Parking
On-street parking is enforced 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, and 9am to 12pm on Saturdays.
Parking is free in the central business district (CBD) on Public Holidays.
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About the i-Park Parking System
Council has partnered with i-PARK to deliver a convenient, modern parking system in the CBD.
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i-Park Scan Car
Learn about the i-PARK scan car here.
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Where to Park
Free on-street parking areas, metered areas, car parks and buildings, mobility parking and parking for other vehicles
Parking in the Rotorua CBD
Rotorua Lakes Council operates a user-pays parking system in our inner city. This is a pay-by-plate system, so you will need to know your licence plate when using one of the payment machines.
There is a mixture of free and paid, all-day and time-restricted zones throughout the CBD. Always check the signs you are parked between to see how much time you can park for and if you need to pay.
Rotorua parking fees
| CBD Street Parking | Charges | Time Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Central CBD Parking Spaces | Free | P60 (maximum 1 hour) or P15 (maximum 15 minutes) |
| Metered parking in CBD | $2 per hour | Mixture of maximum 3 hours and all-day parking |
| Metered parking available on the outskirts of the central city | $2 per hour | Various time limits, P60, P90, P180, and no time limit parks |
| Metered parking in Pink Zones on outskirts of central city | $4 per day | All day |
| Unmetered parking on outskirts of CBD | Free | All day |
- The parking tariff in our core CBD is $2 per hour, with free P60 parking on most of Tutanekai Street, and some adjoining streets
- Inner city workers can use the selected Pink Zones at $0.50 per hour parking
- Free P15 parking spaces are also located throughout the inner city for quick stops
- There are off-street parking buildings offering a covered parking alternative.
How parking is monitored
Our parking system and enforcement services are managed by i-Park, who have supplied the Pay-by-Plate parking technology. Paying for parking is simple:
- Enter your vehicle's license plate into a nearby yellow parking machine
- Select and pay for the amount of time you'd like to park for
- Enjoy your time. You don't have to return to your car with a paper ticket.
Wardens will determine the validity of your parking through your licence plate number. The i-Park scan car also assists in monitoring parking.
If you park in the Green Zone, you can pay once and move around within the Green Zone until the time you have paid for runs out. The same applies to the Blue Zone. In all areas, you must still abide by any time restrictions stated on parking signs.
Infringement notices and parking fines
Council controls Rotorua's parking policy, including setting all parking fees such as the hourly rate. Infringement fees (parking tickets) are set by Central Government, not Council or i-Park.
If you have received an infringement notice (parking ticket), you can use the online i-Park portal to:
- Pay or dispute an infringement
- Find information if you have lost your infringement
- Check on the process status of an infringement
- Get a contact number for assistance (from a mobile device).
Report illegal parking to i-Park
If you spot illegal parking, please call the i-Park Parking Hotline 07 958 9805 to report. If you have any other parking related question you can also use this number. Please note that we cannot discuss infringement disputes, and we will not be able to continue calls of this nature. All contact regarding infringement disputes must be via the appeals process.
Why did parking fees increase?
Increases to fees and charges were proposed in the 2023/24 draft Annual Plan which went out for community consultation in April/May 2023.
Like most businesses, Council faces increased costs to deliver its services and fees have not kept pace with this. Increasing fees and charges in line with inflation helps to reduce the reliance on rates funding to pay for the services that Council provides to the community. This means that the costs of some services are moved towards those who benefit from and generate the need for those services (i.e. user pays as opposed to ratepayer funded).
The 2023/24 Annual Plan was adopted by Councillors on 28 June 2023 and this included the decision to increase fees and charges.
