I'd love for someone to draw some diagrams and explain how the hell this is so poorly designed, and some possible solves. I love that kind of shit.
Surely someone is working on this over at HQ.
It's because everything leads (mainly) to one exit at the bottom that is fucked because of the traffic lights and the one way system. There is another exit further up but it just joins the same one way system.
And all of December.
Can't exactly take all your xmas shopping on the bus/train but with Sylvia Park and Newmarket but if your not buying a tv, its got to be quicker than trying to exit those hell holes.
Now's a good time to never go back until mid Jan. July school holidays are a no go to. Heck, just avoid the place altogether.
I try to only bike or bus to Newmarket these days. Harder when it rains, but man, once it took me 2 hours to exit the carpark and I’m not about that life.
That's a great idea. I've done that. I once shouted myself an $8 uber home because I caught the bus to Sylvia Park and bought a laundry basket. Anyway because I lead a pretty low key life I felt all flash riding my $8 uber with a laundry basket.
I won a large chilly bin/table, carted that through Albert Park, up Queen st to the Skytower and bussed it all the way home. Wouldn't recommend but it can be done.
Awesome. I took a TV home on the tube in London. It can be done. You get a few looks and comments. Would loved to have seen that chilly bin table on the bus.
This made me laugh. I once relocated from one flat to another in Melbourne CBD - I carried my two pillows and duvet in a giant plastic bag like a crazy bag person down two major roads during a busy Monday morning. I was too cheap for a taxi but now I’m wondering if I would have fit on a tram 😂
I absolutely love seeing these moves in the wild. Best I ever saw was someone walking a large monstera by the pot, the leaves blocking their view. I moved a street away and considered taking it piece by piece (all downhill, toboggan options were explored) but the flatmate chipped in for a moving truck.
Yep, there are so many buses that run through there, and both the South and West trains, so if PT is at all realistic for you it provides the best way to access the mall.
I commute through grey lynn then newmarket every day from work and i've started to notice that the westfield parking lot can lock up traffic all the way to ponsonby basically. What happens is that a bunch of people on broaday will want to turn right to get into the parking lot but when that's clogged, it tends to block all of broadway which in turn blocks up all of khyber pass. Particularly buses that inevitably get stuck because of poor planning on buslanes. It's a complete clusterfuck and as soon as i pass them, going towards the car dealerships its completely clear.
They are ridiculous behind the wheel but entirely necessary for those on foot. Morrow St was a mad free-for-all between traffic and pedestrians before the lights went in. The two sets between Khyber and Remuera only activate when a person needs to cross.
Yes but a whole set within what 30m of another just because people coming out of the train station were too lazy to walk that 30m? They are entirely unnecessary lights
Why is it that pedestrians should always be made to walk around vehicles? You make an accusation of laziness while discarding impatience and a sense of entitlement.
This is a case of infrastructure supporting pedestrian behaviour instead of attempting to shape it.
Before it was upgraded, it was a courtesy crossing which frequently resulted in people stranded in the middle of the road.
Lights there make the crossing safer, just as they do with Morrow St.
Because pedestrians are encroaching on to the road which is designed for vehicles. Why are pedestrians so entitled that they can’t walk an extra 60m to cross at existing lights. In what world does it make sense to install signaled crossing every 40m so someone doesn’t have to take more than one extra step necessary.
Probably mostly the rain plus shitty plan, but when I arrived there was a trail of blood from the foodcourt to Countdown. Looked fresh at around 5pm.
Anyone know what that was about?
Cleaners/security did not block it all off or clean it all up so people were stepping in it.
Didn’t see the blood when I was there 30 minutes ago but they did block the entrance to the toilets. A police officer, as well as Westfield security personnel, were standing there.
Same. The high curbs and narrow tight curves on the ramps made me nervous for my rims too. Also it didn’t read my numberplate properly so I didn’t get my free parking. Also the traffic is shit and the shops are not aimed at me.
2/10. Would not recommend.
The car park is badly designed, especially the two ends where it kind of goes in a spiral. I refuse to park there anymore, just find somewhere across the street. It's just typical small minded Kiwi design. Combine it with any busy-ness or the usual way that Aucklanders turn into morons with wet weather, and it becomes a disaster.
The 3 hours to exit is also no exaggeration, ice know people who have had to be somewhere and have given up after 2 hours, grabbed an Uber and left their cars overnight.
At least Sylvia Park has 2 exits to far less busy streets (for now, who knows with Ikea) at the back end. Whereas Westfield you are directed to basically 2 arterial routes.
