Streets usually packed with parked cars were unusually empty on the first day of the Dunedin City Council's new parking regime.
Icy roads yesterday morning and the school holidays may have kept drivers at home.
From last Friday, under a new four-zone parking system for the central city, parking fees increased to $4 an hour in central George St, $3 an hour in streets in surrounding blocks, decreasing to $2 or $1 an hour two to three blocks from George St.
[comment caption=Are you avoiding the new parking machines?]As well, 153 new pay-and-display machines have been installed, allowing payment by coins, text message or credit card, with some areas that had free time-limited parking no longer free.
Some city workers are changing their parking routines.
Becky Phillips, who works near the corner of upper Stuart St and Smith St, said she and other workers used to park in formerly free parks in Smith St, but had decided to park slightly further away in York Pl.
"We knew it was coming," she said of the parking meters, but her colleagues had still brought their cars, accepting a slightly longer walk once they parked.
Citibus and Dunedin Passenger Transport managers said yesterday it was not possible to determine if more people were using buses, because of the school holidays, a period when patronage traditionally dropped.
Commuters last week were hit with a 25% fare increase.
Council parking services team leader Daphne Griffen said the day was "naturally quiet" because of the holidays.
She had not heard any particular reaction to the new regime from her officers, or that people were boycotting the meters.
"The whole town's quiet.
"I don't think it's related to the [new] meters," she said.
Shown photographs of the empty parks, deputy mayor Syd Brown said: "To me that shows there is an issue [that has] developed".
The council would have to monitor the situation, and see whether the parks were used once the holidays finished.
If policies did not work, they needed to be revisited.
The city, though, had to have a parking regime.
"We need to make sure parking spaces revolve, so people can find the parking spaces they need."
"Parking was not run as a revenue-raising exercise, as "accounts just break even, or make a small profit", he said.
