Parking Problems

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 822, 16 November 1929, Page 8

Parking Problems

Housing City’s 20,000 Cars

AUCKLAND is faced with a substantial problem in parkin. the 20,000 motor vehicles which daily traverse the City thoroughfares. In the past few years the tenor of City ordinances has been toward restriction of parking spaces, and it is possible that ultimately the catering for cars which have to stand for any length of time will be almost entirely in the hands of private enterprise.

In many cities where traffic problems are acute ami where kerbside parking is prohibited altogether, owners of motor-cars are reconciled to adding garage fees regularly to uieir running costs. Even in this City, where in the evenings one may park in almost any street free of charge, the shelter of a garage is preferable to the open air, where cars are subject to weather and other destructive influences.

It becomes a problem of increasing magnitude, however, to And space for the 20.000 motor vehicles which move about Auckland every day, and at the same time to allow for the uninterrupted transaction of legitimate business

A glance along Queen Street at live o'clock in the afternoon is. sufficient to emphasise the necessity of keeping the traffic moving in rush periods. Tba new driver who threads his way through the narrow right-of-way between stationary motor-cars and moving trams experiences a thrill at every ten yards, while nervous motorists adopt the simple course, and take the back streets. PARKING AT NIGHTS

Ten minutes’ parking are allowed in Queen Street and in a few of che other important thoroughfares, but in most streets where restrictions exist the limit is 15 minutes, while the remainder provide a field for those who drive their cars into the city from the suburbs in the morning and leave them stationary throughout the daj-. Many drivers are puzzled to determine where they may or may not park.

Yet the City by-laws clearly indicate the streets hearing restrictions, and the responsibility is upon the driver himself to acquaint himself with these areas.

Conditions in the evenings, for example, are entirely different from those operating in business hours. The only streets closed to motor-cars after sunset are Queen Street from Quay Street as far as Myers Street (through the Civic Square) and Karangahape Road from Symonds Street to Howe Street, Newton. Only one locality now affords centre parking. That is Victoria Street West, where the carriers are accommodated during the day and where private cars may park in the evenings. As a general

rule centre-road parking has been abolished because of its attendant traffic dangers. One thing the Auckland motorist will apparently avoid at any cost is foot-weariness. lie is determined not to walk far to work or to the theatre, and in numerous instances would rather pay a patrolman a nominal fee for watching his car on the open parking stand than run it into a garage for the same fee and walk two or three blocks to his destination. This lassitude, which has grown with Auckland’s motor population, appears to be largely responsible for our parking perplexities. The businessman w r ho iusists upon leaving his motor-car close to the office irrespective of the traffic dislocation which occurs while he is making millions inside his office during the day, is frequently the first complainant when his own trade lorry cannot enter some other firm’s alleyway on account of an obstructing motor-car. OLD DOCK SITE

Several organised efforts on the part of private enterprise have failed to lure motor-cars from the free parking places of the open streets, but still in all streets cars are scattered along the kerbs.

Motor-car parking in Auckland perhaps does not yet constitute a really serious problem. But it soon will become such. In the past few years the space allotted by the City to motors has grown progressively smaller, and as the motor population expands, private stations must cater for vehicles which find no resting place in the streets. Overseas cities have met the demand by the provision of mul-tiple-storeyed buildings with rapid lifts and ramps for the quick handling of cars, and while it is doubtless an inconvenience to have to bring one’s car from the seventh floor to the street, such is the necessary predicament of the metropolitan motorist. Generally speaking, the Auckland motorist appears to be well catered for at present, but it might not be verylong before the suggestion of the Chief Traffic Inspector, Mr. G. R. Hogan, will have to be adopted, and at busy times all Queen Street motor traffic will have to be kept constantly on the move. L.J.C.