurt, Los Angeles and Singapore, among many other major cities.

Auckland's rates ranked in the most expensive third, at number 41, putting it ahead of most capital cities, such as Washington DC, Ottawa, Berlin and Beijing.

Colliers said that the intent of the survey was to show corporate executives the relative costs of parking.

Business NZ chief executive Phil O'Reilly said high parking costs could be a factor for businesses to relocate away from central business districts.

"When companies need a lot of carparks, they will move outside the city, close to motorway on-ramps," Mr O'Reilly said.

But it was increasingly rare for businesses to provide carparks for their employees, making the issue marginal, he said.

"It's a matter for local government to make sure there isn't such a shortage of long-term car parking that it discourages businesses from coming into the CBD at all," Mr O'Reilly said.

"But that's often a hard conversation because [council planners] will say to take public transport, but it's not always that simple for businesses - sometimes you need cars for other reasons during the day."

Traffic Institute vice-president John Gottler said there were so few long-term parking spaces in Auckland's CBD that it had become necessary to set a price ceiling for parks.

The increasing numbers of students living in the central area were particularly affected, Mr Gottler said.

But there had been many improvements to Auckland's public transport that was making carparking a less significant issue, he said.

The Colliers survey found that Auckland had high monthly rates but its daily rates, ranking at 123, were among the cheapest in the world.

Auckland's casual daily rate was less than a quarter of Athens, for example, but its monthly rate 10 per cent more expensive than the Greek capital.

The monthly rates were for unreserved parking, which Colliers defined as "the customer is guaranteed a space upon entry".

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Monthly parking rates (in US dollars):
* London (city): $932.99
* Auckland: $272.44
* Frankfurt: $259.59
* Washington DC: $245
* Dubai: $240
* Los Angeles: $210
* Singapore: $192.89
* Ottawa: $155.52
* Berlin: $153.79
* Beijing: $141.81
* Mumbai: $25.68