Fair weather rider
Where the site is not left to our minimum standards (warning signage or sweeping) the contractor is liable for such damage. Wellington's Code of Practice for Working on the Road was used as the basis for developing a national Code of Practice which will be mandated by law across all of NZ in the near future (under the Infrastructure Bill) with the intention of standardising (best) practices across the country.Originally Posted by Swoop
Fair weather rider
Yes - that is a good idea. Council officers can really only act in two ways - to enforce the rules that do exist or to legalise the activities that are occurring. We are open to suggestions to optimise the use of public space, at the request of the public. Often the people who live, work and play in our city ar far more knowledgeable about their local community, i.e. what works and what doesn't. For on-road car parks, some measures of demand and utilisation would be good (i.e. if it is very underutilised by cars and there are a lot of motorcycles wanting to park in the area that may be a good reason to switch). In some cases there may be other types of parking issues (e.g. taxis using Pay & Display spaces so public cars do not get to use them anyway and a motorcycle park would be more effective). Ask a few key questions like "is it safe (for your bike and to get in & out)?", "who normally uses this space (and are likely to object to the proposed change of use)?". Send the suggestions to:
Area Traffic Engineers
Wellington City Council
PO Box 2199
Wellington
We then review the proposed change in relation to road and traffic safety engineering design principles as well as other relevant Council policies, e.g. our Footpath Management Policy would probably preclude most of the footpath areas from being able to be marked as motorcycle parks (otherwise we would have already done so). If appropriate, we then prepare a submission to the Councillors (this is called a "traffic resolution") to get their approval. This is a public notified process so anyone may contribute to support or oppose the proposed change. Once the Councillors agree to the proposed change, we can then mark it on the road and enforce it. I have just arranged for another on-road motorcycle bay to be created in Cable Street in this manner. While this may relieve some pressure (a few spaces at a time) it will not likely address the majority of the issue (now or into the future) so people (especially commuters) do still need to be thinking about parking off the public road.
Fair weather rider
The area enclosed by the bollards on the corner of Victoria Street and Maning Lane is private property (i.e. the central police station). For any such private property you would need to contact the property owner for approval to park there.
Fair weather rider
Please see my other post about how to suggest such changes. I expect that it is not likely that green spaces (of which we already have so few in the CBD) will be sacrificed for motorcycle parking.
One opportunity that people should take advantage of is that when the Council comes out with public consultations (e.g. for projects like the Adelaide Road development, Maners/Cuba Mall changes etc) you should be submitting requests for motorcycle parking to be included in the re-design of those spaces. It is much easier to get them included in the up-front design than to try and change what has already been built.
Fair weather rider
Yes, this is a problem that has developed over time up to a point where our traditional approach (converting on-road parks where possible and turning a blind eye to people parking _considerately_ on the footpath) is no longer working and requires a different solution. Some individuals are now not being considerate (e.g. parking next to mobility spaces so that people can't get out of their cars, parking in front of fire/sprinkler control panels, parking in front of building emergency egress points, blocking footpaths, parking along the building face where people with sight impairment tend to walk so that they do not need to follow the much more dangerous kerb line etc). These individuals are spoiling things for everyone, and the Council must act to address this offending. The way our law works is that if we enforce a law for one person, we must also enforce it for everyone else that is committing the same offence. We have been to Court many times where a person has successfully argued that they should be let off because others are getting away with the same offence (in this case the offence would be "parking on the footpath", not the way in which this is done). The ticket ends up being overturned, Council (i.e. ratepayers) have to pay court costs and the offending continues. Therefore if we do have to enforce the rules for the worst of the offenders, we must be consistent and enforce the rules for everyone. I understand that does seem very unfair to all those who are considerate and do not cause such a big problem, but it is just one of the constraints that we must work under.
