Mangatepopo Road

Maybe a booking system for parking spaces along the road?

So now those 100 vehicles park out on the main highway where there is no carpark. Seems to be long sighted thinking by our protector of the National park. Isnt this a legal road? If so they are very limited in what they can do in the way of closures.

doc will never ban commercial vehicles, they make too much money from the companies that operate them...

If this is a legal road only the local council has authority to close it or set restrictions. Doc has no authority to close roads. A check on the Wams map though shows that both this road and SH48 to Whakapapa Village are in fact not roads. Hopefully this is a mistake and I have sent them a query on this. If this does prove them to be legal roads then I would be ignoring that ban and challenging any parking ticket that results in court.

The National Parks Act (section 55) states that DoC doesn't have jurisdiction over public roads within the boundaries of the park, but another part of the government most likely does, and perhaps DoC has negotiated something if that were the case. I was going to mention the WAMS, too, except you already did. It's not always guaranteed to be accurate, but supposedly it has the most reliable digital information straight from places like LINZ. That said, the Tongariro National Park Management Plan (page 159) states that Ketetahi, Mangatepopo, and Tukino Mountain roads, the road to the Whakapapa Village oxidation ponds, and short feeder roads to parking, picnic, and camping areas, are all "park roads" on park land. (Are the oxidation ponds the ones at the top of The Bruce?) This document doesn't have the ability to declare the roads to be park roads, but it wouldn't be there if it weren't echoing it from somewhere else. The Management Plan is interesting with how it deals with this sort of thing, keeping in mind that DoC is legally meant to manage the park within the constraints of the plan. eg. ====== 4.3.2.13 Managing Visitor Numbers On The Tongariro Crossing (page 156): "On peak days, including Easter and in the summer holidays, over 1000 people walk the track. About two-thirds are overseas visitors, the majority of whom use commercial transport operators to get to and from the track, departing from Taup?, T?rangi, Whakapapa Village or National Park." [----snip----] 4.4.2.5 Transport (page 176): "In the late 1990s, growing visitor numbers on the Tongariro Crossing increased the demand for public transport. By 2005 there were 22 transport concessionaires operating within the park. " [----snip----] "Objective A -- To ensure that public transport systems within Tongariro National Park provide for visitor needs, reduce demand for new infrastructure, and avoid or minimise adverse effects on the environment. "Objective B -- To recognise public transport systems as the priority tool to meet the public transport demands within the park, over private vehicle use and infrastructure upgrades. "Objective C -- To co-ordinate public transport systems to provide for visitor needs." ====== Without a volcanic eruption, objective B was probably intended to ensure people were encouraged to use alternatives besides private transport to get around within park boundaries, but now that DoC has to choose to avoid over-congestion, it could probably be used to try and justify giving concessionaries (who carry lots of people and don't stick around clogging the place up) priority over private vehicles (which carry few people and are likely to be left parked there all day, especially now). It'd be nice if DoC would just *pay* for someone to drive a bus/van up and down the road (and no further) to transport people parked out on the highway while this is going on, maybe for a small token cost to partly cover the basic expense. The Management Plan also states there shouldn't be a net increase in concession numbers, but it shouldn't count as a concession if it were DoC operating it non-commercially.

A quick reply from Wams Will keep you all posted Hi Alan Thank you for your enquiry about the legal status of Mangatepopo Road and SH 48 within Tongariro National Park. You are correct that the Walking Access Mapping System shows both of them as part of national park land, rather than as legal road. I will make some enquiries and let you know what the confirmed status of both roads is. This could take several days. Kind regards John Gibbs Regional Field Advisor Bay of Plenty Waikato New Zealand Walking Access Commission – Te Ara Hikoi Aotearoa Phone 021-380 726

The Mangatepopo road is a "park" road, not a legal road, and is subject to the TNP management plan, not the Transport Act. Izogi has quoted the relevant sections of the management plan, i.e. Vehicle Access 4.3.3.2, Transport Infrastructure 4.3.3.3, and Transport 4.4.2.5.

easier to ban private cars since the buses don't remain in the carpark and a lot of cars do.. and cars transport fewer people for their size and stand to clog the place up a lot more.. not to mention the companies running the buses pay concession fees to doc

Finally a reply. Unfortunately it doesnt help. As stated above it confirms the Mangatepopo road as a park road rather than a legal road so Doc can close if they wish. Hi Alan I’ve finally managed to contact DOC – the problem was an incorrect email address so the area manager hadn’t received my messages. DOC assures me that SH48 from the intersection with SH47 is indeed public road under the control of NZTA up as far as the barrier arms on the Bruce Road. I have asked our mapping people to look into why it isn’t shown as public road on the cadastre, which is where the land ownership information in the Walking Access Mapping System comes from. So, in summary, Mangatepopo Rd is part of the Tongariro National Park, rather than public road and is thus controlled by DOC. SH48 is public road up to Whakapapa Village and is controlled by NZTA. Beyond this point, it too is part of the national park and comes under DOC control. I trust this provides the information you were seeking. Kind regards John Gibbs Regional Field Advisor Bay of Plenty Waikato New Zealand Walking Access Commission – Te Ara Hikoi Aotearoa Phone 021-380 726 Promoting access in the outdoors www.walkingaccess.govt.nz