The central part of Auckland, as the place where the city’s business life is concentrated, is crowded with vehicles during the daytime. The constant shortage of parking spaces has led to the opening of a number of urban and private parking complexes in the city. Their cost can vary significantly, depending on the service provider. So, the maximum payment for parking during the day in the indoor areas of Auckland Transport is NZ $ 24, and using private parking, about the same amount can be paid for just a couple of hours of parking.
Content:
- Online parking maps and handy apps
- How to pay for parking?
- Free Parking
- Paid parking
- Signs and markings
- What not to do
Using your own car in the city centre can have a significant impact on your budget. Therefore, we invite you to learn all the options where you can leave your car in the city.
Online parking maps and handy apps
Parkopedia
Parkopedia is the largest provider of parking information anywhere in the world. The service provides an overview of paid and free parking (off-street), as well as some of the streets available for parking (on-street). With its help, you can find the nearest parking lot, determine the distance to it, find out rates, available payment methods and other conditions.
Parking location map
Parking location map provides visual information about nearby Auckland Transport car parks. The cost of parking here is much lower than in private parking, but there are not always free spaces.
City centre parking zone map
City centre parking zone map – the map of street parking zones in CBD (centre) of Auckland city. Allows you to find the most suitable on-street parking spot. It won’t be easy to find vacant places on weekdays.
How to pay for parking
Parking machines “Pay by plate”
More about “Pay by plate” on the website. After you indicate the number of your car and select the required parking period, the machine will prompt you to pay the appropriate amount immediately. You can pay by card or cash. When paying with a card, you will have to pay a transaction fee of 50c. Please note that you do not need to go back to the car and place a parking ticket in it (as it was the case with “Pay and display” machines), your car number is already recorded by the system. In addition, you do not have to go back to a specific machine to extend parking. It is enough to find the closest machine to you, located in the same price zone, and, by entering the registration number of the car, pay for the parking extension.
A/T Park
A system that allows you to easily and conveniently pay for street parking “Pay by plate” without using a machine. To use A/T Park, you should register in the system, indicating your mobile phone number, vehicle registration number and bank card details. After that, you can start and stop parking time using:
- mobile application A/T Park;
- sending SMS to number 2824;
- by calling 09 528 7275.
The convenience of the system is in fact that you do not need to plan the parking time, you simply stop the counter when you no longer need parking. Unlike paying through a parking machine, with which you can choose the parking time only at half-hour intervals, A/T Park provides per-minute billing. No commissions are charged for payment.
Parkable and ParkMate
To pay for city dedicated parking lots (off-street), you can use the ParkMate mobile application. Pay attention to the emerging Auckland application Parkable which allows access to lower prices and special parking deals in Auckland.
Free parking
Parking on the streets
For a short stop (up to 10 minutes) in paid street parking zones, no fee is charged.
Both in the CBD (centre) and around, you can find areas with free street parking. As a rule, parking on such streets will be limited to 2 hours, but we managed to find completely or partially unlimited streets:
- Crummer Road,
- Williamson Avenue,
- Virginia Ave W and adjacent streets.
Park and Ride parking
Park and Ride are special free parking spaces adjacent to major bus lines, metro lines and city ferry piers. Having reached them by private transport, citizens can switch to public transport and comfortably reach the city centre without worrying about paying for parking. You can find a list of Park and Ride parking lots here.
Paid parking
Both private and public parking lots in the city offer a number of special offers. You can get acquainted with them on the websites of the companies. Among the most popular:
- Monthly subscription. By purchasing a monthly subscription, you can get a parking space at a cost of $ 40 per week, depending on the parking location.
- Early birds. You will have to get up early to get this discount. As a rule, the offer is open from 4 to 9 am.
- Flat rate. On weekends and holidays, as well as in the evenings, many parking lots charge a fixed fee for parking regardless of the time.
- Parking space reservation. If you plan your trip in advance, then you should take advantage of the possibility of reserving a parking space. Most private car parks have this service and you are more likely to get a lower parking price.
Sings and markings
Finally, we would like to say about the parking rules and markings.
The signs restricting parking in New Zealand are quite understandable and familiar to most drivers who have experience in driving on the roads of Russia and the CIS countries. However, be attentive to the explanations of parking times and actions. For example, according to the explanations for the parking restriction signs and the explanations on the “Pay by plate” machines, on weekends and holidays, parking on many streets of the city centre is free and without any time restrictions.
What not to do:
- park on the right side of the road, with the exception of a one-way road;
- park and stop to disembark or load passengers on the yellow broken line;
- park and stop to disembark or load passengers at a marked bus stop, taxi stop and bicycle line;
- park closer than 6 meters from a pedestrian crossing or intersection.
More traffic theory can be found on the NZ Transport Agency website, and more interactively on the Drive website.
Please be careful and good luck on the road!
