Pay Parking at stations - unjustifiable rip off

[Mark Gleeson]

Irish Rail have refused to back down on the planned charges at the proposed Pace and Dunboyne stations. Its not even up for discussion. Irish Rail refuse to accept that for the charge a physical security presence is then warranted

The good folks in Newbridge where told that they could either have an extended car park with a charge or nothing.

We are aware that these new car parks infact may not be costing Irish Rail any money since they is a huge massively undersubscribed fund held by the DoT to fund Park and Ride schemes

Like it says on our website, its not sustainable anyway to keep providing bigger car parks since its not addressing the actual issue, local area transport

[ThomasJ]

From The Irish Times

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/mot...713281438.html

Extra charges for commuters
Patrick Logue

Thousands of motorists who leave their cars at train stations before commuting to work face extra charges next year, as Iarnród Éireann plans to significantly expand the number of pay-parking facilities across the Republic.

Motorists, who already face increases in motor tax in today's Budget and rising fuel costs, could see the cost of travelling to work rise by hundreds of euro per annum.

The rail company has already introduced four pay-parking sites but said it expects to open "dozens" more. The next pay-parking site is expected to be opened in Sallins, Co Kildare, in the coming months, while planning permission has been granted for a new pay-parking facility at Newbridge station.

Other locations where pay parking is planned include Rush and Lusk station, in north Co Dublin; Drogheda, Co Louth; Coolmine, Dublin 15; and Portmarnock, Co Dublin. Multistorey options are being considered in Drogheda, Coolmine and Portmarnock, Iarnród Éireann spokesman Barry Kenny told The Irish Times.

Gormanston station in Co Meath, on the Northern Commuter line, had its free-of-charge car park replaced with pay-parking in September.

Up to 60 cars were using the station on a daily basis before the new car park was developed. Half of them were parking in the existing small car park, and the remainder were leaving their vehicles on a public road.

"In Gormanston we now have 90 cars per day using it and it is a 250-space car park. It is an area where there is likely to be further development," said Kenny.

"Some people are still using the road, but the local authority will be marking it as a no parking area soon," he added.

Pay parking has also been introduced in Leixlip/Louisa Bridge station in Co Kildare, which is 80 to 90 per cent full on a daily basis, according to Kenny. Tullamore, Co Offaly and Arklow, Co Wicklow also have pay parking.

Iarnród Éireann is charging €2 per day for the parking facilities or a weekly pass for €5, representing at least an extra €260 per annum for motorists who commute by train. This is on top of hundreds of euro already spent on annual rail tickets.

The company says the money is being used to cover the cost of upgrading parking facilities including CCTV and improved areas for bicycles.

Labour spokesman on commuter affairs Senator Dominic Hannigan said the fact that the new parking charges were not regulated by the Department of Transport was a concern.

"Train fares are regulated and car parking charges which are part of the overall cost of travelling should also be regulated."

Recent census figures showed that 57 per cent drove a car to work in 2006, up from 55 per cent in 2002.

© 2007 The Irish Times

[ThomasJ]

Quick question re. coolmine station.

Heard a rumour that the Carpark will close for eighteen months when they are making the carpark into a double storey and they may be even closing the station down for some time. any truth to any of that?

[Colm Donoghue]

the existing pay parking council owned car parks in Arklow allow only 4 hours max. so IE will let non train users pay for the week for a fiver. sweet!

I wonder how the system will work for kiss and ride passengers, will passengers now need to be dropped on an unsafe road immediately outside a station car park?

Also you'ld have to wonder about the malice in no season tickets being issued to allow customers avail of tax relief.

Or instead of providing increased capacity they would try limit the numbers of customers...

[CSL]

You are assuming motives where none exist.

Whoever is building these things simply does not think in these terms that we can relate to.

[Mark]

This is a very interesting topic. You would think that someone travelling to the train station from within walking/cycling distance would see the incentive of actually leaving their car at home.

Questions arise though when access to the stations from within its catchment area are poor. No cyclepaths, poor footpaths, poor lighting. Poor ped and cycle crossings and unsecure bike parks etc. Also bus linkups could come into the equation, Portmarnock for example.

In an ideal world these improvements would be carried out either before the pay parking comes into effect or as part of the car park upgrading works.

Sadly we live in Iarnrod Eireannland.

[Mark Gleeson]

The position on charging for car parking is quite simple

If you pay you expect something in return, there is a high level of vandalism and theft reported at some station car parks despite CCTV, if there was a visible security presence then I think everyone would be a little more agreeable to a charge, this is the consensus which formed in Newbridge earlier this year, its the compromise position and a reasonable one.

Irish Rail have refused on several occasions to provide security if the car park was charged for

At the moment you get charged to park where you parked for free last week with nothing extra provided