Aredwood: Do the council car parks fill up each day? If so, then a price increase is justified. On the basis of the council earning a good rate of return on their assets.
If not, then the council is just throwing away money. And they should set the charges at a level so the car park will reach 95% full each day.
If they want to encourage public transport usage. They could easily do number plate recognition. Figure out which cars are there most days, look up the addresses of their owners. Use the arrival and departure times to calculate the approximate times the drivers leave home and arrive back at home. This and surveys of people using the car park would be an ideal way of identifying gaps in the public transport network.
I'd say it's at 70-75% most days. My guess is this is about the right average. Rainy days more drivers. Train disruptions more drivers. Special events. Etc.
Aiming for 95% average utilisation implies variable charging or occasional disruption for regular users not finding a park. Increased queing at entry. Increased space searching leading to wait times.
I reckon the Downtown carpark is more than 75% full during the day. If I go home early, the signs outside usually tell me there are only about 100 - 200 spaces - the total capacity is nearly 2000. Even when I get there at about 510PM, there are usually only about 450 spaces empty (and queues to get out).
Having said that - I've just checked online, and there are currently 635 spaces available (out of 1944) so only 67% full.
On that basis looks like the change makes room for more shoppers and casual visitors. Also the office development next door should bring more daily parkers even at $40.
Even so I thought they would wait for CRL completion.
Usually there is some attempt at justification/rationalisation for an increase. So far there is nothing in the news or on the council site. Random notices in the car park only..
From memory the approach is to aim for a certain a certain level of free spaces during the day so that casual parkers have a spot to park in. The way in which they do that is by altering the pricing, the more expensive it is the less people park there, increasing the number of free spaces during the day. If demand drops, probably so will the price.
I know it's not apples with apples and won't really make anyone feel better, but Melbourne City parking is about $15/hour for a casual park in a parking building. Makes $4.50 seem cheap.
gzt: On that basis looks like the change makes room for more shoppers and casual visitors. Also the office development next door should bring more daily parkers even at $40.
Even so I thought they would wait for CRL completion.
Usually there is some attempt at justification/rationalisation for an increase. So far there is nothing in the news or on the council site. Random notices in the car park only..
This.
They are trying to provision reasonably priced parking for short - medium stay parkers such as shoppers, people coming into the city for meetings etc.
The adjacent viaduct carpark charges $6/half hour, with a daily cap of $45, and eairlybird parking at $24 per day. Essentially maximizing profits via offering a discount to office workers (who are more likely to shop around), and charging heaps to everybody else. Fine if your only goal is profit maximisation.
For the council, offering cheap eairlybird parking incentives people to drive to and from the city in rush hour (exactly what they want to avoid as the roading operator), and take up parks that could otherwise be used by the likes of shoppers, casual visitors. Many non-council carparks continue to offer eairly bird parking for office workers, so it's not like they are left in the cold.
The sceptic in me thinks: Want to sell off the assets = Run the business into unprofitability by driving away the customers, then easily justify selling it off to Wilson.
I'm sure it is as simple as that . Eventually the cycle lane network will spread through out Auckland city , at the expense of drivers. But few people will cycle.
A spokesman for Auckland Transport said the Downtown car parking building was frequently full meaning parking was not available for people who were going into the city centre to do business.
"Auckland Transport wants to encourage short-term parking in this building rather than all day parking."
tripper1000:
The sceptic in me thinks: Want to sell off the assets = Run the business into unprofitability by driving away the customers, then easily justify selling it off to Wilson.
Given the car-park is regularly full, increasing the fees is likely to result in more revenue, not less.
surfisup1000:
Councils hate cars.
I'm sure it is as simple as that . Eventually the cycle lane network will spread through out Auckland city , at the expense of drivers. But few people will cycle.
This decision is nothing to do with love or hatred for cars, its simply about allocating charging high enough rates to keep the carpark from getting full, and a strategic decision to favor short stay parking over all day parking.
Nearest private car-park charges $12 per hour, with a $45 daily cap, this makes the proposed $4.5/hr and $40 cap seem reasonable for everybody but eairlybird parkers. AT has made a decision not to offer discounted rates to eairly bird parkers, perfecting commuters to park in a privately owned carpark, or use another form of transport.
Costs me $1.80 to travel 6km or $3.60 to get to town around 10km. Unless you have work supplied parking pt is way cheaper.
We have different ideas on what is expensive then, $3.60 for 10KM is very expensive, take a look at Aussie's cost of transport then you will see. For me it's $9.60 to get to work and back, for that cost I might as well use my car.
Costs me $1.80 to travel 6km or $3.60 to get to town around 10km. Unless you have work supplied parking pt is way cheaper.
We have different ideas on what is expensive then, $3.60 for 10KM is very expensive, take a look at Aussie's cost of transport then you will see. For me it's $9.60 to get to work and back, for that cost I might as well use my car.
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