Increased parking charges – the first for eight years – inner city workers parking and walking, and more bikes and buses.

These could become the realities as the Tauranga City Council confronts grumblings about a shortage of car space in the city.

Locked in a traffic jam - café operator Malcolm George. Photo: Tracy Hard

'Ongoing reliance on the private motor car as the preferred mode of travel to work is not sustainable for a growing city,” says Tauranga City Council's transportation manager Martin Parks.

His take on how it will be in Tauranga comes on the back of concerns from city businessman Malcolm George. 'I have a bitch with council,” and he brought it to SunLive because he says he couldn't get council to listen.

For the last couple of weeks, inner city workers have been parking outside his Café Alfresco in Cameron Rd, feeding the meter $6 and parking up all day. At least until three, when it's free. That's costing Malcolm business, goodwill and peace of mind.

Tauranga City Council can see his point. 'Current on-street parking prices make this a viable option for some people,” says Martin.

And he's threatened to increase parking prices at some off-street facilities to help manage parking demand. 'Many city's use the price of parking to manage demand.”

The theory being, if you hit the motorist in the pocket they'll be reluctant to bring their cars to town. And there will be a quicker turnover of cars in parking spaces.

Martin is the man Malcolm can't get to and that's his other issue. 'I've been trying to ring him for three days. I want him to recalibrate the meters so people can only park for a couple of hours.”

While workers are enjoying cheap convenient parking close to work, Malcolm's worrying about sausages and savouries sitting unsold in the warmer.

The problem seems to have coincided with the arrival of 525 Trustpower workers to the CBD. But it's not big business that's attracting the criticism.

'There isn't the infrastructure to accommodate them,” says Malcolm. Read there isn't enough inner city parking and that's a council issue.

Then a Bethlehem ratepayer. 'I've never seen Tauranga so chocka.” He chose not to be identified. 'I've lived in Tauranga for 16 years and parking has never been as chronic as it was last Monday.”

He couldn't find a park to do his business so he shelved his plans and went home. He took a bus into town the next day.

'After talking to a guy in council it seems to be a problem that has come out of left field. 'Hell! What has happened here?”

The council sees it differently. 'No, the inner city is rarely congested,” says Martin. 'It's rarely congested to the point of standstill for any considerable period of times.” However, it has noticed more pedestrian and cyclists around town.

'I know,” says Malcom. 'Some people will say: ‘You whinge when there's no one in town and now there is you are still bitching'.”

One of those people is probably Tauranga MP Simon Bridges. 'The best single thing contributing to the revitalisation of the CBD in my eight years in Parliament is 500-plus highly paid TrustPower workers moving into the area.”

That's from the man who officially opened the TrustPower building in Durham St recently. And his caveat being that if there are parking issues then the council should take them seriously.

The parking issue is an emotional one fuelled by rumour. The Weekend Sun was told by one source that a downtown cafe's refusing to serve TrustPower workers, a self-defeating exercise. There's talk of a parking petition to council in Gray St where spaces are often at a premium. And yet another source tells of a council employee in the street 'getting it in the neck” over the lack of parking.

And when the arrival of TrustPower went up on SunLive there was an outpouring of feelings, both good and bad.

'Getting to work in the CBD feels just like Auckland now.” And 'Whinge, whinge, whinge, what's wrong with Tauranga folk.” And 'it was chaotic outside the Durham St carpark when the ‘full' sign went up by 9.30am,” said another.

Malcom has fielded a lot of the ill-feeling. 'My bank teller says all their customers are complaining because they can't find a park to do their business.” And even one of Malcolm's own employees had to park in 2nd Ave to go to the movies at 11am. 'That would never happen,” says Malcolm.

The council sees the problem being remedied in the Long Term Plan. 'Nearly $4.5 million will be spent on new city centre parking stock by 2016,” says Martin. 'And a further $20m in the next few years.” Council points to a further 119 carparks coming on stream at the Elizabeth St parking building within the next few months.

'A finger in the dyke too late,” according to our Bethlehem ratepayer. And Malcolm says: 'I guarantee you we will be sitting here having the same conversation in two years when 2000 university students move into town. Where are they going to live let alone park?”

But Simon says in the scheme of things parking problems are better problems than having nothing happening in the CBD. 'To me, complaining about big business coming to Downtown Tauranga is small-minded.”

And he points to 90 underutilised parking spaces in Cliff Rd and Dive Crescent. 'I don't believe a small walk for people working in the CBD is unreasonable,” says the MP.

And that could be the problem. Is Tauranga a city of people used to parking right outside a destination? And are we overly dependent on our cars?

'That ongoing reliance on the car to get to work is not sustainable,” reiterates Martin. 'More cycle facilities and an improved public transport network will benefit the city in the long run.”

Martin says we need to encourage a model shift by making walking, cycling, carpooling and public transport more attractive.

And as he's already said, expect parking to cost more.

Most of Tauranga's inner city parking has occupancy of 100 per cent when 85 per cent is optimal. To manage that demand and help create parking availability, the council has indicated price hikes at some off-street sites.

That's unlikely to be a popular move and council may create a problem to solve a problem.

'I look out and see busy where I never used to see busy,” says Malcolm. 'We are not blaming TrustPower, it's wonderful to have them. Now let's look after them and everyone else who wants to come to town.”

'We're confident our investment in parking – as signalled in the LTP – will be adequate to cater for demand as the city centre grows,” says Martin.

'I just know in two years we will be talking about new problems,” says Malcolm. 'And we won't have fixed the old ones.