Wellington Airport parking scam

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#417104 14-Dec-2010 14:57

I use Wellington Co-Op shuttles to get to the airport, not sure how much they cost, haven't done it in a while. The return trip (20 minutes by car) is around $35 or so, compared with I guess $65-$90 for a taxi.

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#417105 14-Dec-2010 15:04

timmmay: I use Wellington Co-Op shuttles to get to the airport, not sure how much they cost, haven't done it in a while. The return trip (20 minutes by car) is around $35 or so, compared with I guess $65-$90 for a taxi.

Well you can still use them to get home provided that you book the shuttle. You can't just walk out and hop in and they can't wait for 5 minutes hoping for more passengers.

I expect the inability to pick up extra passengers will affect the viability of their service and prices will have to go up.

AndrewTD

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#417110 14-Dec-2010 15:11

mattwnz: ...
Back to the OP. If they are advertising one area as 'value', over another area, then there has to be some form of value in parking in that area. I would suggest contacting the commerce commission if you believe it is misleading.

I see that they have renamed the value carpark - it is now called the heart carpark. Nicely avoiding the previous mis-representation!

I also see the charge for a 0 - 29minutes stay is just $3.
That doesn't seem to be too bad. Annoying you don't get free pick-ups, but they do have to deal with the reality of having very little physical space available.

kind regards Andrew TD

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#417115 14-Dec-2010 15:23

When I was living in Lyall bay and Kilbirnie I would usually walk to the airport or if it was an option ask the flat mate to drop me off and vice versa.
The walk would be through the tunnel under the airport runway and done at all hours of the day and night.

Most people I am sure don't have that luctery though.

Always the option to park in Kilbirnie or Rongatia.

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#417128 14-Dec-2010 15:52

Being a local resident who lives just out behind Wellington Airport, I luckily don't have the hassles of having to worry about parking charges at the airport when I fly anywhere, BUT we do have the hassle of the "paying for the privilege of doing a quick pickup". So we end up doing the drive by pickup through the drop off area. However, at peak times, this can be mayhem - with it sometimes taking 20+ mins to get around the loop past the terminal, as there are so many cars either legitimately doing drop offs, or people like me trying to save a buck on a pickup!

Just to let you know the traffic issues in the airport area at peak times are on the radar of the local residents associations, and these have been raised with the council and Wellington International Airport Limited. So far, they have had very limited response.

They are aware the issues the lack of pickup zone, and also are very hot on the topic of parking charges, and how it forces many people to try park in the local residential streets (ie around the Caltex), and then walk to the terminal. It is so bad (especially on long weekends) with people parking wherever they can close to the airport, that the council make a tidy buck by ticketing ANY car which is even fractionally illegally parked (@NZROVER be warned!!!). But then fair enough - I know the local School has raised it as a safety concern (no places for parents to pick up kids etc), residents cannot park their cars (no residents parking in the area), and businesses loose customers.

Unfortunately, the traffic and parking issues will not be easily solved, as I am fairly sure the road through the airport is actually OWNED by the airport, so they can do as they wish. And sorry to say, there is not a lot of spare land (ie NONE) out in the eastern suburbs to set up an alternative longer term parking option.

Just noticed on their website the "Value" parking no longer is listed.
http://www.wellington-airport.co.nz/html/parkingtransport/car-parking.php

Instead, there is a "Heart" option. Maybe this means "your HEART will stop when you put your ticket in the machine, and see the price you have to pay!" (and I can confirm pricing of Heart and Terminal are exactly the same)

Also, no where on the site does it mention the first 5 mins is free. So I decided to ring and ask, and the gentleman who answered the phone said the "5 free minutes" no longer applies. This was removed recently, and charging starts IMMEDIATELY (ie you will have to pay the minimum charge of $3 if you entered the controlled carparking area).

Ahhh monopolies – aren’t they great! Anyone want to buy that aircraft carrier Russia was recently trying to sell, and open up a competing service from Wellington Harbour? Then again – parking on the harbour might be just as tricky!

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#417129 14-Dec-2010 15:53

As AndrewTD says, space is a major issue for the airport, which does make it a costly business (hard to know if it is a "rip-off" or a genuine price as I don't have enough facts. While it would be great to have a "pick-up" area, it would have to be religiously policed as even the drop-off ramp can turn into a nightmare (I was queued coming out of the Koru park at about 4 p.m. yesterday because of the volume of traffic stalled on the drop-off ramp!)

I have the luxury of using the Koru park at $30/24hr day - only a little more expensive than the terminal carpark and very convenient - and I guess that's the cost of using a car ($4/hr in city centre for parking I think now isn't it?).

There is "free" parking in the nearby suburbs but a word of warning - it has its risks. Just came back from my son's graduation in Dunedin over the weekend - dropped him off at his car in nearby street to find it had been broken into over the weekend. So, weigh up the risks - very little in this world is truly "for free"

[Edit] and, noing Wallross's comments above - it must be a b... nuisance for the local residents to be inundated with travellers' cars like my cheapskate son's!!

