Has Auckland Transport’s Queen Street narrowing and revenue trap killed our beloved department store, after 144 years of trade?
If Harrods was threatened, the UK Government would be saving it.
The central Auckland transport plan is about to come out for consultation and it is up to you to protect our beloved city from this madness.
Firstly, we have to understand how shopping villages work and survive. They are set up at intervals of about a 20-minute walk or a seven-minute drive along arterial roads. From Queen Street to Karangahape Road to Ponsonby Road up Williamson Avenue to Grey Lynn Village to West Lynn Village to Westmere Village to Jervois Road has been designed in that pattern. We basically have a ‘15 minute city’ without the controls.
As commuters pass through these villages, they stop to pick up a meal, a bottle of wine, meat from the butcher, flowers, groceries, a prescription or a gift. They are also destination shopping and dining.
The traffic plan for Central Auckland has been based on ‘destination only access’.
Arterial roads have been narrowed to single lanes. Bus lanes and cycle lanes have pushed out those commuting from Mission Bay and Parnell through Victoria Street or Quay Street over the Lower Hobson Street flyover to the motorway to the North Shore at Victoria Park, or up College Hill, Jervois Road, Westend Road, Garnet Road (AT has narrowed the roundabout to a single lane) to Meola Road, Pt Chevalier Road and onto the Western Motorway or through the Waterview Tunnel.
These loops would have worked perfectly if the ludicrous ‘City Centre Masterplan’ hadn’t destroyed the traffic flow and made us cause more emissions as we drive in circles to get to or from the city.
Arriving off the motorway tunnel into Wellesley Street, a bus lane blocks straight ahead and right into Queen. Instead, I turn right into Kitchener, left into Victoria, left into Queen then u-turn to the disabled park located outside Smith & Caugheys. Going home, only buses can turn right into Mayoral Drive, so I must take the loop up to Symonds Street. None of this helps council’s emission targets.
Our most successful villages have an ‘attractor’ that brings people from wider areas. This brings customers to the other shops. Both Grey Lynn and Westmere Villages have their butcher shops. West Lynn had Harvest, until the cycleway took away their parking; they changed hands but that didn’t keep the doors open or the receivers away, sadly.
I worked in the Westfield architectural design office in Sydney. A similar principle is used in the design of shopping malls. Malls start with a huge car park to make them a destination. Then the big stores and supermarkets draw customers past smaller shops to the ‘attractor’ so they shop on the way.
The inconsistencies of bus lane times and the short duration control of the lights have added to the problem, deterring people from the city. Mayor Wayne Brown stated that the ‘pinch points’ on the motorways occur between 7am-9am towards the city and 4.30pm-6.30pm from the city weekdays ONLY, and that should be consistent throughout the city.
Another idea termed lovingly, “hey diddle diddle let’s travel down the middle,” is to have no bus lanes on two-lane arterial roads with buses using the medium strip during peak times as a ‘dynamic lane’ and traffic not turning right except at the lights.
The Mayor has asked AT to reduce its budget on cycleways, speed humps and so called ‘safety improvements’ so AT has sought revenge elsewhere that has caused Auckland to become a crime-filled ghost town.
Auckland Transport’s revenue traps include:
· The 160 metre Khyber Pass revenue trap generated $4.3 million in fines during 2021 and added to the demise of Newmarket that now has 75% of shops empty.
· The K'Rd revenue trap paid AT $10K per week, closed stores including the Army Surplus after 30 years.
· Banning private vehicles from a small section of Queen Street that collected more than $5 million in fines over 16 months. Gone is the foodcourt beneath the movie theatres and Smith & Caughey’s is the latest tragedy.
Auckland Transport has sucked the marrow out of our city by these restrictions.
Some of this revenue needs to be distributed to the retailers who have suffered financially from the lack of customers. AT should be bailing them out instead of making matters worse by removing parking, charging for overnight parking, and demolishing the safest, cheapest carpark (the Downtown Carpark) along with the connecting Lower Hobson Street flyover (decision to be made by the Governing Body).
The CRL will be a complete failure if there’s nothing for people to go to. Shop at Smith & Caugheys to help save it. (Gael Baldock)
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#ponsonbynews #iloveponsonby #loveponsonby #ponsonby #auckland #aucklandshippestrip #onlyponsonby #ponsonbyroad #Greylynn #freemansbay #westmere #ponsonby #hernebay #stmarysbay #archhill #coxsbay @followers #followers @everyone #everyone #waitematalocalboard @highlight