Naked revenue gathering

I’m stunned by this article which reveals Auckland City Council has parking wardens working from 11 pm to 7 am issuing tickets as fast as they can. This is naked revenue gathering which ignores the reason we have parking regulations.

The reason for parking regulations is to generally free up space so people can regularly use it. With no regulations the first people into town would keep their parks all day. They also ensure for example residents can park in their local neighbourhood.

Most people would agree that parking on a bus stop is a bad thing as buses need to be able to pull up on them. But if the bus service runs Monday to Saturday only, then parking on one on a Sunday doesn’t cause any problems for anyone. So ticketing someone for praking on a bus stop on a day in which there are no buses is simply petty revenue gathering.

Now the Auckland City wardens are also targetting surburban parking. Again a very good idea to be patrolling at 5 pm when people return home from work. But if your girlfriend drives over to your place at midnight and manages to find a spare park, normally leaving at 7 am, how is ticketing her for not being a resident at 3.00 am helping anyone. I doubt there are any residents driving home at that time who need the park.

My suggestion to aspiring Auckland City politicians is to campaign on a platform of abolishing routine parking patrols after midnight. You should win in a landslide!