Tauranga City's newest carpark opened without fan-fare last week, and is so low profile that most of the 64 or so available carparks are unoccupied today.

At $2.40 a day for parking it is cheap parking compared to the all-day price of $7 in the parking buildings a closer walk to town - but that is still a premium price compared to the free parking outside the gate.

Parking is now available at the new Cliff Road carpark for $2.40 per day.

Future customers for the Cliff Road park are expected to include the former berm parkers in Monmouth Street, Park Street and Brown Street.

The all-day free parking along Cliff Road will continue after the zone changes to city parking are introduced on July 1, says a city council roading department spokesperson.

Time limits on parking will be removed and three parking zones; $3, $2 and $1 per hour, will be installed according to how close the park is to the CBD.

Parking charges on Saturdays resume for the downtown streets, while parking in the parking buildings and in the off-street car parks will remain free on Saturdays.

The charges and times of operation are on the pay and display machines.

Motorists will continue to have a 10 minute grace period that will allow vehicles to park in the space for less than 10 minutes without paying.

More about the changes to parking here.

http://econtent.tauranga.govt.nz/data/parking/files/CBD_parking_map.pdf