Cost of parking set to crank up

Colin Waite of the National Parking Association says finding free space will get tougher. Picture/ Amos Chapple

Some people take a chance, others make a genuine mistake.

Whatever your excuse, finding a carpark is about to get a lot harder and more expensive within the next five to 10 years.

The New Zealand Parking Association Conference opened in Hamilton yesterday addressing issues from the health and safety of parking wardens bending down to chalk your tyres, to a predicted mass shortage of carparks nationally looming in the next five to 10 years.

National Parking Association chairman Colin Waite says ticketing is about revenue collecting, but it is soon going to be even harder to find a free park.

Each parking space on a street cost councils between $1000 and $2000 every five years to maintain, he said.

"With population growth and the consolidation of town centres there is going to be an issue with parking because there won't be enough space."

People were already paying a premium for parking in cities such as Auckland, where a place in a parking building could cost anything up to $14 an hour. This would only get worse as the population grew and people continued to use cars.

Parking buildings and the cost of parking was likely to be "cranked up" to deal with it.

Parking was a multi-million dollar industry, he said.

On top of more expensive parking drivers could be charged for using roads and more toll roads could be introduced.

Mr Waite said, 1.8 million New Zealanders were issued parking infringements last year. The cheapest was $12 to $14, the most expensive $600.

"You really will have to think 'Is my journey necessary?'

Most people take a chance, others make a genuine mistake but I would say most of the people that get one ticket after another, they're taking a chance because a $12 to $15 parking ticket is cheaper than paying $14 an hour in a parking building."

Among other issues to be discussed at the conference is the possible introduction of wheel clamping as an enforcement option for councils. Currently only private operators were using wheel clamping.

Mr Waite questioned if it was time to introduce clamping for councils, with wheel clamping having a "salutary and highly visible effect on certain offenders."

Parking wardens' customers were actually people who parked legally.

"What do you call the others? It's a matter for debate," Mr Waite said.

And the conference would also address new ways of catching out those "others."

America now has Global Positioning Systems where parking wardens just drive down a street and the system takes the number plates and position of the vehicles.

When they return an hour later, they issue a ticket if the car has not moved.

There are also sections on health and safety for parking wardens including the face they put to the public, the issue of bending down to chalk tyres and dispute resolution.

"It is an eternal competition between people parking and parking wardens," said Mr Waite.

"Ninety per cent of the time I would say it's good natured competition."