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mattwnz

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#417141 14-Dec-2010 16:31

I often use the drop off area to do pick ups, although I haven't picked anyone up for a while. This means that I often have to drive around the block a number of times, but I just ask the people to come up to the top to be picked up, and they are usually waiting when I get there. They could have a pickup zone underneath where the 'huge' taxi stand is, you could have two layers, one for taxis, and one for cars.But I guess that wouldn't make any money. They may have to lose a few car parks, but there is nothing stopping them building more levels onto the single level ones they have. They do have a lot of parking land available. If they need more land, they could always buy some off the golf course at the back.

I can sort of understand why they have removed the free period, as you can spend longer than that waiting to get out of the carpark.

Other airports however, such as Sydney however have a 15 minute free pick up zone that they have just introduced, so Wellington should too.

http://biztravelguru.com/blogs/airline-hotel-news/archive/2010/06/29/sydney-international-airport-announce-free-15-minute-parking-zone.aspx

kiwipawl

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#417156 14-Dec-2010 17:27

Christchurch has a I think 2 minute drop off and pick up area which every time I have been there is heavly policed and work well.

TinyTim

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#417462 15-Dec-2010 09:22

There used to be a long term park round on the west side of the airport run by someone else -- does that still exist? or did it get lost by the shopping centre?

graemeh

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#417504 15-Dec-2010 10:20

mattwnz: I often use the drop off area to do pick ups, although I haven't picked anyone up for a while. This means that I often have to drive around the block a number of times, but I just ask the people to come up to the top to be picked up, and they are usually waiting when I get there. They could have a pickup zone underneath where the 'huge' taxi stand is, you could have two layers, one for taxis, and one for cars.But I guess that wouldn't make any money. They may have to lose a few car parks, but there is nothing stopping them building more levels onto the single level ones they have. They do have a lot of parking land available. If they need more land, they could always buy some off the golf course at the back.

I can sort of understand why they have removed the free period, as you can spend longer than that waiting to get out of the carpark.

Other airports however, such as Sydney however have a 15 minute free pick up zone that they have just introduced, so Wellington should too.

http://biztravelguru.com/blogs/airline-hotel-news/archive/2010/06/29/sydney-international-airport-announce-free-15-minute-parking-zone.aspx

If you look at their long term plan for Wellington airport they do intend to make the parking buildings higher, up to a bout 6 or 7 levels by 2030 although I think their increased traffic projections for the airport are a pipe dream.

They have stated that they do not intend to steal land from the golf course but will probably steal some houses along the road towards the airport so they can move the road over and make more room for planes.

TinyTim

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#417515 15-Dec-2010 10:42

The last time I caught a plane I took the airport bus. I was surprised by how pleasant the trip was and how nice the bus was. It's only a $10 taxi trip to the nearest airport bus stop for me, and a step towards the transport systems they have in other decent cities (like the trains in Europe).

But not quite... I really would love to tell my parents-in-law when they come to visit to catch a bus into town and we'll pick them up from there. However for it to work there would need to be easy parking and a good waiting/meeting area -- no good having them dumped on the side of the road at the bus interchange. Even if they are parents-in-law.

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graemeh

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#417535 15-Dec-2010 11:05

TinyTim: But not quite... I really would love to tell my parents-in-law when they come to visit to catch a bus into town and we'll pick them up from there. However for it to work there would need to be easy parking and a good waiting/meeting area -- no good having them dumped on the side of the road at the bus interchange. Even if they are parents-in-law.

Good idea!

Courtenay place isn't too bad for parking, you could pick them up from there. The bus will stop at any bus stop to drop off so it doesn't have to be a bus interchange.

Zeon

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#417552 15-Dec-2010 11:38

Just back from a trip to Japan and Korea and there they have rail basically from the center of town (the main railway station which has heaps of subway lines) to the airport. Was like $7.00 from Incheon to downtown Seoul and it will be made much faster by a near direct line opening later this month.

Not sure how feasible that would be in NZ though. I'd pay $10.00 to take a train from either Auckland terminal (or Wellington) to the downtown train station as long as it was pretty fast. Say 5000 passengers did the same every day that would be $50k a day that could be made (probably a massive investment though)

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TinyTim

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#417561 15-Dec-2010 11:50

graemeh:
TinyTim: But not quite... I really would love to tell my parents-in-law when they come to visit to catch a bus into town and we'll pick them up from there. However for it to work there would need to be easy parking and a good waiting/meeting area -- no good having them dumped on the side of the road at the bus interchange. Even if they are parents-in-law.

Good idea!

Courtenay place isn't too bad for parking, you could pick them up from there. The bus will stop at any bus stop to drop off so it doesn't have to be a bus interchange.

The interchange simply because it's closest! Actually, they do have a waiting area there -- but no car access.

timmmay

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#417586 15-Dec-2010 12:50

I have a family member flying into Wgtn airport about 11.30 one evening next week. I would just tell him to get a shuttle bus, but from memory they all disappear earlier in the evening, and I don't think the buses run that late.

What a great public transport system we have here.

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