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Kate Hawkesby opines on Wilson Parking.
Is there a more repugnant business than Wilson Parking?
[…]Their pricing is daylight robbery and their carparks are policed so ferociously you have to wonder whether the attendants are on either brilliant commissions or under threats of death if they don’t ticket as many people as possible.
To be fair they are a business.
I went into one yesterday, I try to avoid them at all costs, but I was in a hurry. I didn’t have the extra 20 minutes it would’ve taken me driving around trying to find one on the street, given finding a park in Auckland these days is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Gee, I wonder why that is?
[…]I found a park, parked, and hopped out of my car to go find the ticket machine and queue up to pay for my parking.
[…]No sooner had I clicked the remote to lock my car and joined the queue at the machine, I glance back to see a parking attendant descending on my vehicle staring at the empty dashboard and getting out her camera.
“Excuse me!” I yelled from the queue at the machine, “I’ve literally just parked, I’m here waiting to get a ticket, give me a second!”
The man in front of me was equally frazzled, given the queue and the slowness of the machine. “This happens to me all the time,“ he told me, “They’ve taken the joy out of shopping. Shopping used to be a fun treat, now it’s like running a gauntlet, it’s depressing.”
I don’t know if this is typical of Wilson Parking. One thing is for sure is that fewer street parks means more demand for paid parking and Wilson is supplying that demand.
It‘s hard enough for bricks and mortar retailers to get foot traffic in the door these days, let alone the fact all the street parks have been swept away for bus and cycle lanes. Shoppers are forced to use expensive, stressful, tightly patrolled carparks and zoom in and out to do their errands, juggle the parking machine (and often small children in tow) and pray for no tickets.
Got it in one, Kate. The buck stops at Auckland Transport. If it wasn’t for their obsession with bus and cycle lanes you wouldn’t have to drive around for half an hour just to find a street park.
[…]It was a good reminder of why I never park in a Wilson carpark if I can help it.
A reminder also of how the cycle zealots and car haters at Auckland Transport aren’t just shafting drivers but also the hardworking retailers and business owners who rely on customers being able to park close by.
Auckland Transport is out of control. The sooner it gets reined in the better.
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