Existing carpooling permits are being cancelled to make way for a revamped scheme aimed at taking about 60 cars off the roads during rush hour.
Announcing the new scheme yesterday, Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult said the existing scheme had not been fully taken up and did not contribute to the council's goal of reducing the number of vehicles coming into the town centre.
The new scheme required each vehicle to have at least three permit-carrying people aboard, all of whom had to be living outside an ''exclusion zone.''
As in the existing scheme, carpoolers would get the free use of 29 reserved spaces at the council's Boundary St and Ballarat St car parks.
Mr Boult said carpooling remained a ''pragmatic'' way of reducing congestion, freeing up central business district car parks and reducing the community's carbon footprint, and if the new scheme was successful, it could be expanded.
He expected the 100 new permits to be quickly snapped up, but called on residents to play by the rules.
''We're relying on people to buy into this scheme with the right attitude.
''If it gets abused, then clearly it will be shot down.''
A council report in November found the existing scheme had about 75 users, but random inspections found an average of fewer than five registered vehicles were using the reserved car parks each day.
A database of permit holders had not been kept up-to-date, with some having addresses within a kilometre of the town centre.
The report said stricter enforcement would be required, with parking officers regularly checking cars as they arrived, and those caught flouting the rules losing their permits.
