Auckland Transport has abandoned a long-running and controversial push for special powers to remove kerbside parking for things like cycleways and to charge at park-and-ride stations.

For the past two years, AT staff have been seeking to rewrite the city’s parking rules to treat car parking as the “lowest” priority on roads and have removed parking with little or no consultation.

But after a directive from Mayor Wayne Brown for a “complete change in approach”, the transport body has dropped its contentious plan to eliminate kerbside parking.

Instead, it will now develop parking plans in conjunction with communities and local boards, which will have the final say on whether a plan can proceed.

AT has also dropped plans to charge $2 to $4 at park-and-ride stations but will charge drivers who park and don’t use public transport. It will also trial a selection of paid pre-booked spaces.

The latest changes were discussed by councillors at a confidential workshop on April 5, unlike previous discussions on big changes to the strategy, which were discussed at committee meetings in public.

This means the final draft of the strategy will go to the AT board in May for approval without any public scrutiny by elected representatives.

The Parking Strategy is an attempt to cut Auckland’s greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the distance travelled by petrol and diesel cars and shifting towards more climate-friendly forms of transport, such as creating cycleways and bus lanes.

It proposes to progressively remove kerbside parking on more than 1200km of the city’s main roads, starting with about 240km in the first 10 years.

Targeted roads early on include Onewa Rd and Lake Rd on the North Shore, and Great North Rd, Sandringham Rd, Mt Eden Rd and Manukau Rd on the isthmus.

Ever since AT officers sought powers to remove cars from the road without any consultation in 2021, the strategy has had a rocky ride. Previous mayor Phil Goff said it would look “bloody arrogant” to tell residents they were losing their parking spaces and would not have a say about it.

“Democracy is about governing with the consent of the people and I’m a little worried we will piss people off enough that they will simply revolt against this,” Goff said.

AT came back with a revised plan for public consultation in mid-2022, working to the principle that kerbside parking was the “lowest priority” and would be automatically removed for projects such as bus lanes and cycleways, except under exceptional circumstances.

At the time, AT’s head of integrated network planning, Andrew McGill, said the agency was working to a “pre-determined agenda” to create easy journeys for Aucklanders.

“We are not going to back down simply because somebody is not going to like it,” he said.

He was not keen on clearways and bus lanes during peak times to allow people to park outside shops in off-peak hours, saying: “What may work now may not work in the future.”

Yesterday, McGill said AT was now looking at a more flexible and dynamic approach to roads that could see a lane being a loading zone in the morning, a bus lane for a couple of hours, and offering parking during the day – an approach that Brown refers to as getting the most out of the existing transport network.

After battles with communities and local boards in places such as St Heliers, McGill said AT would now make sure parking plans were endorsed by local boards before going out for public consultation and looking at the impacts on business.

“If we have to repurpose parking space on a main road we will relocate it, if possible, on to side streets, which is quite a change to the original draft strategy,” he said.

He also confirmed AT had scrubbed the principle of kerbside parking being the “lowest priority” to reflect that there was no hard and fast ranking for road uses, which would change at different times and in different places.

A mayoral spokesman said Brown was pleased to see AT listening to Aucklanders, saying he welcomed the new focus on dynamic lanes in line with his election policies.

Transport and infrastructure committee chairman John Watson echoed the mayor’s comments, saying AT had gone from being seen as the “enemy” of car parking to listening to feedback from Aucklanders and local boards.

Transport and Infrastructure committee chairman John Watson. Photo / Nick Reed

Watson defended the decision for the latest proposals to be discussed behind closed doors, saying work on the strategy had gone on for two years, and had been through two reviews and public consultation.

“This is the end of the road,” he said.

The Public Transport Users Association said AT’s new approach of listening to communities was the best way to create bus lanes and cycleways on busy roads.

National co-ordinator Jon Reeves said AT “never listen to anyone” but, if it got the approach right, key routes such as Onewa Rd could become clearways in both directions.

Reeves also liked the idea of charging motorists who use park-and-ride stations but do not catch a bus or train, saying the stations were designed for public transport.

The Automobile Association welcomed the reversal of the proposal to charge at park-and-ride stations, parking plans not proceeding without local board endorsement, and using space on busy roads dynamically throughout the day.

“On roads that are more congested in one direction in the morning peak and the other in the evening peak, this should enable more people to get where they need to go more quickly – provided the space is allocated to the modes that will move the most people on a particular road.

“On some busy roads, it should also mean parking can be available outside of peak times,” AA policy director Martin Glynn said.