VICTORIA STREET

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 91, 14 October 1931, Page 10

VICTORIA STREET

PARKING NUISANCE

"FREE GARAGING" STOPPED THE ACTUAL .BYLAW Parking has long been an acute problem in Wellington, and is likely to become more so as the population grows, The pedestrian has his own views of the dangers of some side streets, where the limited space and poor vision caused by dense- parking render accidents to the incautious walker probable, but tho chief antagonists in the parking war to-day are two classes of motorists —those who use their cars or lorries in j business, and whose premises are so cluttered up by long-standing vehicles, not used actually for business purposes, that they cannot get iugrcas or egress from their premises for their own goods, and tho3o who own the vehicles that cause tho non-utilitarian obstruction. Victoria street is a case in. point, but tho action taken by the" City Council there seems to have been somewhat misapprehended. Following the protest of Mr. E. A. Batt, chairman of tho Wellington Automobile Club, which was published on Saturday, "Victoria Street Business" writes as follows: "Here we have one of the few straight and wide streets of Wellington, and yet to all intents and purposes the traffic department refuses to allow tho motorist to use the street. Why should the department insist that a car cannot stand for even a few minutes while tho owner runs into ono of the many warehouses to transact some small item of business? Surely tho warehouso proprietors should petition the council and demand reasonable treatment. In Auckland, where the volume of traffic is much greater, tho traffic department makes every endeavour to be reasonable to all concerned, and to allow parking for a reasonable time to transact business." The writer quotes High street and Vulcan lane, busy thoroughfares in the very centre of the northern city, where parking is allowed for twenty minutes on both sides. "FREE GARAGING." Inquiries made of the city officials show that a sheaf of protests has been received from warehousemen and others in Victoria street and other streets in the city, regarding the double-banking oi' vehicles. Victoria street is a commercial area of tho city, flanked largely by warehouses. Lorries and vans take goods in and take goods out, and the complaints received wero that it was not possible for delivery trucks to get near tho sidewalk for parked cars, and that lorries havo had to stand out in the middle of the street for considerable periods. Sometimes Victoria street was so crowded by parked vehicles that there was only a small lano in its centre, so narrow as to allow of only one-way traffic. To assist those occupying premises there it was decidedto bring Victoria street under the portion of the bylaws that deals with Willis street, Manners street, Cuba street, and the narrow portion of Lamb toil quay. These streets, it was pointed out, are full all day with vehicles, but they are changing every few minutes, and this is the position that is aimed at in Victoria street. The bylaw reads: "No person being the driver or bciug in charge of any motor vehicle shall permit the same to remain stationary in any part of the street or streets mentioned . . . for a longer period than shall be necessary for the loading or unloading of goods, or the taking up or setting down of passengers." It is pointed out that it is not the desire of the traffic department to curtail what is described as the legitimate use of tho street, but it is desired to stop tho man who uses it as a free garage for his car, and to give the space now taken up as a free garage to the business people, so that the latter may use motor vehicles for the delivery of goods. RESULT OF COMPLAINTS. The bylaw has been applied to Victoria street because of the complaints received from the business people in it, and because it is considered that during the business hours thoso transaetinf business havo the right to first- consideration, whether they are travelling salesmen with samples or drivers of delivery wagons. Tho free garaging of private cars for hours iv tho centre of the city must be stopped. It is stated that in some of the streets the same ears regularly occupy the same spot daily for months on cud. It is pointed out that in central Christchurch parking areas, parking is permitted only for ten minutes, and the motorist has to go some distance from tho centre to bo allowed to park lor twenty minutes, whereas the bylaw applicable iv Wellington to such parking streets allows thirty minutes, and this is uot rigidly enforced as to the time limit. This docs not now apply to Victoria street, but it is incorrect to say that motorists aro prohibited from stopping there. No motorist who iollows tho simple wording of .tho bylaw recently applied to Victoria street, and is reasonably expeditious in transacting his business and getting away again, will bo proceeded against, bnt the seekers for free garage space in Victoria street will find a check kept on their parking.