Have your say on traffic in the city

AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL

MEDIA RELEASE

27 June 2006

Have your say on traffic in the city

Auckland City is encouraging people to give feedback on the draft traffic bylaw before submissions close on Friday, 7 July.

Public consultation on the traffic bylaw is part of a wider review of three of the city’s key bylaws including waste and administration.

Under the Local Government Act 2002, Auckland City is required to review each of its 29 bylaws before July 2008 to make sure they keep pace with the city’s changing needs.

Chris Geerlings, the council’s parking services manager, says the aim of the traffic bylaw review is to improve regulations around traffic management and parking.

“Bylaws affect people’s day-to-day lives and the more input we receive, the more meaningful the resulting bylaw will be,” says Mr Geerlings.

“We want the best traffic management and parking control measures for roads, public places and parking areas that come under the council’s control.

“It’s about making sure the operational detail is working to achieve our over-arching goal of effective, efficient transport choices for everyone,” he says.

Specific areas in the proposed bylaw that may interest the public include the type of vehicles allowed in bus lanes, window washers at street intersections, parking on grass verges, prohibited entry points for heavy vehicles, parking zones and provisions for towing from disability parking spaces.

Among the proposed changes is a new concept of parking zone to allow parking controls within a geographical area, rather than street by street. Certain residential streets could also be designated to ban heavy vehicles from parking there overnight.

Another change contained in the draft bylaw is a proposal for the roadside to be restricted to parking-only to discourage businesses such as home mechanics and car dealers from using the city’s scarce parking resource for commercial reasons.

Car window washers could face significant fines to deter them from operating at intersections.

Bus lanes used only by vehicles with 13 or more seating positions could be changed to accommodate vehicles with 10 or more seating positions to allow for taxi shuttle vans and total mobility vehicles.

Mr Geerlings encourages Aucklanders to have their say on these and other issues in the next couple of weeks before the submission closing date.

“After this process, the traffic bylaw won’t be reviewed again for at least five years,” he says.

Copies of the draft bylaws and statements of proposal, which provide the reasons for the draft bylaws, are all available to view at:

- Auckland City’s service centre at 35 Graham Street, Auckland city

- level 11, Civic Building, 1 Greys Avenue, Auckland city

- the council’s website at www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/council/documents/bylaw

- all Auckland City Council libraries.

Submission forms are available from www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/submission or from any of the locations listed above.

ENDS