Wellington Parking - They are about to clamp down on bike parking

[bogan]

John,

I have just rang EVERY major parking building in Wellington.
None even know of any council approach, your name, or that Bikers are being pointed at them-

Please provide the parking companies you have SUCCESSFULLY negotiated with

That seems extremely poor that nobody is aware of the campaign. Makes me think this whole thing could be just a cleverly thought out wind up thread?

[vhot]

Whatever anybody in the WCC says, this bike parking issue comes down to simple dollars and cents.

Our Council may pretend that it is GREEN, but this issue has proven that it is far from interested in the environment. Look also at how pushbike riders have been sidelined and put in with main-stream traffic? If the WCC was really interested in emissions et al, it would have built bicycle tracks that are protected from heavy traffic. Instead they are setting car and truck drivers up for a fall, we jostle daily with pushbikes every day on our congested roads.

WCC needs to convert more inner city car parks into bike parks and what better way than using GREEN paint for bike parking? Other countries use colour coded paint for different uses. E.g RED paint says don't park here.
Why can't WCC start this trend? Easy and cheap. Oops sorry - it won't make any revenue.....

[davebullet]

John,

I have just rang EVERY major parking building in Wellington.
None even know of any council approach, your name, or that Bikers are being pointed at them-

Please provide the parking companies you have SUCCESSFULLY negotiated with

Who did you speak to at the parking buildings? It could be a matter of the head honchos of the parking building companies not cascading the information down the chain.

[davebullet]

I think the real motive from WCC is a few pedestrians or servicemen complaining about a couple of bikes here and there who are inconsiderately parked on the footpath.

The WCC has no $ to gain if we all end up parking in a private carpark building. They are not talking about metering our on-street parking (refer to one of Jon's earlier threads).

No, I don't work for the council. I am trying to see things from the public's perspective, not just a bikers.

Why should bikers be treated differently to cars? When car parks on the street fill up, where do cars park? On the footpath? - no, they go to a parking building.

I am not saying ban bikes from footpaths.... I think there are safe / unobtrusive footpath areas we can park in due to our size. We just need them to be clearly marked (as I noted before) to avoid confusion, fines etc...

[Swoop]

I am not saying ban bikes from footpaths.... I think there are safe / unobtrusive footpath areas we can park in due to our size. We just need them to be clearly marked (as I noted before) to avoid confusion, fines etc...

Quite so.

As suggested on the last page, looking at the areas that have been liberally coated with yellow paint, would be an excellent starting point.
Obviously a car is too big to fit there, or obstructs vision. A bike could park in that same place without interfering with traffic flow OR impede vision (as a bike sits lower).

[Jon Visser]

I have just rang EVERY major parking building in Wellington.
None even know of any council approach, your name, or that Bikers are being pointed at them-

Please provide the parking companies you have SUCCESSFULLY negotiated with

Agreements have been reached with the managers of Wilsons, Tournament and CarePark facilities who have agreed to make all of their Wellington facilities available. Prices will vary depending on the facilities offered, but I have been quoted typical ranges of $50 to $100 per month. These companies now need to advise all of their local building operators and prepare their administrative departments and the physical facilities to accommodate motorcycle customers. When that is ready, the information such as the locations of these garages will be provided to all riders via leaflets and information on our web sites (hence the delay with issuing these as we are waiting on the parking garages to prepare for this). I will ask the companies to ensure their internal staff are all aware of these changes.

[Str8 Jacket]

Prices will vary depending on the facilities offered, but I have been quoted typical ranges of $50 to $100 per month. .

Again, it costs me no more than $40 a month (including maintenance costs and WoF Rego etc) to ride my bike to work. Why would I see this as 'value for money' when you have just effectively doubled my costs to get to work?

[Hawkeye]

Jon,

How about converting the parking bays along side 40 Customhouse Quay to bike parking. (photo included). This is a spot that is close enough to the CBD but not a spot that car drivers would normally use for their 20 min quick shop!
There is ample room along that building that would not interfere with pedestians as there is already car parking and a footpath and it could fit in 30-40 bikes (or even more if bike bays are marked). And it would not affect a large number of car parking spots.

And if you also included along no 34, your talking about close to 100 extra bike spots which ARE close enough but not interfering with the CBD foot traffic.
That could eleviate most, if not all, of the Grey st area issues.

The big question remains. Are the council prepared to listen to the suggestions of those affected or are you on here just giving lip service as a PR excercise and revenue gathering is the driving force.

The jury is currently out!

[Wilson Parking]

Hello, Wilson Parking have been in discussion with the Council about this issue and are more than happy to offer parking for bikes at our various sites around Wellington. For rates and locations, feel free to contact us on 04 473 2293 or email me at garethp@wilsonparking.co.nz. Thanks

[Hawkeye]

Hello, Wilson Parking have been in discussion with the Council about this issue and are more than happy to offer parking for bikes at our various sites around Wellington. For rates and locations, feel free to contact us on 04 473 2293 or email me at garethp@wilsonparking.co.nz. Thanks

How about publishing your rates on this thread?