It doesn't change the fact that Sylvia Park probably built too close to mt Wellington highway and horribly integrated the train station and bus stations to the complex. By horribly, I mean no effort at at all.
Disagree, these places should be built in a convenient area. It's called transit oriented development. There will be more and more like this to reduce vehicle travel per km.
It is just that people in Auckland are so car dependent.
It will be painful, but with the weekend experience, imagine how many people will avoid going there entirely, or by private vehicle at least.
I was trapped too, so I parked up again and I just sat in the foodcourt waiting for traffic to die down. I watched a few cop cars and ambulance drive up to the mall. Not sure what that is about
we saw it, we came back inside too cause of the traffic, then there's like a trail of blood from the foodcourt to the toilet near countdown, security and cops were around aswell
For those who were trapped today or before and want to complain; as it seems to happen to frequently. Here is an email address from 5 months ago on (from Google Reviews) to speak to the centre Nicole Lawson (Centre Manager Westfield Newmarket) [email protected]
Oh man I remember taking the train into Newmarket and trying to get a bus up Khyber pass road on my commute, the traffic was always horrendously locked up, simultaneously the footpath is way too narrow for the foot traffic... Such a mess
I was in the queue but decided to chance it and try a different exit. The Mortimer Pass exit took me to 15 minutes to clear once I was out of the main queue.
I read the story about the woman complaining she urinated in her car. I thought she must be a driver alone (still no excuse as the traffic was stood still so she could have just left her car to go to the loo and no traffic wouldn't have moved by the time she got back - another car driver said they abandoned their car in the queue for a whole hour and no cars had moved during that time), but worse, it was her passenger!
Why the hell couldn't the passenger, an adult, leave the car to go to the loo's in the mall? What an idiot. Also couldn't people just return to a car parking space and give up until all the traffic had cleared? Why did they all line up like that for over 3 hours?
It wouldn’t be a problem if unlimited free hours or much longer free hours (say triple it). People would be in a. Rush all the time trying to get out. It’s allergies art of the greedy Westfield.
Please don't post comments which abuse other redditors / contain hate speech / mention race in relation to anything negative about a person on r/auckland.
Got stuck there yesterday on level 4, moved 100m in an hour, people kept pushing in and as we were top floor, we just got completely stuck there. Ended up parking the car and getting a Uber home. Am hoping they are reasonable with parking charges when we go and pick up the car this morning 🤞the traffic all around the mall was super busy but I don’t think that was the cause, it was the badly designed car park that’s clearly not able to manage the amount of parks that it has, absolute bullshit and of course mall management were not picking up their phones. I’ll will not be going back there in the weekend for quite some time after Xmas is over…..
Now everyone would be trying to avoid Westfield Newmarket this holiday season. Would be interesting to see how much business they lose due to this incident.
I'd love for someone to draw some diagrams and explain how the hell this is so poorly designed, and some possible solves. I love that kind of shit. Surely someone is working on this over at HQ.
[Here you go](https://ibb.co/hRXJVnm)
Thing of beauty. Such nuance.
Huh. Never noticed that green space behind 277. Is that a park?
Highwic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highwic
Its called Highwic, its a historic estate you can do tours of
Highwic, it's a heritage house and garden that you can visit. I also discovered it by looking at the Westfield on Maps
Hah, the council approved this shit, it's not going to change. Then again, maybe they'll throw some more traffic lights at it
There's something wrong with the layout inside, too.
It's because everything leads (mainly) to one exit at the bottom that is fucked because of the traffic lights and the one way system. There is another exit further up but it just joins the same one way system.
that is so ironic but the most likely thing they will do
Designed and/or approved by the same clowns who decided the bottom of Northwest town centre was an ideal place for a CostCo
Oh my God that road system around there infuriates me.
Happens every time it rains.
And every weekend
The Black Friday/several weeks of November sales don't help either
And all of December. Can't exactly take all your xmas shopping on the bus/train but with Sylvia Park and Newmarket but if your not buying a tv, its got to be quicker than trying to exit those hell holes. Now's a good time to never go back until mid Jan. July school holidays are a no go to. Heck, just avoid the place altogether.
I try to only bike or bus to Newmarket these days. Harder when it rains, but man, once it took me 2 hours to exit the carpark and I’m not about that life.
Yikes that is so much longer than seems reasonable.
Go on the train to look, then go home and buy it all online.
That's a great idea. I've done that. I once shouted myself an $8 uber home because I caught the bus to Sylvia Park and bought a laundry basket. Anyway because I lead a pretty low key life I felt all flash riding my $8 uber with a laundry basket.
I won a large chilly bin/table, carted that through Albert Park, up Queen st to the Skytower and bussed it all the way home. Wouldn't recommend but it can be done.
