Tuesday 30 August 2022

Car parking plan from February 2023 - adjusted following consultation

Kia ora koutou

Thank you for your feedback on our car parking proposal. We received more than 280 pieces of feedback - a huge response which reflects the significant interest you have in parking. The themes of the feedback are shared at the bottom of this email.

We appreciate the time many of you spent to provide detailed comments and suggestions; particularly when you have so many demands on your time. We spent many hours as an Executive team discussing the feedback and our best way forward.

Car parking is something that concerns most of our staff and students. We know it’s difficult to accept changes to the free, staff-allocated parking that you’re used to. It’s a complex situation for all of us - as an ELT we would prefer to keep things as they are if it didn’t mean that we would soon run out of parking spaces.

A reminder of our original proposal:

Payment on all parking spaces
No allocated staff parking – all parks would be available to both staff and students
Pricing at a maximum of $4 per day at both Mt Albert and Waitākere campuses

This proposal has come about due to the sale of land in March 2018 which included the southern carpark, the biggest carpark on our Mt Albert campus. We’ve been fortunate to be able to keep this carpark open for the past few years, but we’ve been informed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD) that it’s likely to close at the end of October.

We’re now in a situation where there are not enough car parks for the number of people driving to our Mt Albert campus each day.

The situation at our Mt Albert campus

Once we lose the southern carpark later this year, the number of carparks will have decreased from 1,608 in 2019 to 1,213 in 2022. That’s a 25% decrease in spaces.
We’ve explored leasing back some of the space from MHUD for parking, and as a result of that negotiation, we’ve secured 500 parks for a period of three to five years. However, even with these parks we still won’t have enough to meet current demand during peak times.
This plan is not about revenue gathering, it’s solely about managing demand on our limited car parks. Paid parking will deter some people from driving in when they have other options.
We’re encouraging more people to find alternative ways of getting to work, so those who have no choice but to drive can still find a car park.
We're collaborating with Auckland Transport around public transport routes, concessions, and incentives. These ideas take time to work through but we understand the importance of accessible, reliable public transport and are advocating for improved services and additional routes. Note that there are already discounts on public transport for ākonga.
Our flexible working guidelines allow for a hybrid work schedule of on-campus and remote working. We encourage those teams who can work from home to plan your weekly schedules with your managers.

Our adjusted plan after considering your feedback

Following your comments and suggestions and a discussion with union representatives, we have adjusted our plan. The new plan, effective for both campuses from 1 February 2023 is:

Mt Albert:

The southern carpark will remain as free parking until it’s required to be handed over to its owners. Our strong relationship with MHUD meant we were able to lease the southern carpark until 31 October 2022, however after this time they may give us 10 working days' notice to hand the area back.
Payment will be required on all other parking spaces Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm. Note, anyone arriving before 8am will need to pay from 8am.
There will be no allocated staff parking. All parks will be available to both staff and students.
Pricing will be capped at a maximum of $3 per day or $1 per hour. This is a $1 reduction for daily parking for students for 2023. The new parking fees target the busiest times of the day and parking will be free in the evening and weekends.
We'll review our carparking charges for 2024 and consult with you if we need to make further changes to manage demand.
The car parking plan will apply to ALL staff. There will be no reserved parking for anyone.
More information will be shared soon on payment and enforcement.

Waitākere:

The only change for Waitākere is that the maximum daily rate will increase from $3 per day to $4 per day. This fee is already heavily subsidised by Unitec as we pay substantially more for each park to a third-party provider.

We know this is not what many of you wanted to hear. We also acknowledge the timing of this decision, at a time of so much change and disruption. Without a doubt, we would prefer to keep our car parking free, but we simply don’t have any other options for managing demand. Our decision is based on research, data, feedback, collaboration, and many hours of discussion.

We welcome further suggestions for helping people get to work safely, efficiently and in a timely manner. We’ll continue to work on ways to reduce the demand on our car parks, so that those people who have no other option than to travel to Unitec by car can continue to do so.

Ngā manaakitanga

Gus Gilmore and Keith Ikin

Key themes and comments from staff with management response.

1. Cost of living: Cost-of-living increases have impacted on Unitec staff lives (especially with the absence of salary adjustments) and the timing of charging for parking is not right/insensitive.

Management response: We acknowledge it’s a difficult time with high inflation. That’s why we have kept fees to an absolute minimum and have reduced fees for students from $4 to $3.

2. Wage reduction: Unitec staff view this proposal as a reduction in pay with some indicating that this is a change to terms and conditions and negotiations with the Unions is required. There are also feelings that any pay rise has now been neutralised due to these costs. Staff are asking whether salary packages will be correspondingly adjusted. Many staff reference inequities in pay and benefits with other institutions, and across the education sector.

Management response: We have recently increased salaries for staff on individual employment agreements and are bargaining with Unions to increase salaries. It’s a very difficult time balancing the fact that we are likely to make a $8m deficit. If we had more options available to us, we would certainly use them.

3. Mental health: Staff are feeling the stress of this change. This is compounded by the cost-of-living increases, Te Pūkenga changes (and recent negative media coverage), feelings of being undervalued, low staff morale, accusations of management being ‘tone deaf’ and out of touch.

Management response: It’s a difficult time and we’re doing our best to minimise the impact, and to support staff and students wherever we can.

4. Free parking advertised: Staff indicate that they accepted a position at Unitec because of the free parking (one of very few competitive benefits on offer). Some advertising of free parking has continued into at least July this year. Others look at free parking as a ‘perk’.

Management response: We couldn’t remove references to free parking until this proposal was developed and it was factually correct. Parking at Mt Albert remains free for staff until February 2023.

5. Inadequate public transport alternatives: Many staff indicate there are no public transport alternatives based on where they live/school drop-offs/childcare arrangements, etc. Some feel that cycling is unsafe, based on a lack of cycle routes. For those staff who cycle into work, they want an improvement in showering and locker facilities.

Management response: We’re beginning work to ensure there are adequate showering and changing facilities for staff and students who wish to bike to work. We’ll continue to advocate on behalf of Unitec with Auckland Transport.

6. Front line staff and inequity: Front line staff cannot work from home and therefore must be onsite. Feedback indicates that this is being translated into inequity for some.

Management response: We do require some staff to be onsite to support students and teach face-to-face.

7. Flexible working arrangements: Confirmation needed that management will continue to support flexible work arrangements and online delivery (to help lessen demand on carparks).

Management response: The flexible working policy remains in place. Please work with your manager to discuss how it can apply to you.

8. Safety issues: Concern that staff may need to park on side roads that are poorly lit, leading to potential personal safety issues for those returning to their cars after dark.

Management response: Staff are encouraged to take all the necessary safety measures if they feel unsafe walking to their cars. This applies as much on campus as it does off campus and includes calling Security to walk you to your car, walking with a companion, or in an emergency situation, calling the Police.

9. Revenue from carparking: Justification needed on where the revenue from carparking charges will go – a clear pathway to student success is the preference.

Management response: The revenue will go back to Unitec. Every dollar we earn (and more) is invested back into improving and upgrading our facilities and providing tools that support our ākonga to achieve better outcomes.