[Tournament Parking]

Hi All,

Tournament Parking has a dedicated motorbike parking area at James Smiths Car Park. This area is undercover and can hold 40-50 bikes. This area is currently provided free of charge (and has been for many years). This is on a first in, first served basis.

As part of the discussions with the council we have introduced a dedicated space for motorbikes at the Plimmer Tower Car Park. This park is located on the corner of Boulcott Street & Gilmer Terrace and has excellent pedestrian access to the Terrace, Boulcott Street & Lambton Quay (via Plimmer Steps). For more info and rates for this site contact us on 473 3432.

We can also provide parking options for bikes at our other locations around the city. For further information on locations and rates (which are very reasonable) phone 473 3432 or email info@tournament.co.nz

We have several members of staff who ride, so we are keen to help out where we can.

Cheers

Tournament Parking

[rustic101]

a picture paints a thousand words

[Hawkeye]

Hello, Wilson Parking have been in discussion with the Council about this issue and are more than happy to offer parking for bikes at our various sites around Wellington. For rates and locations, feel free to contact us on 04 473 2293 or email me at garethp@wilsonparking.co.nz. Thanks

Hi All,

Tournament Parking has a dedicated motorbike parking area at James Smiths Car Park. This area is undercover and can hold 40-50 bikes. This area is currently provided free of charge (and has been for many years). This is on a first in, first served basis.

As part of the discussions with the council we have introduced a dedicated space for motorbikes at the Plimmer Tower Car Park. This park is located on the corner of Boulcott Street & Gilmer Terrace and has excellent pedestrian access to the Terrace, Boulcott Street & Lambton Quay (via Plimmer Steps). For more info and rates for this site contact us on 473 3432.

We can also provide parking options for bikes at our other locations around the city. For further information on locations and rates (which are very reasonable) phone 473 3432 or email info@tournament.co.nz

We have several members of staff who ride, so we are keen to help out where we can.

Cheers

Tournament Parking

Forgive me for being synical, but having travelled in cars for a number of year, I have seen a trend by your companies. Keep the rates reasonable until everyone gets used to using the parking, and then slowly but surely, hike up the prices.

[Jon Visser]

Whatever anybody in the WCC says, this bike parking issue comes down to simple dollars and cents.

You are correct that parking is very much about money. Parking revenue is the tool used to generate turnover of car parks so that many people can share a limited amenity, as a deterrent for parking incorrectly, in order to recover the costs of providing, maintaining and managing the parking assets (including that portion of the road surface used to park on) and to ensure that these costs are paid for by the people that use them (e.g. this may be out of town people rather than Wellington ratepayers, and it would also not be fair to charge it through the rates for those who don't have a car).

In saying that, the Council is not expecting to receive any money from motorcycle riders, only that they obey the law and have consideration for their fellow citizens who want to legally and safely use the footpath.

WCC needs to convert more inner city car parks into bike parks and what better way than using GREEN paint for bike parking? Other countries use colour coded paint for different uses. E.g RED paint says don't park here. Why can't WCC start this trend?

In New Zealand the colours used for road marking are specified by law. Anything contrary to the law would not be enforcable and may cause accidents or people being unfairly ticketed (e.g. if Wellington used different colours from the rest of the country then this would confuse people, especially visitors to our city).

[sinned]

When something of value is provided free it distorts the value of it to the user and others end up paying in one way or another. The others in this case include ratepayers and other uses of parks.

Interesting this debate...
I am a little interested as to why we as motorcyclists think that we can demand:
- free motorcycle parks
- To park illegally on footpaths

Imagine if all parking was made free in the CBD! There would never be any parks available for those visiting the city. Provided free or reduced price secure car parks were provided for motorcyclists in parking buildings, then I see no problem with charging for the street parks. Why should we demand any more than other road users?

Agree.
There is no parking available now in the central city for motorcyclist who needs a park for an hour or two during the day. I take the car - as I know I can find a park.

Agreements have been reached with the managers of Wilsons, Tournament and CarePark facilities who have agreed to make all of their Wellington facilities available. Prices will vary depending on the facilities offered, but I have been quoted typical ranges of $50 to $100 per month.

We should be thanking Jon for facilitating a service for motorcycle parking from the parking companies. Thanks Jon.

Again, it costs me no more than $40 a month (including maintenance costs and WoF Rego etc) to ride my bike to work. Why would I see this as 'value for money' when you have just effectively doubled my costs to get to work?

You may not see this as value for money and you may determine that public transport is better value.


Other points:

• I am a ratepayer why should I be subsidising parking? - How many motorcycles and scooters parked for free in the city are owned by riders living out of the city?
• There may be fewer scooters on the road if the users had to pay for parking.
• Street parking for bikes should be metered - I have attached a photo of metered bike parking in Nice (southern France). There are zillions of bikes on the road in that part of the world.
• $50- $100 bucks a month for a covered park sounds good value. A car park is 4X that.

I am about to drive into the city for business and will be paying for parking.