Council made a pragmatic decision last week to extend the free parking in the four city-centre carparks of Montgomery, Buxton, Wakatu and Millers Acre from one hour to two hours for three months from this Friday, 15 May.
The winter months are always tough for our cafes, bars, restaurants and retailers but this year is particularly difficult. The fuel crisis is hurting households and businesses and reducing discretionary spending. Cuts in flights are affecting visitor numbers to the city.
The Bridge to Better project is in full swing but is very disruptive for the city. It is the right decision to replace our very old sewage and stormwater pipes and, while ripping up the street, to also upgrade the power and fibre cables and the streetscape. The key Trafalgar-Bridge Street intersection will be closed for three months. We are doing all we can to maintain pedestrian access and promote the area, but it will still be tough on adjacent businesses.
Council is limited in what we can do about the hike in fuel prices that is hurting businesses and households. It is hitting Council’s budgets hard, too, with bitumen up 75%, fuel costs pushing up civil construction prices and cuts to flights reducing income to Nelson Airport that Council half owns with Tasman District Council. We have expanded our eBus timetable with earlier services and put on extra overflow buses for an increase in passenger numbers.
The free parking extension will result in about $80,000 loss of parking revenue. It’s small in comparison with the infrastructure upgrade cost. Drivers can access the two free hours by using the parking app or one of the meters that surround the carparks.
It is limited to two hours so these key parking spaces for customers are not filled by central-city workers. The intent is to encourage a person coming into our city for an appointment or errand to stay an extra hour, shop at our retail stores, grab lunch or a coffee.
We will use the experience and data from this winter’s two-hour free parking trial to help inform our future parking policies.