The solution we are proposing now may also not suffice in the long term, so we are constantly keeping abreast of what is happening in other cities in similar circumstances. Most tend to move to a mixture of "free" parking and time-restricted or fee-restricted parking to manage demand if the users of the spaces are not being considerate towards each other. While we are not at that stage here in Wellington City, it is entirely up to how the bike riders choose to behave as to whether such tools would need to be considered in the future.
Yes, we do have park & ride for our rail network (servicing the northern suburbs). Not sure whether we are also looking at park & ride for the bus networks to our southern/eastern suburbs (but I think that would make sense). These facilities are well utilised in some areas, but as you can tell from some previous messages this is very dependant on the quality of the public transport service provided (and we have had a large number of issues with this recently). Provision of public transport is a Greater Wellington Regional Council (not Wellington City Council) issue, but we do our best to lobby for improvements for our city.One thing which hasn't been mention (or that I haven't noticed anyway) is the idea of a 'park and ride' type arrangement, we use them in the UK and they really are a great way of cutting down congestion, freeing up city centre parking and reducing emissions.
Idiot Mechanic
I didn't realise there were 2 councils at work here, that's got to make things tough!!
On the park and ride idea though, somewhere close to the junction of highway 1 and 2 with access from both could cut out a huge amount of congestion by covering Hutt valley and Porirua. Saving people from having to find parking every day and cutting their costs down would mean decent uptake (although there would need to be an awareness campaign, obviously). Using the train doesn't really count as a park and ride IMHO as people still have to pay full fares on the train, that's just a car park at a train station
Hardcore Biker
I had a giggle, I had no issues at all riding in on my two wheeled transporter, even found a park without issue -
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2840...gton-commuters
FINE. This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
Idiot Mechanic
heh, crazy kiwis!! If someone 'got away' with something then they should count their lucky stars rather than becoming a beacon of hope for every one else trying to dodge out of a parking ticket!!
Still, that's easily remedied by a change in the wording of the law, ie. 'Parking on the footpath without due care and attention'. 'due care ans attention' would need to be defined legally of course and parking wardens would need educating (possibly the toughest task) but it's not unachievable...
L-Plate Rider
Firstly I'd like to congratulate Gary for articulating, in quick order, the frustrations of his fellow motorcyclists to the dis-information (and from Gary's observations disingenuous) campaign being run by the Council on motorcycle parking in the CBD.
I've recently had the misfortune of having my legally parked bike on Grey Street knocked over by an errant motorist, causing several thousand dollars worth of damage - not to mention the inconvenience. I've also personally witnessed two other bikes knocked over by cars reversing out of the Grey St parks in the last few months. In both instances the motorists concerned 'failed' to notice anything amiss and rapidly left the scene.
Less the disabled parks, the conversion of the remaining car parks on Grey St would go a long to ease the footpath congestion problems that is obviously causing the Council sleepless nights. Admittedly, Council parking and fine revenue projections might take a dip in the short term, but this would be more than offset by the increase in goodwill from the growing motorcycling community.
Food for thought?
L-Plate Rider
Jon,
I hate to think how much time you've spent responding to entries in this thread. How about a public meeting to discuss the issues face to face with those affected?
Also, I recall an article in the paper the other day that mentioned the recession had slowed down large developments on the Wellington waterfront. Why not use some of that space as a temporary solution until a longer term plan could be formulated? The waterfront area from Frank Kitts down to the Railway station is pretty close to the problem bike parking areas and for most in heavy bike gear would not be an unreasonable walk to their place of work. Personally I would prefer this as a viable off road parking solution, and a better use of the space than the proposed 40 berth Campervan park.
I wouldn't trust Wilson Parking as far as I could throw them....
<- A new way to take a rubber!
In addition, there is probably a lot of wasted concreted / asphalted "land" in the CBD that could be utilised.
