Orikan was selected via an open tender process and will spend the next five months working alongside council, overhauling the inner-city parking services.
“Creating a vibrant, successful and busy city centre remains a priority for this Council and reassessing the parking services sets a solid foundation for future inner-city improvements,” says District Development Group Manager Jean-Paul Gaston.
“We want to ensure that we can remain flexible, data-driven and can respond to customer needs, bringing customer services in-house will allow us to do that and by bringing Orikan on, we have access to global technology, offering modern and convenient parking solutions for the community.”
“i-Park has been our outsourced parking partner for eight years and we acknowledge their help in modernising our parking services back in 2018. We will be working closely with both providers on a transition plan over the remaining months to minimise any impact on users.”
The upgrades to parking services followed a decision by Councillors in 2025 to not extend the current parking contract past its expiry, and for staff to investigate service delivery models with a tender process to confirm a provider.
In December 2025, Councillors selected Orikan as the successful tenderer and staff have been working to confirm contract details, which will be fully finalised once the current parking consultation has been completed.
Final details for council’s parking services including a revised inner-city parking layout, fees and ratio of coin-operated machines will be decided at the conclusion of the parking consultation.
“We’re proud to be working alongside the Rotorua Lakes Council to provide a seamless, easy-to-use parking solution for the community. Our locally developed parking meters are intuitive by design and were originally engineered to handle New Zealand’s demanding coastal conditions, ensuring durability, reliability and a better everyday experience for users,” says Mark Oliver, Chief Customer Officer & Managing Director – NZ.
In the coming weeks Orikan’s sample machines will be available to view at the Civic Centre and Rotorua Library for anyone wanting to check out the new technology.
Further changes will be confirmed and shared with the community over the next few months. You can keep an eye out for updates on council's parking webpage: Parking Changes 2026
All parking rules remain the same for now and council will give the community plenty of heads up before any changes happen.
About Orikan
Orikan is a world-class provider of an end-to-end suite of parking technology solutions that supports real communities. Orikan has over two decades experience delivering integrated parking services across New Zealand. You’ll find their parking technology in many communities including:
- New Plymouth
- Tauranga
- Auckland
- Christchurch
- Petone
- Whanganui
- Hamilton
The on-street meters are designed and assembled in New Zealand. This provides an advantage in terms of repairs and maintenance. They are used across most of our neighbouring councils.
Inner-city parking sorted for March and April
A two-month trial offering free parking in the inner-city carpark building begins on 1 March.
The carpark building is currently some of the most affordable all-day paid parking in the inner-city, however it is underutilised with many unused parking spaces available.
Council wants to change that and to remind people that it’s a central, cost-effective, all-weather parking option.
“The carpark building is currently some of the cheapest all-day paid parking in the central city,” says District Development Group Manager Jean-Paul Gaston.
“We know inner-city workers have been asking for more affordable long-term parking options and we’d like to see the parking building better used, with locals making the most of the free parking trial, and ongoing cheaper parking rates.
“The building has had a recent tidy up, we’ve installed additional CCTV cameras and to encourage people to get into the habit of using the building we’re offering two month’s free parking within the carpark. Businesses currently leasing spaces will also get free parking during the trial.”
