Hospital parking: Hamilton City Council floats park-and-ride fix

Tuesday, 2 June 2026

This city council land by Hamilton’s Frankton railway station could become the site of a park-and-ride carpark to service Waikato Hospital.

A park-and-ride system servicing Waikato Hospital could be trialled as soon as next year, a Hamilton City councillor says.

Angela O'Leary said it was something the council would consider amid work on the long-term plan, with land by Frankton railway station floated as a possible location.

However, it would have to be a partnership with the Government — and the health system has been reluctant to acknowledge the hospital has a parking problem.

Waikato Hospital has 1070 public parking spaces and 1482 spaces for staff and contractors

O’Leary had a flurry of public comment when she’s raised the issue, with many favouring the idea, as well as supporting public transport options.

Locals have also suggested the idea to the Waikato Times, which has run a series of stories on parking problems at the hospital, and their impact at times when every second counts.

The hospital currently has 1070 public parking spaces and 1482 spaces for staff and contractors, but people struggle to find a park, and a nursing union spokesperson said staff face a parking waitlist of more than two years.

The health system's website claims it is working rapidly to fix the situation, yet this has been rebuffed by a representative, who said there is already “significant capacity”.

There’s council land near Frankton’s railway station that could work well for a park and ride, Hamilton City Councillor Angela O'Leary syas.

Speaking to the Waikato Times, O’Leary pointed out potential locations for more parking, although she said the idea was “very much up in the air” and it was too early to talk about capacity.

“We've got quite a bit of land down at the Frankton railway station. So park and ride there would work really well. And then, of course, we've got a little bit of space out at Rotokauri at that train station.”

“There’s probably other opportunities around the city, and we’ll look at that through the long-term plan.”

The situation demonstrated what she flagged as a bigger issue, that Crown land did not pay full rates to the council. However, Government infrastructure such as the hospital could create frustrating knock-on effects for the council to deal with.

A park-and-ride system could ease congestion and reduce pressure on the busy roads and residential streets around Waikato Hospital, where staff, patients, and families frequently hunted for a park.

The council was well overdue to try something, and it would be fantastic to improve hospital accessibility.

Christchurch has a park and ride system. Pictured are queues in late 2023.

The model was in place for Christchurch Hospital and also worked well for events, but the buses connecting the park would need to be “fast and frequent”.

It would come with fairly significant costs, she said, and would need to be a collaboration between the council and the Government.

The impact of government reforms and the level of public support for a park-and-ride system were also factors for the council to consider, but a trial was possible “either next year or the year after”.

Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora head of land and property Monique Fouwler provided a statement with details of the park-and-ride system for Christchurch, but did not say whether the health system would consider backing one in Hamilton.

“The park and ride system in Christchurch is partly funded by HNZ and the rest is funded by parking revenue,” the statement said.

“Christchurch has approximately 600 carparks on site and a further 600 available as park and ride. Waikato, a smaller facility, has approximately 2500.”

The Ministry of Health did not respond to questions from the Waikato Times on the issue.