Long-term parkers to be ticketed

2 October 2013

Waipa District Council has confirmed that motorists who leave their cars parked in 60 minute Cambridge car parks for hours on end will be ticketed.

However the Council says it will continue to be lenient with other motorists until it has completed trialling the car parking sensors installed in Cambridge earlier this year.

There are already 111 car park sensors in Victoria and Empire Streets with seven more to be installed shortly in Alpha Street. The sensors, provided by Cambridge-based Smart Parking (formerly Car Parking Technologies) enable Council staff to monitor car parks online.

Council's planning and community relationships manager David Hall said at this stage the sensors were largely being used to monitor car park turnover and collect data. Council was working closely with the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce to assess the data and ensure any future car parking decisions improved car park availability in the town.

Generally we're finding that most motorists are pretty reasonable, Mr Hall said. But there is a small group of people who routinely leave their cars parked in prime 60 minute parks for four to five hours at a time. Since August, we've issued 21 tickets to these long-term stayers and we'll continue to keep issuing them until they get the message.

Mr Hall said Council had issued car parking tickets since 2005.

Council's stance on ticketing has been solidly backed by the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce which believes there are only a small number of people abusing the system. Chamber chief executive Raewyn Jones said Cambridge's free car parking was a drawcard for out-of-towners and an important point of difference for Cambridge.

We need a solution that will help manage increasing parking pressure and preserve the relaxed, free and easy access to the town centre, Ms Jones said. It is simply not sustainable for people to park for three or four hours in prime CBD parks when there are Council parks available nearby for longer-term parking.

Over the next few weeks, the Chamber of Commerce will share Council's car parking data with local businesses and ask for feedback on current parking limits, she said. Once that feedback was collated, the Chamber would make its recommendations to the Council.

For further information contact:

Jeanette Tyrrell (on behalf of Council)

027 5077 599