Nice lunch in Wellington... $40 shout... oh and some parking...

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#883766 24-Aug-2013 08:32

Elpie:
Regs:
Dunnersfella: You bought a nice lunch for $5?
You're kidding right? A bottle of water is $3.40...

$5 only gets you a coffee in welly, with no change. You usually get some change when buying a coffee in auck.

My thoughts exactly. Coffee prices in Wellington are horrific. So is parking. And the weather (which makes parking close to a meeting venue more attractive).

I guess it's all its own economy really.

My problem, and we do have to remember that this was my problem, is that I just don't normally operate in that economy so I don't know any of the rules (such as where to park for free or cheap).

That's not unusual of course. Back home we give the locals a discount, folk have discount cards to buses, we all know how it works.

I guess I have to expect to pay a bit for transport when I go to a different place. I have no issue with that.

I think I would have considered as much for parking as a meals, when in a location, to be reasonable.

My point here is just that I find the economics of the city out of shape. Of course that doesn't really matter to me. I don't own property in Wellington.

It's just interesting to me when I see the debate on TV about how Wellington is dying. Seems obvious to me why it's dying.

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DonGould

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#883774 24-Aug-2013 09:21

portunus:

Expecting cheap carparking in a CBD area does seem a bit unrealistic to me.

/ben

I 100% agree with you Ben.

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deadlyllama

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#883776 24-Aug-2013 09:27

DonGould: Ok so I told my wife "shouted myself a splosh lunch, $40, and paid $5 for parking..."

She commented... "I'm guessing you mean the other way round?!?!?!"

Yip, visiting Wellington today cost me $5 for lunch and $40 in parking.

The PM goes on TV and says that Wellington is dying. Bunch of folk in Wellington go "No... that's not true..."

Well John, if you wana know why its dying, start out by having a quick look at what you guys charge for parking v's what you can buy a roll for lunch and a drink.

Next time I want to go to those meetings, I think I'll be attending via video conference.

I've worked in the Wellington CBD for the past 7 years. Parking is expensive. Earlybird, you won't do better than $10/day. Different parts of the city are worse than others; parking buildings near Courtenay Place are cheaper than those near Lambton Quay. Lunch is always expensive apart from a few cheap places where you can get a roll and a drink for maybe $6, or a toasted sandwich for $5.

But I don't know anyone without a company car or carpark, below manager level, who regularly drives to work. The buses and trains get well used.

The prices still catch out visitors, though. And those of us who take the car in once a month -- I discovered that to get the earlybird price at one carpark I had to prepay, which I hadn't done. Ouch.

oxnsox

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#883783 24-Aug-2013 09:51

They had to charge you $40, you drove there from Christchurch; for Subway and a meeting.
It's about keeping the proportions rights

alasta

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#883823 24-Aug-2013 12:42

Are the James Smith and Courtenay Central car parks still shut? If so then it makes you wonder if the parking facility owners are exploiting the earthquake situation.

Most people don't drive cars into the Wellington CBD anyway. I work there but would only use a parking building once or twice a year.

scottjpalmer

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#883842 24-Aug-2013 13:03

alasta: Are the James Smith and Courtenay Central car parks still shut? If so then it makes you wonder if the parking facility owners are exploiting the earthquake situation.

Most people don't drive cars into the Wellington CBD anyway. I work there but would only use a parking building once or twice a year.

Yes, both closed indefinitely

mattwnz

20147 posts

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#883844 24-Aug-2013 13:03

Some of the parking building pricing is so over priced, so the best thing to do is check the prices on their website before hand. If you park in Wellington city operated parks, they are cheaper. $1.50 down by the train station or free for 2 hours in coupon parking areas. Just be prepared to walk a bit.

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DonGould

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#883858 24-Aug-2013 13:27

oxnsox: They had to charge you $40, you drove there from Christchurch; for Subway and a meeting.
It's about keeping the proportions rights

Actually I flew from christchurch.

