Traffic woes spark new driving options

The Baypark bus interchange is intended to be on the land north of the stadium. Picture: Google maps.

Park and drive options for Tauranga are entering public discussion as increasing congestion and a close out of alternatives puts pressure on transport planners.

Baypark as a park and drive option emerged from the discussion last week about ongoing issues with the Farm Street site of a Bayfair bus interchange.

Bayfair's given notice the current interchange will have to close because of development at Bayfair in April/May which will require the interchange to relocate.

It was going to Farm Street north of the Bayfair car park, but Bayfair wants it moved 40m west to the other side of the entrance. The re-design will cause delays.

Tauranga City and regional council staff offered Baypark as an alternative. As well as ticking all the boxes for a longer term option for a bus interchange, it opens the opportunity for a park and drive location, because of the large amount of parking space nearby. Most of it is unused during the working week.

The city council already has a consultant working on a concept design.

Former mayor of Tauranga and regional council public transport committee member Stuart Crosby says the background issues of the disruption to be caused by the B2B project, plus the councils' desire to see more use of public transport in future meant the proposal by regional council staff got a great deal of support.

'Baypark is really suited for it, it's actually ready to go,” says Stuart.

The access will be off SH29 which requires a small modification of the Bayfair to Baypark design.

'Now's the time to do it if you are going to do it.”

Baypark is operated by Tauranga City Council owned Bay Venues Ltd. BVL CEO Gary Dawson says the bus interchange will go on the northern side of the arena.

'Between the stadium and the ASB Arena there's an area there been earmarked for it,” says Gary.

'On Google you will it see coming off the end of the stadium, concrete strips, four or five running towards the north,” says Gary.

Access for the buses will be off SH29. Park and ride customers will enter through Truman lane.

There's been no discussion about park and ride customers paying for carparks.

'But if you want to have a park and ride and encourage people to use public transport, you don't really want to make it a huge cost to park for the day. That's the sort of detail we haven't worked through yet,” says Gary.

'We think it's a great idea, we'll continue to work with Bay of Aplenty Regional Council and Tauranga City Council to see what we can come up with.”

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4 comments

At last they wake up, then steal the obvious ...

Posted on 14-02-2018 07:19 | By Murray.Guy

At last they wake up, then steal the obvious ... many of us in our community have been submitting 'long and loud' in regards utilizing Baypark as a Park and Ride, transfer. Strategically very accessible, ready made parking with future rail options at the door. Why it was NOT put in place as a design component of the TEL beggars belief. Hopefully the mindset of listening will extend to include Te Puna, again should have been a design and construct element during the roundabout build, likewise at The Lakes or to the South. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid and BVL, this is NOT an opportunity to fleece the ratepayers further with inflated leases for land, to further subsidize your excesses.


SECURITY ?

Posted on 14-02-2018 08:48 | By rogue

Great idea, hard to believe that the Council came up with this on their own.However, unless they provide some form of security it will become a target for car break ins. Just yesterday Sunlive ran a story about Papamoa being the current hotspot for theft... easy to target cars where there is no traffic or foot traffic coming & going much.


This

Posted on 14-02-2018 11:48 | By Capt_Kaveman

Design is flawed and needs to be redrawn, again a fail from Bridges and his clown designers, nz has some of the stupidest road setups ive ever seen


NO NO NO to paying for parking

Posted on 14-02-2018 13:00 | By Lvdw

I just dont understand the logic.Everyone is being encouraged to use public transport - yesPlans are being put in place to accommodate and provide for this - yesOh wait, lets now CHARGE people to park their cars and use public transport! - NOCome on guys, stop trying to make an additional quick buck on the side here.The parking is already there and not used, lets use it. Get. with. the. program TCC


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