Thursday 28 July

Park free and Pokémon Go

People playing the popular Pokémon Go mobile app would have a good reason to park further from the city centre for free increasing their luck in finding Pokémon.

Requests received in the information-gathering round of council’s parking policy review showed people want all day free parking closer to the CBD and free time restricted parking.

43% of respondents to the online survey, facebook and public workshops said free all day parking for workers and students or a scheme of time limited free parking on main roads were the main things to consider changing.

29% thought we should invest in new parking technology like eftpos-friendly machines, and 28% thought the current parking was too expensive and should be cheaper or a pre-paid permit system available.

Enforcement manager Jim Single says currently there are one thousand free all day car parks within walking distance from the CBD along with 900 metered car parks.

One of the options produced from the review could see the number of free parks increased and the number of metred parks reduced.

“Options would be developed later this year for another public consultation round before drafting the final policy.”

“In the meantime we’ll look to do more promotion of free car parks within easy walking distance around the city.”

Locations of metered, time restricted and free car parks can be viewed on council’s GIS-map tool Tairawhiti Maps available on the website.

ENDS

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