Public transport and ride-share options proposed as alternatives to free all-day car park access are not effective or universally viable, Queenstown Times readers say.
The feedback followed an article in Monday's QT, which revealed proposed 240-minute restrictions on car parks in the Queenstown Gardens, which are commonly used by town workers as all-day parks.
Lisandra Macaes said she was one of many people trying to get around the parking problem by walking, biking and getting rides, but the alternatives offered by the Queenstown Lakes District Council were not effective.
"For car pooling, you have to get three people going from and to the same place at the same time, and there is only a limited number of car pool parking places - not sure how many, but not many," she said.
"The bus is expensive, and they do not seem to listen to all the comments and complaints about the price. It was obvious from the beginning that the price would be an issue, but apparently they decided to ignore it and blame people who work in town for not using the bus."
Tim Higgins, of APL Property, said using public transport was not realistic for many workers.
"A large number of people like myself have to use our vehicles during the day to undertake our business requirements, and to suggest that we should pay a further $2093.04 per annum for parking to undertake our daily business is obscene."
He suggested that if ratepayers already paid for costs associated with maintaining the CBD for tourists, the additional costs associated with parking should come from visitors.
"With the mayor stating that it is her intent to revive the city centre, this high-handed arrogant attitude by council in forcing their parking intents on the citizens of Queenstown will have the opposite effect."
Former councillor Gillian Macleod said people needed to understand that there was a high cost to free parking.
"The management and cost of providing car-parking in the CBD falls to council - that is, the ratepayer. With free parking, council still has to pay rates and take a loss on development land [i.e. Gorge Rd] and accept a loss of green space when parking occurs on reserve land," she said.
"One could argue that each free parking space costs hundreds of dollars a year."
She questioned what happens to the parking levies the council charges.
"Are they being absorbed into the general council pool, or are they targeted?
"I think that parking revenue needs to be directly linked to improvements for the CBD streetscape and encouragement of alternative transport [buses, ferries, walking and cycling]."
• See Monday's Queenstown Times for the QLDC's response.
