AT unveils congestion-busting ‘Room to Move’ strategy AT unveils congestion-busting ‘Room to Move’ strategy

Date: 15 June 2023

Auckland Transport has released Room to Move – the latest version of Auckland’s Parking Strategy, which has been approved by the Auckland Transport Board.

AT Chief Executive Dean Kimpton says Room to Move transforms how the limited space on Auckland’s roads is managed and prioritises making it easier to travel across our city.

“Room to Move will enable AT to make quicker, cheaper, less disruptive changes on our major roads to address congestion as we move about our city, make bus services quicker and more reliable, and reduce Auckland’s transport emissions,” Mr Kimpton says.

“One of the biggest changes Aucklanders will see from Room to Move is more bus and transit lanes along our most important roads.

“We’ve all seen this year just how important it is for Auckland to have a resilient transport network where our more than 14,000 bus trips a day can run as reliably as possible and don’t get deadlocked in traffic even in moderate rain.”

Aucklanders’ feedback invaluable in developing Room to Move

Feedback from Aucklanders on the first draft of the parking strategy played a significant role in shaping Room to Move, says AT Head of Integrated Network Planning, Andrew McGill.

“We’ve deeply listened to Aucklanders while developing Room to Move and updated the strategy to reflect how they want their local roads and parking managed,” Mr McGill says.

“Aucklanders strongly support the principle of repurposing parking spaces on our busiest roads for bus and transit lanes, which will really help to keep people moving across the city.

“People also strongly value the Park and Ride sites across Auckland and want these to be kept free of charge. We’ve updated the strategy to reflect that while allowing for trials of pre-booked spaces and charging people who park and don’t ride.”

Room to Move also includes changes to the parking zones which prioritise the areas AT will focus on first when developing plans for managing local parking in Auckland’s town centres.

“With Room to Move now approved our focus is on making meaningful changes to the way we manage parking on our most significant roads and in busy town centres,” Mr McGill says.

“We’re already starting to work on our first ‘Comprehensive Parking Management Plan’ which will cover Auckland’s City Centre and we’re looking forward to talking more to the local community and businesses about this work over coming months.”