Many interesting comments made here guys.

You're quite right, I got a whack on the hand for not just planning my trip better. I confess that staying out in Plimmerton, I did actually plan to just use the train, but I got an offer to just take a car, so I was lazy and as such I paid the price.

I could have used VC for one meeting, but the other meeting is not even held in chch and has no VC at all (an issue I'm going to revisit).

In some respect I have to congratulate the Greens here. You've got Wellington on the map with driving out the cars. I won't be so stupid again, that's for sure.

It also cost $25 to get from the InternetNZ office to the university for the afternoon meeting. It took 10 minutes to walk back. Won't do that again either. The taxi driver didn't seem to take a direct route at all.

I guess the reason we didn't walk up was that it's all UP hill. I wonder how we can address that in our urban areas?

A lot of it also wasn't under cover on the way back. Also something to address.

Again, thanks guys, many interesting comments. :)

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allan

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#883866 24-Aug-2013 14:02

You have probably also felt an increase because of this - from Stuff: Parking Fees Increased After Earthquakes

As someone else mentioned, there are a couple of car parks still closed post-earthquakes.

D1023319

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#883928 24-Aug-2013 16:34

Pardon for rant but it really gets up my nose that the Wellington council is anti-suburban malls and shopping centers like the Rongotai Retail center (which has been a fantastic success), as they only believe in promoting shopping in the CBD.
They seem to think we are all Yuppies on massive govt incomes with lots of time on our hands to waste wandering around specialty shops.

Thats why I avoid the CBD on the weekends.
Dammed if i want to pay the parking prices or CBD prices.
Nor do i want to be forced to carry shopping and catch public transport (that is heavily subsidised).

From memory the lack of parking is a consequence of council decision making.
They sold the parking buildings to squander the money elsewhere and during the building boom in the 1980's restricted the amount of parking private buildings could include in their design to force workers to use public transport.
which was perfect timing cause that was when most head offices and banks etc were moving out of Wellington.

old3eyes

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#884133 25-Aug-2013 09:52

freitasm: Street prices are set by Wellington City Council, not the New Zealand government... And if it's a private car park building then the price is set by the business owner.

Not always. Some years ago the Auckland City council mandated the minimum parking per hour cost for all car park buildings so that their own car parks were were not undermined..

Regards,

Old3eyes

plambrechtsen

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#884674 26-Aug-2013 13:36

I've just started driving into town daily (or 2 to 3 times a week) due to a number of changing circumstances..

http://www.parkopedia.co.nz/parking/wellington/

Is a great resource for finding decent parking and getting an idea where best to park, they even have an app for it.

Inphinity

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#884682 26-Aug-2013 13:48

old3eyes:

Not always. Some years ago the Auckland City council mandated the minimum parking per hour cost for all car park buildings so that their own car parks were were not undermined..

I'd be interested to see any references to this - or was this quite some time ago and no longer the case? Certainly noone I know in the parking industry seems aware of it being a current requirement.

mattwnz

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#884691 26-Aug-2013 14:04

plambrechtsen: I've just started driving into town daily (or 2 to 3 times a week) due to a number of changing circumstances..

http://www.parkopedia.co.nz/parking/wellington/

Is a great resource for finding decent parking and getting an idea where best to park, they even have an app for it.

That is quite a useful app, and had forgotten about it. Amazing the price difference between some of the parks. Best value seems to be $1.50 per hour near the railway station.

wellygary

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#884695 26-Aug-2013 14:08

DonGould:It also cost $25 to get from the InternetNZ office to the university for the afternoon meeting. It took 10 minutes to walk back. Won't do that again either. The taxi driver didn't seem to take a direct route at all.

I guess the reason we didn't walk up was that it's all UP hill. I wonder how we can address that in our urban areas?

If you feel the walk to Uni is too much up hill, there is this thing called the Cable car :)

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