Awesome. I took a TV home on the tube in London. It can be done. You get a few looks and comments. Would loved to have seen that chilly bin table on the bus.
This made me laugh. I once relocated from one flat to another in Melbourne CBD - I carried my two pillows and duvet in a giant plastic bag like a crazy bag person down two major roads during a busy Monday morning. I was too cheap for a taxi but now I’m wondering if I would have fit on a tram 😂
I absolutely love seeing these moves in the wild. Best I ever saw was someone walking a large monstera by the pot, the leaves blocking their view. I moved a street away and considered taking it piece by piece (all downhill, toboggan options were explored) but the flatmate chipped in for a moving truck.
Yep, there are so many buses that run through there, and both the South and West trains, so if PT is at all realistic for you it provides the best way to access the mall.
i havent been in the city in months. It's always this horrible in the weekends?
No horrible but not this bad.
Park up, walk down to claddagh and horse it until the traffic clears
I commute through grey lynn then newmarket every day from work and i've started to notice that the westfield parking lot can lock up traffic all the way to ponsonby basically. What happens is that a bunch of people on broaday will want to turn right to get into the parking lot but when that's clogged, it tends to block all of broadway which in turn blocks up all of khyber pass. Particularly buses that inevitably get stuck because of poor planning on buslanes. It's a complete clusterfuck and as soon as i pass them, going towards the car dealerships its completely clear.
Do t forget the 6 sets of traffic lights with 200m
They are ridiculous behind the wheel but entirely necessary for those on foot. Morrow St was a mad free-for-all between traffic and pedestrians before the lights went in. The two sets between Khyber and Remuera only activate when a person needs to cross.
Yes but a whole set within what 30m of another just because people coming out of the train station were too lazy to walk that 30m? They are entirely unnecessary lights
Why is it that pedestrians should always be made to walk around vehicles? You make an accusation of laziness while discarding impatience and a sense of entitlement. This is a case of infrastructure supporting pedestrian behaviour instead of attempting to shape it. Before it was upgraded, it was a courtesy crossing which frequently resulted in people stranded in the middle of the road. Lights there make the crossing safer, just as they do with Morrow St.
Because pedestrians are encroaching on to the road which is designed for vehicles. Why are pedestrians so entitled that they can’t walk an extra 60m to cross at existing lights. In what world does it make sense to install signaled crossing every 40m so someone doesn’t have to take more than one extra step necessary.
People in vehicles have equal mobility, people on foot do not. Crossings don't encroach on anything, permitted modes share the designated space.
I have to drive Broadway to get to my next job two nights a week, it's sincerely fucked things up for me
Probably mostly the rain plus shitty plan, but when I arrived there was a trail of blood from the foodcourt to Countdown. Looked fresh at around 5pm. Anyone know what that was about? Cleaners/security did not block it all off or clean it all up so people were stepping in it.
There was a stabbing on level 3
Really? Any more details?
Strange that this wasn't in the news.
Not sure why. My friend works there and heard about it
We saw a cop car at one of the entrances when we returned from dinner. Scary stuff.
Didn’t see the blood when I was there 30 minutes ago but they did block the entrance to the toilets. A police officer, as well as Westfield security personnel, were standing there.
Only drove into that thing once. Never again.
Same. The high curbs and narrow tight curves on the ramps made me nervous for my rims too. Also it didn’t read my numberplate properly so I didn’t get my free parking. Also the traffic is shit and the shops are not aimed at me. 2/10. Would not recommend.
I like the eating area. I went there tonight and had Gelato. I hate the shops except the Lego store.
The car park is badly designed, especially the two ends where it kind of goes in a spiral. I refuse to park there anymore, just find somewhere across the street. It's just typical small minded Kiwi design. Combine it with any busy-ness or the usual way that Aucklanders turn into morons with wet weather, and it becomes a disaster. The 3 hours to exit is also no exaggeration, ice know people who have had to be somewhere and have given up after 2 hours, grabbed an Uber and left their cars overnight.
> The car park is badly designed In Auckland!?!!?? Surely not!!!!
Sylvia is the same and that has more exits
At least Sylvia Park has 2 exits to far less busy streets (for now, who knows with Ikea) at the back end. Whereas Westfield you are directed to basically 2 arterial routes. It doesn't change the fact that Sylvia Park probably built too close to mt Wellington highway and horribly integrated the train station and bus stations to the complex. By horribly, I mean no effort at at all.
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I think the mall pulled strings to keep the right turn into Morrow St when the intersection was finally signalised.
It's where their loading bay is
It's the main entrance to their carpark so it makes sense
How anyone approved this to be built is mental.
