New airport car parking options available as Queenstown Airport’s Park and Ride gets underway

Visitors flying in and out of Queenstown Airport will have more car parking options to choose from following the launch of a new airport Park and Ride this morning (Thursday June 22).

After the official opening of the highly-anticipated first stage of Hawthorne Drive by Queenstown Lakes District Council Mayor Jim Boult, the 11-seater Park and Ride shuttle and luggage trailer hit the road and made its way to the new Park and Ride facility to pick-up its first passenger.

Teams from the airport and GoBus, the contracted shuttle operator, assembled at the Brookes Road car park to officially open the Park and Ride facility, which adds 150 new spaces to the airport’s car park capacity.

The first Park and Ride customer was Queenstown’s Paul Hibbett who received a specially-designed cupcake from local bakery Cup & Cake and a free coffee at either of the airport-based cafes Airspresso and Patagonia.

Queenstown Airport Chief Executive Colin Keel said today’s opening was a significant step forward in addressing the pressures on airport car parking.

“The team has been working on the Park and Ride project for the last eight months and so to see the shuttle make its first trip along Hawthorne Drive this morning was a great moment.

“Based on the conversations we’ve had with members of our community, we believe the demand for Park and Ride is there. This is Day One of a 12-month trial and we actively encourage people to give it a go and give us their feedback.

“We’re starting off with an 11-seater shuttle, to gauge what the actual demand is against the research we’ve done but will be monitoring customer feedback daily and making adjustments as needed to ensure we provide the best service we can. We have a great provider in GoBus and we can quickly scale up the shuttle frequency or capacity should the need arise,” said Mr Keel.

GoBus CEO Calum Haslop said the GoBus team is “really excited to be a part of the airport’s car parking and transport vision”.

“We’re looking forward to partnering with Queenstown Airport on a solution to the long-standing problem around car parking and transport options in the area,” said Calum.

“We’re very committed to the Southern Lakes region and will continue to invest in transport opportunities down here,” said Mr Haslop.

More about Park and Ride

• The Park and Ride shuttle will initially run on the hour and half hour and co-ordinate with the airlines’ timetables between the dedicated car park located in Brookes Road (behind Mitre 10 Mega and Pak‘n’Save) and the airport terminal.

• The service operates on a ‘pay-to-park, free-to-ride’ model where people choose any available spot in the Park and Ride area (left hand side as you drive in) and collect a receipt at the pay station which is used for the outbound and return shuttle trip to and from the airport.

• Queenstown Airport is offering special launch pricing from today until 31 August 2017. The special offer represents a discount on the normal pricing and is $20.50 for two days, $8.50 per day thereafter, with a weekly maximum of $59.50.

• The Park and Ride shuttle timetable and pricing is now available on the Queenstown Airport websitehttp://www.queenstownairport.co.nz/carparking.

• Queenstown Airport has worked with the Otago Regional Council, New Zealand Transport Agency and QLDC to co-ordinate the launch of the airport Park and Ride with the opening of Hawthorne Drive, the removal of cars from SH6, and the widening of SH6 at the BP roundabout, all of which form part of a wider strategy to address the car parking and transport pressures across the region.

ENDS

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