Parliament Street, Auckland Central – Parking Restrictions Parliament Street, Auckland Central – Parking Restrictions

Consultation status: closed 14 October 2021

Proposal reference: RTV-381

Proposal outcome

In October 2021, we proposed changes to improve driver and pedestrian safety on Parliament Street. These changes are in response to a request from the police to address the issue of people parking on the berm along Parliament Street. This is because berm parking has been causing visibility issues for drivers entering and exiting the High Court and poses a safety risk to pedestrians as people drive on the footpath. After reviewing all the feedback, we are proceeding with the work as proposed. These works will help support our Vision Zero goal.

What happens next

We anticipate the changes will be implemented at the end of February 2022.

Community feedback

Thank you for helping us make better decisions for your neighbourhood, informed by your local knowledge. The majority of the respondents supported this proposal. In the feedback people expressed support to stop berm parking to create a safer walking environment and to stop environmental damage to the berm. A summary of the additional comments and queries we received, and our responses to them, is below.

No stopping off roadway

  • Concerns about parking on the berm and footpath in other locations in the neighbourhood including Eden Crescent, Anzac Avenue and Waterloo Quadrant and requests to put measures in place in these locations. Queries surrounding the legality of parking on the berm and request to stop berm parking across the whole of Auckland.

Parking on the footpath does not require ‘No Stopping’ signs to be enforced. If a vehicle is parked on the footpath, please call our parking enforcement centre which operates 24 hours, 7 days a week on 09 355 3553. However, ‘No Stopping off Roadway’ signs are required for AT to enforce parking on the berm. We are currently working on an extensive list of streets that have issues with drivers parking on the berm and are making changes prioritised by safety. We will add the streets mentioned above to our list.

  • Suggestions to prevent parking on the Parliament Street berms by installing bollards or a barrier, especially a natural barrier of plantings or boulders.

Barriers can help to prevent parking on berms but there have been instances where barriers were removed to resume parking. Therefore, signs are favoured as they allow for enforcement to stop such parking behaviour.

  • Request for more enforcement.

We will be enforcing the area once the signs are installed. We also recommend regularly reporting illegally parked vehicles to our parking enforcement call centre, which operates 24 hours, 7 days a week: 09 355 3553.

  • Request for signs to be in simpler language.

The signs are installed as per the Transport Design Manual (TDM) and are required to be of a certain size and format. We cannot enforce custom signs.

  • Request to attach the proposed signs onto the existing parking signs to reduce clutter.

We will try and use existing poles where possible to reduce street clutter.

  • What are the visibility issues at this location?

Drivers need to have clear lines of sight when using the High Court driveway and this can be obstructed when there are vehicles parked on the berm. Therefore, preventing parking on the berm will improve driver visibility. This proposal also addresses the safety of pedestrians and the damage caused to the berm by vehicles.

Parking

  • Request to keep the current designated parking spaces.

We are not making any changes to the parking spaces available on Parliament Street. This project prevents drivers from illegally parking on the berm on Parliament Street, which presents a safety risk to pedestrians and damages the berm.

  • Request for more resident parking and less paid parking in the area.

On-street parking is a valuable and finite public asset and should be managed fairly. We have no intention of proposing a residential parking zone because the city centre is not of residential nature.

  • Request for Parliament Street to be residents only.

We discontinued the resident only parking policy in 2008 and so do not provide resident only parking.

  • Suggestion to have a drop-off and pick-up zone in front of each residential building on Parliament Street.

Paid parking is free for the first 10 minutes which allows for pick-ups and drop-offs. Having a dedicated pick-up and drop-off zone would remove some general parking which would not be ideal in this instance.

Pedestrian safety

  • Concern about tree roots protruding out from the berms and footpaths along Parliament Street causing a trip hazard and suggestion to install a barrier to protect the roots and flatten out the surface like what has been done on Queen Street and Anzac Ave.
  • We will pass this onto the appropriate team to resolve the issue. We appreciate your patience in the meantime.

We’re proposing improvements in your area  

We have received a request from the police to address the issue of vehicles parking on the grass berm on Parliament Street. We are proposing the installation of ‘No Stopping Off Roadway’ controls to prevent vehicles from parking on the berm. 

We are proposing to:  

  • Install ‘No Stopping Off Roadway’ signs to prevent people from illegally parking on the grass berm next to the road. 

Download proposal drawing

Auckland Transport would like to work with you to deliver safer roads in your neighbourhood. These changes aim to address the issue of parked cars on the berm posing a safety issue for pedestrians due to vehicles driving on the footpath. The new signs will prevent berm parking by making it clear to drivers that parking on the berms is prohibited. These changes will increase driver and pedestrian safety. 

Feedback is now closed

What happens next 

  • We’ll consider all the feedback we receive, and then decide the best way to move forward.  
  • We’ll post the outcome of this proposal and a summary of community feedback on this webpage. 
  • We can email you the proposal outcome as soon as it’s ready – just select that option when you fill in the survey. 

Auckland Central: Safe with us 

Auckland Transport cares for your safety. We want to make our roads safe for everyone, people walking and cycling, especially for our kids and senior citizens and people driving. Projects like this one around Parliament Street are another step towards our goal of achieving no deaths or serious injuries on our roads. We are guided by the Vision Zero approach to transport safety, which prioritises human safety over other measures (like minor time saving).