Some visitors to Auckland Zoo are concerned new parking charges will make the excursion unaffordable as cost of living just keeps rising.
Auckland Zoo says the parking charge will not apply until after the July school holidays Photo: RNZ/ Michelle Cooke
Electronic parking metres were soon to be installed at the zoo and Motat, where visitors would pay $2 an hour for parking, capped at $8.
Auckland Unlimited said the charge would help pay for around 200 new spaces and the upkeep of the carparks. Any surplus would go to Motat and the zoo.
On-street parking on nearby roads would remain free but would be time-controlled in some areas.
Daniel Dooney and his partner arrived from Tauranga and parked in the zoo carpark.
"Typical greedy council. I guess it adds a lot on to the trip, especially if you've come from Tauranga with petrol and then paying for the zoo and paying for parking as well. Not ideal," he said.
They planned to spend half a day at the zoo but if the charges had been in place Dooney would have looked for a free option.
"Unless they could offer security here where your car was safe, I would probably look at parking elsewhere and saving the $6 to $8."
Natasha Aabryn agreed the cost of parking could be off putting.
"Some of the playcentres and things that we join with, it might be a struggle for some of the other parents to come along and have that outing."
Annaliese McIntyre lived locally and was a regular visitor to the zoo with her two young boys.
"It would be sad if it discouraged families from the ability to come an enjoy the facility. It's something all families and kids like to do and see."
She planned her zoo trips around the parking, arriving in the morning to snare a space.
It was not unusual for visitors to the zoo to do a few laps of the carpark and for queues to form.
"I would try and avoid the really busy rush time, it's a problem at the weekend for sure with Meola Road being quite clogged up and the local area with visitors but I think it's just something you deal with and work around."
In a statement, Motat director Michael Frawley said one in four visitors to the two attractions at Western Springs drove away after failing to find a convenient carpark.
"This has been a point of frustration for our visitors and the local community for many years and one that we are addressing by the construction of a 198-plus space carpark on otherwise redundant closed landfill land," he said.
"The parking charges will be applied towards the monitoring and maintenance of the Motat and Zoo carparks and the important conservation work undertaken by our respective institutions."
The new carpark was a less then ten minutes walk from the zoo, and there would be a new pedestrian and cycleway through the precinct.
The trams trundling between Motat and the zoo would be free.
Some visitors to the zoo were not concerned about the impending carpark charges, which were consulted on in 2019 and following years, when a long-running survey found a third of visitors were put off due to a lack of parking.
Family groups were the most likely to abandon a visit due to parking problems.
Auckland Zoo is a non-profit organisation and director Kevin Buley said the parking charge was "modest" and would pay for the maintenance of the parks.
"Maintaining the carparks close to the zoo is an existing cost that currently diverts funds from our core mission to help build a future for wildlife. Introducing a modest parking charge will not only cover additional costs of increasing capacity and improving safety and accessibility of our car parks but will also allow us to divert existing carpark maintenance fund to important conservation work," he said.
Emily Summerlee travels from Whangārei to the zoo each year, bringing her preschool son, and would pay for parking.
"Personally I wouldn't mind, it depends I guess if you're planning to be here for the whole day it would add up but the zoo's the zoo, you're going to come and pay for it regardless so I don't think it's a huge negative impact."
She said the money was going to a good cause.
"If it makes it better for the animals then why not."
Auckland Zoo confirmed the parking charge would not apply until after the July school holidays.