AT brings on new camera cars to manage city parking, avoid anarchy
Auckland motorists who park without paying may want to think twice, now the city has a full fleet of parking enforcement vehicles that can catch you out in a split second.
The cars, which have advanced plate recognition cameras, digitally "chalk" the wheels of vehicles and assess whether they're parked illegally or not.
AT has raked up $3.8 million dollars in fines in the year to April alone.
RNZ took a ride with an enforcement officer as they digitally marked cars on the most ticketed street in town.
The car was part of AT's fleet of 23 customised vehicles that have been rolled out across the city, to operate alongside regular street parking officers.
It was fitted with cameras that could pick up licence plates in mere milliseconds.
Auckland Transport officer Natalie, whose surname RNZ has agreed not to use at the risk of her facing abuse, explained how the vehicle worked.
"This vehicle goes around taking videos and still images of vehicles parked on the road," she said.
"It will generate a hit for the processes to infringe on the vehicle if they're either overstaying maximum authorised time, or, pretty much committing an offence."
Natalie said she got a mixed response while driving around town.
Some people block their licence plate. Some people would stand in front of it or just put something to block it. You'll get people running to their cars."
One of AT's new camera cars on the hunt for illegal parking.
Photo:
Nick Monro
RNZ rode with AT down Princes Street near the University of Auckland, the most ticketed street in the city, racking up 5199 tickets issued between 1 January and 9 April, almost $294,000.
Not all of the marked cars would generate tickets.
First, video of the offending vehicle goes back to AT headquarters to be checked whether or not an infringement had been committed.
During the trip, the car scanned 608 plates on Princes Street alone.
Of those, 47, or just under eight percent, were pinged for potential illegal parking.
AT's group manager of parking services John Strawbridge said the new cars had made a big difference.
"It has enabled our officers to obviously cover more geographic ground but also to do it in a safe manner," he said.
He said there were simple ways to avoid getting ticketed.
"Make sure you read the signs. Read the signs which might have a time limit on it, two hours or whatever it maybe," Strawbridge said.
"Have a contingency in your mind that 'Jeez if I'm going to park for over this time I maybe shouldn't park in that particular spot'."
He also encouraged motorists to use the AT app or the parking meter to extend their time if needed.
"We don't want to give you tickets, but also we've got a responsibility in terms of equity for other drivers that may be looking for a carpark," he said.
"If we didn't manage parking, then it'd be anarchy out there. No one would move and no one would be able to find a park."
RNZ spoke with motorists on Princes Street about their experience parking in the city.
"I've received multiple tickets," one woman said
"Now I just pay $20 to park for about five hours, and move my car for the last two.
"I tend to avoid coming to town, so as to not deal with the parking situation," another person said.
Chief executive of the Central City Business Association, Viv Beck, said infringements should only be issued for the right reasons.
"It is fair to say that enforcement does play an important role in turning over parking, for example, so that time frames are observed and you haven't got someone sitting for long periods and hogging a park, so I think there is a role to play," she said.
"Where it's an issue, and where we have a concern is when it's used as a revenue generator, that does not take account of the reasonable needs of the businesses and their customers and or suppliers."
Beck said it posed a challenge for businesses when it came to servicing and loading.
"We did go through a period where people were being fined for that, and in fact that vehicle will be picking up who are forced with having no other options but to park close to where they need to go," she said.
"If people don't have options and they have a job to do, that's pretty difficult for businesses and suppliers trying to operate here, and we do have concern where if planning hasn't provided sufficient serving and loading space, pretty unfair, pretty unreasonable actually to be fining people."
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