Auckland Council declares CBD parking price war
The casual daily rate in the council's CBD parking buildings will be almost half what some private carparks charge.
Auckland Council has pulled out the big guns in an effort to undercut its competitors by offering hugely discounted parking rates in the CBD.
Starting on Monday, the casual parking rate in its Downtown, Civic and Victoria St carparks - with 3500 parking spaces between them - will be $17 maximum a day, down from $29.
The hourly rate will be reduced to $3 an hour, down from between $4 and $5.50.
In comparison, Tournament's City Centre carpark on Albert St charges $8 an hour or $32 a day for the casual rate.
Wilson's carpark on the corner of Queen St and City Rd also charges $8 an hour, or $32 for 12 hours.
Both companies offer cheaper rates in other locations – for example, one of Tournament's Hobson St carparks offers an $18 daily rate.
However, the change in rates from Auckland Council is a clear line in the sand to drive prices down and it is expected private carparking companies will be forced to respond in kind.
But while the price for parking in a building may be reduced, drivers wanting to park on Auckland's streets face big price hikes from Monday.
In the CBD, on-street parking will cost $4 an hour for the first two hours and $8 an hour thereafter, meaning a four-hour stay will cost $24.
The council says it wants to give people an incentive to use parking buildings, leaving the on-street parks free for shorter stays.
Drivers who want to stop in a park for less than 10 minutes will not be charged anything.
The prices will be monitored and prices will be adjusted depending on demand, the council says in a statement.
"For instance, prices will be lowered by $1 per hour when the average occupancy is less than 50% in an area.
"Both on-street and off-street parking prices will be reviewed after six months."
No one from Tournament or Wilson had responded to NBR ONLINE's request for comment by the time this story was posted.
Caleb Allison
Thu, 15 Nov 2012
Thu, 15 Nov 2012
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Auckland Council declares CBD parking price war
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