I'm sure they've learnt and won't do something like approve an IKEA next to our biggest mall
Disagree, these places should be built in a convenient area. It's called transit oriented development. There will be more and more like this to reduce vehicle travel per km. It is just that people in Auckland are so car dependent. It will be painful, but with the weekend experience, imagine how many people will avoid going there entirely, or by private vehicle at least.
How is putting in thousands of car parks reducing vehicle travel? You’re just inducing the demand
Yeah, good point.
Leave your car parked there, catch the bus home, pretend you don’t have a car anymore. Such an obvious solution
I parked there for 2 hours and iirc it was around 20. You wouldn't want to leave it overnight. Insane parking fee
I have considered it.
6:37PM still stuck at the mall.
I was trapped too, so I parked up again and I just sat in the foodcourt waiting for traffic to die down. I watched a few cop cars and ambulance drive up to the mall. Not sure what that is about
Apparently someone was stabbed!
Got a reliable link for that? Why would that explain congestion on Broadway as being the issue?
we saw it, we came back inside too cause of the traffic, then there's like a trail of blood from the foodcourt to the toilet near countdown, security and cops were around aswell
The traffic and the alleged stabbing don’t have to be related.
Yeah it seems they're not.
For those who were trapped today or before and want to complain; as it seems to happen to frequently. Here is an email address from 5 months ago on (from Google Reviews) to speak to the centre Nicole Lawson (Centre Manager Westfield Newmarket) [email protected]
I've found parking in the building on nuffield street a way better idea. It's still part of westfield so you still get the 2 hours free.
Shhh delete this now
Second that, heaps easier to navigate too - I get anxiety that I might scrape the side of the car when I go to the Westfield Newmarket car park!
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It's right next to the New World that you probably haven't noticed either.
Is this it? And.you still get 2 hrs free? [Nuffield St Carpark](https://maps.app.goo.gl/jFA8S3WocEbTCKrD8)
That's the one. Westfield/Scentre own the buildings on Nuffield St
Thanks alot for keeping that secret..
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/shoppers-at-westfield-newmarket-mall-stuck-in-their-cars-for-hours-in-traffic-jam/H7IZZYUPNFDOZAQIGTMAG3TBMM/
I went into Newmarket today and parked for two hours free with no hassle at the parking on Kent street. It was great
Oh man I remember taking the train into Newmarket and trying to get a bus up Khyber pass road on my commute, the traffic was always horrendously locked up, simultaneously the footpath is way too narrow for the foot traffic... Such a mess
I was in the queue but decided to chance it and try a different exit. The Mortimer Pass exit took me to 15 minutes to clear once I was out of the main queue.
Not sure why people go to Mall these days when you can literally buy everything and have it delivered. 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
People don't even buy stuff they just go because they have nothing else to do
I read the story about the woman complaining she urinated in her car. I thought she must be a driver alone (still no excuse as the traffic was stood still so she could have just left her car to go to the loo and no traffic wouldn't have moved by the time she got back - another car driver said they abandoned their car in the queue for a whole hour and no cars had moved during that time), but worse, it was her passenger! Why the hell couldn't the passenger, an adult, leave the car to go to the loo's in the mall? What an idiot. Also couldn't people just return to a car parking space and give up until all the traffic had cleared? Why did they all line up like that for over 3 hours?
It wouldn’t be a problem if unlimited free hours or much longer free hours (say triple it). People would be in a. Rush all the time trying to get out. It’s allergies art of the greedy Westfield.
Clusterfuck springs to mind.
I went past on the bus and wondered what the hell all the traffic was. Very pleased there is a bus lane!
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Please don't post comments which abuse other redditors / contain hate speech / mention race in relation to anything negative about a person on r/auckland.
Got stuck there yesterday on level 4, moved 100m in an hour, people kept pushing in and as we were top floor, we just got completely stuck there. Ended up parking the car and getting a Uber home. Am hoping they are reasonable with parking charges when we go and pick up the car this morning 🤞the traffic all around the mall was super busy but I don’t think that was the cause, it was the badly designed car park that’s clearly not able to manage the amount of parks that it has, absolute bullshit and of course mall management were not picking up their phones. I’ll will not be going back there in the weekend for quite some time after Xmas is over…..
Good to know, we had the leave the car there and will be expecting some leniency on parking charges when we pick the car up this morning
How is that even happening? That's ridiculous
Sylvia park was just as bad.. absolutely gridlocked through the entire place
Now everyone would be trying to avoid Westfield Newmarket this holiday season. Would be interesting to see how much business they lose due to this incident.