Click photo to enlarge
Queenstown Lakes District Council transportation planning
manager Denis Mander wants to find out what the community
thinks is the best option to save Queenstown from traffic
gridlock. Photo by Felicity Wolfe.
It's one of the most talked about issues in Queenstown
and now residents, retailers, business people and ratepayers
are being asked to have their say on the Queenstown Parking
Consultation.
QLDC transportation planning manager Denis Mander said people
needed to change the way they thought about vehicle use.
"When we use our car to travel into town to work or shop or
play, we each add to the increasing traffic congestion and
the environmental effects of car use," Mr Mander said.
The resort already had a bus system with "more extensive and
frequent services" than most other districts of a similar
size, he said.
"Further improving our public transport system is one
critical incentive to changing the way we get around.
"An improved, timely, affordable public transport system will
not only encourage less car use but it's also a
sustainability consideration and, in the current economic
climate, a serious cost consideration."
Easy, accessible, free all-day parking offered no incentive
to make a change to public transport.
"Reviewing the way parking is currently managed and making
some effective changes is another way to encourage less car
use and reduce growth and delays [on] our local roads," he
said.
The focus of the review was to improve management of "short
stay" - less than four hours - parking, to ensure the right
"parking controls" were in the right places and to improve
the ease with which people coming into town could find
parking.
It was also an appropriate time to think about some of the
"longer-term directions" for parking management in
Queenstown, Mr Mander said.
As bus services to the centre improved, transport options for
many people would also improve, particularly for those who
commuted regularly to the central area.
"As this occurs, more parking spaces will be able to be
prepared for short-term parking rather than commuter parking.
"This change will need to be accompanied by management of
parking in the fringe areas to ensure that residential areas
are not `parked out' by commuters," he said.
Some of the longer-term issues the community was being asked
to consider included should there be more pay and display,
how quickly unrestricted on-street parking should be replaced
by time-restricted parking, and how good a bus system needed
to be if it was to provide a good alternative to the car.
The council was generally proposing more intensive controls -
P5s, P10s and P30s - at the "core" of the central area where
demand for kerbside parking was at its highest.
"These controls, together with good enforcement, mean that
the chances of finding a park in these areas for a short stay
are improved," Mr Mander said.
The consultation was for everyone from taxi drivers to people
who relied on free, all-day parking.
A full discussion document is available at www.qldc.govt.nz or at the council
offices.
The proposed changes, which also need to be supported by
changes to council bylaws, are open for submission until
October 31.
