You’ve probably heard about Auckland Transport’s draft parking strategy, which has made media headlines in Auckland recently – as any changes to on-street parking always seem to do!
Auckland Transport writes on the project page “The draft Parking Strategy provides the guiding principles and policies for the planning, supply, and management of on-street and AT-controlled off-street parking in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland.”
The strategy itself is perhaps not as revolutionary as some media outlets might have us believe, with Hayden Donnell providing a useful counterpoint in his Spinoff Article “Auckland Transport’s radical plan to not remove enough parking”
Nevertheless, this strategy offers a fantastic opportunity for Auckland to make better use of our street space. In particular, it helps to create opportunities for implementing safe, accessible cycleways along much of the strategic network. So it’s important that if you like safe cycleways, you should give feedback on the draft parking strategy by Sunday 15 May!
It’ll only take 5 minutes to make a quick submission, and we’ve put together a helpful submission guide to make it as easy as possible!
If you want to jump straight to giving your feedback then:
Or read on for more details….
What’s in the strategy?
The best place to start would be to head along to the Auckland Transport page and have a read on the subject. A shorter summary document can be found here, and the full strategy (for those who like to be fully informed) can be found here.
The strategy itself has lots of good points and only a few things that appear to be missed opportunities rather than major issues.
We love that the strategy prioritises alignment with other good transport plans, like the Government Policy Statement on Transport and Auckland Transport’s Strategic Objectives. These other plans include safety, climate and modeshift goals that should easily translate to application within the parking strategy.
The parking strategy also makes a point of prioritising (in order of importance) safety, accessibility, movement of people through public transport and cycling, and placemaking. These objectives are all considered more important than general vehicle parking, and we think that in this case, Auckland Transport have their priorities sorted!
Unfortunately, the strategy makes no mention of using parking management to directly reduce emissions from the transport system. We know that reducing parking availability is a powerful lever to reduce driving, and therefore emissions. For a policy developed in 2022, we think this is sorely lacking and should be included as a high priority consideration.
Give your feedback
Once you’re ready to give feedback, you can click straight through to the submission page here. We recommend you fill in the forms honestly, in your own words, but to make it easier:
We’ve provided some guidance to the important questions below.
Do you have any comments on, or suggested changes to, the tiered approach to parking management?
- The tiered approach to parking management looks like a good way to prioritise and identify locations where parking reform is needed
- Parking should be managed proactively in Tier 2 locations to encourage mode-shift and reduce emissions from transport, even if other transport options are not perfectly implemented yet
- More areas across Auckland could be covered by Tiers 2 and 3. In particular, all metropolitan centres should be Tier 3.
Do you have any comments on, or suggested changes to, the approach to parking management on the Strategic Transport Network?
- This approach is good, in particular if work taking place on the strategic network aligns with the principles of the strategy
- Arterial routes could be a focus for parking-reduction to reduce emissions, particularly when renewals or other work takes place
- Improving safety for people on bikes on arterial routes should not be dependent on delivery of cycleways or improvements projects, but should be standard practice whenever strategic cycle routes are renewed.
Do you have any comments on, or suggested changes to, the Parking Policies?
- The policy overall does not recognise parking provision as a potential lever to reduce private vehicle use and therefore emissions from transport
- The policy does not appear to go far enough or fast enough in it’s current form and scope of what is indicated for delivery over the next 10 years
How do you think the proposals in the draft Parking Strategy will impact on your travel habits (such as how you travel around Auckland?)
This is for you to write your own conclusions! Perhaps you would feel safer riding a bike, or find that bus journeys are faster or more reliable.
How do you think the proposals in the draft Parking Strategy will impact Auckland as a region (e.g. the transport system and how Auckland grows)?
Do you have any other comments on the draft Parking Strategy?
- Auckland cannot continue to grow with such high levels of car use, and we must make options other than private motor vehicles attractive for as many users as possible
- Street space is valuable public space and needs to be carefully assessed and considered to get the best value out of its use
- Achieving our climate goals will only be possible if we pull every lever to reduce emissions from transportation, and public provision of car parking is one of those levers.
- The policy does not have a core emissions reduction objective, where it could and should. Emissions reduction should be a key principle to the strategy.
- The policy does not have a strong focus on equity, Te Tiriti or Mana Whenua considerations
Personal Information
Feel free to provide as much information as you are comfortable with here. Providing your email address means Auckland Transport may contact you with updates on this strategy.
