KEY POINTS:
Bus and ferry commuters are being offered free inner-city parking for at least a month to tempt them to bring their cars into the city again.
As higher fuel prices and tighter household budgets push more Aucklanders on to public transport, one inner-city parking firm is fighting back.
Tournament Parking yesterday handed out flyers to passengers leaving the Quay St ferry terminal and around the Britomart transport terminal showing its spread of parking blocks.
The company is offering them free parking in the CBD and fringe suburbs for a month and expects to extend this deal until Christmas.
Those who contact Tournament before tomorrow are being offered a bonus: a $20 petrol voucher, a free car wash and entry into a draw to win a year's free parking.
Tournament is also waiving its usual charges for identification or access cards, which it says usually cost $30 to $130.
Tournament says it has more than 50 blocks in the central business district, Newmarket, Viaduct Harbour, Newton and Parnell, with rates starting at $4.85 a day or $24.23 a week.
James Brown, a Tournament director, said some of the best deals were in the company's Cook St block, where parks had been selling for $135 a month but were now $110.
He said Tournament had about 6500 carparks in Auckland and about 200 were vacant at any one time. The discounts were a seasonal offer.
"This is a promotion we're doing that concludes before Christmas and will run through November and December, so it coincides with the end of university and people leaving the city over Christmas," he said.
Public transport users were not the only target of the discount deal, Mr Brown said. Flyers had been faxed to CBD businesses and pamphlets were being handed out in various locations.
He acknowledged territorial authority policies to promote public transport use over bringing cars into the city but said carparking businesses were already extremely limited, citing policies against the construction of new parking blocks. Public transport was able to compete with private carparking businesses, he said.
Tournament's deal is on new monthly parking agreements, subject to availability, and its terms include signing up for at least four months.
Wilson Parking, which like Tournament claims it is the country's biggest private parking operator, has more than 100 sites around the country.
It has also been courting customers with its "red hot October offers" of $80 for a month's parking in Victoria Park Market, $150 for Elliott Carpark and Auckland University and $50 for Hurstmere Rd at Takapuna.
All the carparks allow access 24 hours a day but Wilson said customers should get in quick because only a few bays were available.