There is a disused car sales lot opposite Te Papa that hasn't been used in months (year+?). Although this is probably private land, some council "covenants" on use would be good to see this land go to some use. why the owners don't setup daily parking is beyond me (making some money for the site). The covenant I'm talking about is a maximum period of "disuse" permitted. Legally, I doubt this would fly "I can do what I like with my land" mentality....
Forum whore
Cop out John- you know it and we know it
Concerned for our safety- bollocks!
I think the Council is just being bloody minded- and looking for a new revenue generator -
"Oh, bike numbers have doubled- how can we make on this one!"
Our bikes are less intrusive- less environmentally destructive- and less intrusive on the streets than Cars, Vans, Trucks....only Bicycles have any edge on our motorbikes
I gave up the train to take the bike because I got SICK of it breaking down - DAILY at one time!
Same for the older busses- they break down often- even have crashes too! (I was on one that had a massive smash on the motorway taking out 4 cars!)
Those trains, and at least half the aging Diesel busses- would be ordered off the road if anyone other than Govt bodies owned the death traps - double bloody standars again, and especially on the environment side- trolly busses actual carbon total is higher than a diesel bus due to electrical generation- FACT!
When Wellington Council and Tranzrail get the public transport sorted- then you will be in a place to implement such restrictive sanctions (yes SANCTIONS) against the motorcycle community
Dont forget- this growing pool of motorcycle riders are also rate paying voters- and we will vote you lot out if we get pissed off enough
Just ride.
Easily wound up!!
I note that Jon appears to have stopped responding to this thread but I will post this anyway in the hope that he is still reading it.
Jon, you claim 150 extra spaces have been provided for motorcycles recently, can you supply details of when and where. The reason I ask is that I know for a fact the that bikes lost upto 6-7 spaces on Hunter St within the last two years and as I was walking along Balance St today it appears from the road markings that a number of bike parks have been lost to a loading zone outside the Occidental.
The other thing I noticed on my return to work was the number of places where bikes could easily be accomdated with no loss of revenue. At the other end of Balance St, behind there Shell service station there is the most enourmous loading zone, large enought to accomdate two large trucks, lord only know what businesses in the vacinity would need deliveries that large (and all to be completed within 5 mins according to the signage). In any case half of that could be made over to Bikes, that would accomdate 15 easily.
At the Customhouse Quay end of Johnston St you could easily fit 10-15 bikes on a stretch of road that currently has no parking allowed. This is a two lane one-way street with more than enough space for traffic turning both ways at the lights so its hard to see any rational reason that parking has been prohibited in this area but it could easily accomdate bikes, again with no loss of revenue.
At the intersection of Customhouse Quay and Jervois Quay a large flush median (which is largley ignored) was marked up to "Square off" the intersection. I believe you could easily accomdate 30+ bikes in this area (with the added benefit that traffic would now have to obey the road markings when crossing the intersection)
How many bikes could be accomdated on Post Office square behind the "French Kiss" Coffee vending caravan? As the caravan and its furniture are obviously causing no inconvenience to pedestrians the bikes would neither AND they'd largley be hidden behind that mobile billboard that is frequently parked there that the pedestrians also seem to be able to walk safely around.
I havn't yet investigated the nooks and crannies around Queens Warf but I bet there would be loads of places there too that could accomdate bikes.
What are your thoughts on this, Jon?
"There must be a one-to-one correspondence between left and right parentheses, with each left parenthesis to the left of its corresponding right parenthesis."
Moped rider
Get in early, or learn where the tricky parking bays are that don't fill up as much.
Or ride in to work in the wet - scooters don't seem to have their waterwings on and stay at home.
All I can say is, if you get rid of free motorcycle parking altogether, some will catch public transport sure, but many others will just drive their cars to work. As it stands free parking is a huge incentive for motorcyclists.
And guess what, all those commuters that clog up the bays go to cafes, shops etc just like anybody else.
"I took the GPZ out for a ride,
the engine felt so good between my thighs.
Yeah it was cool, 40 degrees outside..."
Scooter Girl
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks