KEY POINTS:
Auckland City officials say new parking restrictions are helping to ease traffic congestion caused by Queen St's $41 million upgrade, but acknowledge that delays are unacceptable.
Transport group manager for parking Brian Tomlinson said the conversion last week of 15-minute parking bays to 5-minute loading zones had begun to ease congestion along the Golden Mile, despite evidence yesterday of some motorists ignoring the restriction.
The Herald counted 12 cars other than goods vehicles parked yesterday morning in the loading zones, with no sign of their drivers, and about six vehicles at 2pm.
But traffic congestion had increased in that time, to the point that one Stagecoach bus was timed taking 15 minutes to travel from Wellesley St to Customs St.
There seemed to be no parking wardens or tow trucks, although Mr Tomlinson said four officers had been specifically designated to patrol Queen St. He said two were charged with moving vehicles along and the others with issuing tickets to those occupying the bays for more than five minutes.
He said the bays were available for any drivers needing to drop off or collect goods or people, and not just for designated commercial vehicles.
"The aim is to provide accessibility for everybody while recognising there are issues - we don't want to come down and hit people straightaway with a $40 fine for parking there," he said.
But he did not rule out the possibility of restricting spaces to goods vehicles with special permits at a later stage, if improvements to traffic flows did not continue.
Mr Tomlinson said the council believed improvements had begun, although he acknowledged that the 15 minutes it took the bus to travel three city blocks was "certainly excessive".
Even so, he said, Stagecoach and the Auckland Regional Transport Authority had responded positively to the changes, and the council would remain in consultation with them.
Stagecoach spokesman Steve Wade confirmed that there was an improvement in the traffic, although the 15-minute trip was almost three times longer than normal.
