‘Free after Three' parking is set to stay in Tauranga's central business district thanks to Tauranga City Council's decision to listen to the public.

Councillors voted 10-1 in favour of upgrading the trial parking scheme to permanent, along with a raft of other parking schemes across the CBD in their Long Term Plan deliberations.

Photo: File.

It means that weekday on-street parking charges will be tariffed between 9am-3pm and 9am-1pm on Saturdays. Charges will sit at $9 per day in the Spring Street building, $7 per day in the Elizabeth Street building, and an all-day charge of $5.50 for off-street parking.

Council received 263 submissions on ‘City Centre Parking Pricing' with 121 supporting the move to make ‘free after three' permanent. Some 70 in favour of option B, 71 registered as neutral, and one supported both options.

The trial, in conjunction with Tauranga Mainstreet, has been running since last July in an effort to attract more people to the city's CBD.

However, in a speech to councillors, strategic planner Adele Hadfield insists there is no evidence to suggest the trial has proved beneficial.

'There has been no change to people's parking behaviour to take up that price differential,” says Adele.

'The $9 early bird in Spring Street, and the $7 in Elizabeth Street, has demonstrated that people will change in the type of parking and price, but not to go on the street.”

Council's transportation manager, Martin Parkes, says the need to retain fixed parking and prices throughout the day comes from the growing pressure in the commercial sector for secure and long term parking for employees.

He adds most cities nationwide run their parking meters from 8am-6pm.

Martin says the ‘early bird' rate of $7 at Elizabeth St has seen parking numbers rise considerably from 35 per cent to being relatively full, alongside Spring Street.

Refraining from the ‘Free after Three' option would save $3million over 10 years.

But councillor Gail McIntosh says the jingle has a ring to it and council needs to better publicise what the parking rates are within the city to aid this enticement.

'We want to encourage people to come after three and help the retailers out,” says Gail.

'The people that come to the city want to be ensured a car park. We need to know the rates because if we don't, nobody does.”

Deputy Mayor Kelvin Clout says this is a compromise between offering some public incentive after 3pm and ensuring revenue is retained in terms of off-street and on-street parking.

Councillor Rich Curach agrees, saying ‘Free after Three' finally gives council and the city some security after 'flip flopping” on parking rates for a number of years.