22 January 2019
Media: Daily Post
Topic: New parking machines in CBD
Enquiry
Regarding new pay machines:
- What has been done to avoid people parking in the free areas around Government Gardens and Kuirau Park for the day while avoiding paying an increased fare?
- Many residents are concerned about the increase in some areas that was $2 a day and has leapt to an estimate $8, what is the councils response?
- Residents believe that there has not been enough promotion of these changes and therefore has shocked many people, what promotion have you done and do you believe this is a fair statement to have been made? why/not?
- What is the estimate amount of workers that are drawn into the CBD everyday and do you believe the 244 carparks in the Pukuatua Carpark Building can facilitate all of them?
- Residents are saying that the tariff has risen but on your website it sates that this hasn't changed, why is there confusion around this?
- Other cities have far more expensive parking options compared to Rotorua, therefore how was price considered and adjusted with Rotorua residents in mind?
Response
Rotorua Lakes Council's Operations Group Manager, Henry Weston:
Upgrading our parking system to provide consistent enforcement and modernise technology has been openly discussed and planned by Rotorua Lakes Council for a number of years now.
In 2017 a request for parking system proposals was prompted by the need to consider future parking demands, modernise parking equipment and address increased operating costs against declining revenue. Last year Council decided to partner with parking service provider i-Park in order to upgrade our parking infrastructure, systems and the way the service is managed.
The new system is focused on providing modern and convenient payment options for users, higher turnover of car parks to ensure ease of parking in our inner city, and to ensure our parking system is consistent and fair for all users.
The switch to the new i-Park parking system has been covered on the Council's website and social media channels, at Council meetings, in the Rotorua Daily Post, and information pamphlets have been delivered to inner city businesses and placed on cars in the lead up to the new parking machines being installed.
Prior to the implementation of the new system, parking costs and restrictions were inconsistent throughout the inner city. For example one area had nine parks where you could park for $2 a day. This area now costs a maximum of $8.50 per day when paying by card or $8 per day when paying with coins. This is now consistent with the rest of the inner city. Obsolete equipment and the manual nature of enforcement also meant many users were able to avoid paying to park in paid parking spaces.
Council has repeatedly received feedback from inner city businesses that their customers are unable to locate parking spaces in proximity to their premises due to other people parking in spaces outside their business all day long. We also repeatedly receive feedback that users want additional ways to pay for their parking other than with coins. Council has endeavoured to facilitate both these objectives with the new system.
The intention is to ensure there is adequate parking available for people coming into the city to visit local retailers and businesses. We want to keep all day parking on the outskirts of the city to facilitate a high turnover of car parks in our inner city to support businesses. There are no restrictions to who can park in free areas such as around Government Gardens, Kuirau Park and the lakefront end of some streets.
We do not keep a record of how many workers park in the city each day, however there are more than 3,500 car parks available. For those wishing to park in the inner city all day we recommend using the Pukuatua Street parking building which is currently underused and offers a five day parking concession card for $20. Free P60 and P15 parking spaces remain on Tutanekai Street and adjoining streets, and free and paid all day parking spaces remain within walking distance of the inner city.
The parking tariff for on-street parking remains the same at $1 per hour. Any proposed change to this tariff would need to go before the Council for a decision.
Credit and debit card payments incur a fee of 50c which covers the cost of providing the card reader technology, the integration of the technology and on-going maintenance of the card reader technology, as well as the bank transaction fee. The charging of a fixed fee ($0.50 is standard across New Zealand) is industry practice. (More information on the 50c fee is available on our website here.)
Half of the new machines still accept coins. Parking systems throughout the country are moving away from coin payments however Council has ensured this option (coins) is still available to users. If users are at a machine that doesn't take coins there will be one across the road that does. Users can stay in the same car park and use the machine that accepts coins across the road, they do not need to move their car.
Council was advised by i-Park that providing the option to pay by EFTPOS would cost more, and that the technology supporting EFTPOS payments is prone to break down in outdoor environments and when used incorrectly.
For users looking for a more convenient payment option, a parking payment app is intended to be available by the end of March. The app will allow users to pay for parking from their smartphone, upload credit to their account, and keep a record of their parking payments.
We were pleased to see that prior to Christmas 60% of people using the new parking machines were making a card payment, reinforcing our decision to provide more modern and flexible payment options.
Our inner city now provides modern parking technology, flexible payment options, consistent and fair costs and time restrictions, and improved enforcement.
Council will continue to monitor the impact of the new parking system and make adjustments as required.
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Media: Daily Post
Topic: Public hui re East Rotoiti/Rotoma Sewerage Scheme
Enquiry
Just wondering who went along to the Rotoiti/Rotoma Sewerage Update Meeting on Saturday morning from council? Would be great to speak to them this morning or get some form of an update in writing about what was passed on from RLC.
Response
We can provide council perspective but can't speak on behalf of the community so if you want something from the Rotomā or the Rotoiti communities' perspectives you will need to speak to perhaps the chairs of their community associations and/or or you could try Phill Thomass, chair of the Rotorua Lakes Community Board, who was also there on Saturday.
From Infrastructure Group Manager Stavros Michael:
The purpose of the meeting was to update the Rotoiti community on progress with the East Rotoiti/Rotomā Sewerage Scheme.
It was mainly an opportunity for people to ask questions and it followed a similar meeting for the Rotomā community in early December.
The meetings were timed to capture both permanent residents in these communities and out-of-district ratepayers as many are at their lake holiday homes at this time of the year.
From Council's perspective the Rotoiti meeting went well with an estimated 100 to 120 people in attendance so it was a good turnout.
We provided some background and a general update on the current status of the scheme, the proposed next stages and processes and took questions from the floor.
Myself and other council officers involved in the project attended, along with Deputy Mayor Dave Donaldson , Rotorua Lakes Community Board Chair Phill Thomass, Cr Lyall Thurston from the BOP Regional Council and the Chair of the Rural Community Board Shirley Trumper.
The meeting was chaired by a member of the community.
You'll find further background at THIS LINK
The following key points re the current status of the project may also help:
- The project team focus is currently on identifying the type of pre-treatment system for Rotoiti, through competitive tendering and (once the main lines design is finalised) completing the Rotoiti main trunk pipelines to which each property will be connected.
- We are aiming to finish the Rotomā network and the Treatment Plant which is located in the Rotoiti area, between April and June 2019.
- About $24m of the total estimated $35.5m cost of the scheme is already committed to contracts and these are progressing to schedule. The objective is to fit the full scheme components into the remaining $11m, which would keep the net capital cost per ratepayer as close as possible to $14,100 which is what Council estimated in its 2017/18 Annual Plan.
- The reason we cannot provide the exact figure yet is because there are still parts of the project to procure and design so we don't yet have the final cost. Once the final cost is known, we will be able to provide the exact amount per property.