Photo: Google Maps
Auckland Transport plans to introduce evening paid parking in the central part of Ponsonby.
The transport agency has proposed several changes to parking in the affluent suburb.
They include paid parking from 6pm until 9pm on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings on Ponsonby Road and some nearby streets.
AT's Andrew McGill said currently parking in Ponsonby during the evening was a "free-for-all".
He said residential side streets were often clogged with people heading to restaurants in the area looking for a free park, and they need to manage the demand for limited road space.
"Around 20,000 vehicles travel along Ponsonby Road every day, and many drivers are also looking to park on the road, or as close to it as possible, including during the evening.
"There are more than 60 businesses along Ponsonby Road that are open in the evening too, and I'm sure their owners would appreciate more parking spaces for their customers.
"Ponsonby's narrow residential streets are also very popular parking locations, but this popularity can create problems for local residents who want to park close to their homes, many of which don't have off-street parking."
He said they were aware that people often left their vehicles parked in Ponsonby on Friday evenings until Saturday or even Sunday without repercussions.
"The weekend is also very busy for parking, and this further takes up precious parking space for others."
In addition, AT was proposing 10-minute drop-off and pick-up spaces along Ponsonby Road to make it easier for meal delivery drivers to find a park.
"As it stands, these drivers must take their chances for parking, often forced to stop on broken yellow lines or double-parking, which can be dangerous, especially in bad weather," McGill said.
He said they had also received complaints from Ponsonby business owners about e-scooters left on the footpath.
"AT wants to introduce specific spaces for e-scooters to be gathered together for use on Ponsonby Road.
"These e-scooter corrals should end the scooter free-for-all that is currently blighting footpaths."
AT said Ponsonby Road was consistently in the top three roads in Auckland with the highest number of parking infringements.
The agency had issued over 12,000 parking infringements to vehicles along Ponsonby Road so far this year.
Aucklanders were able to give feedback on the plans this month, with public consultation open until 1 December 2025. The full list of proposed changes can be viewed on Auckland Council's website.
AT's proposed parking changes for Ponsonby include:
- Extend paid parking from 6pm to 9pm on Thursdays to Saturdays in busy streets within the central part of Ponsonby, including parts of Ponsonby, Richmond, and Rose Roads and Tole, O'Neill, Pember Reeves, Summer, Vermont, Lincoln, Norfolk, Douglas, Brown, Anglesea, Mackelvie, Pollen and Picton Streets.
- Convert some time-restricted parking to paid parking in high-demand streets, including parts of Richmond Road and Tole, O'Neill, Pember Reeves, Summer, Vermont, Lincoln, Norfolk, Douglas, Brown, Fitzroy, Anglesea, and Picton Streets.
- Extend the resident parking zone to include Kelmarna Avenue and Buller Street, to prevent commuter parking from limiting access for residents.
- Introduce paid parking at the Margaret Street off-street car park due to high demand for parking throughout the day.
- New 10-minute pick-up/drop off spaces at key locations along Ponsonby Road for ride-share vehicles and general use.
- New evening general loading zones (6pm-10pm) at Vermont and Brown Streets, near their intersection with Ponsonby Road. These loading zones can also be used by food-delivery vehicles.
- Allow general loading (including food delivery) at the two existing loading zones at 252 and 346 Ponsonby Road from 6pm to 6am. These loading zones would remain for goods vehicles between 6am and 6pm.
- Allow general loading (including food delivery) at 57 Mackelvie Street all times.
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