Parking charges in Buncrana

inishindie

Hi

What do you think about pay and display car parking in towns?

We have just has the meters but in Buncrana and there is no free period. You pay from the moment you park unlike some other towns. Shoppers are now expected to pay even if they pop into the post office for a minute.
Has paying for parking made a difference to your town centre,do you shop elsewhere? Do you mind paying?

cheers

smashey

In my opinion, it was the best thing to happen in Ballybofey. Before charges, there were never any spaces, especially at the HSE car park. Now, it generally isn't a problem and I don't mind spending a few cents for it.

muffler

I think its great. I use the car parks in Ballybofey several times a week and depending which one Im using its either 30 or 40 cents per hour. On street parking is 50 cents.

You know one cigarette at the moment costs about 37 cents - make the comparisons.

ednwireland

same in donegal town - no free period. mind since they took a chunk of the car park for the new tourist office its harder to park mind you most people dont seem to bother buying tickets

inishindie

Hi

I witnessed my first victim today!! A woman popped into the post office and when she came out a ticket was on her windscreen. She was very matter of fact about it and just put it in her pocket (embarassement probably)

There are areas where you can park all day for 1 euro 50 if you don't want to spend the 50 cent an hour as well.

The more I ask people the more I feel that it doesn't really bother anyone. A few people still think it is a stealth tax,picking on motorists yet again.

The council raise money to buy land for more car parks to charge more cars to get more car parks.....


Cheers

muffler

Its certainly not a stealth tax as its completely upfront. There are those out there who still expect to get everything for nothing. It takes a lot of money to purchase the land and develop it for parking and its only fair that people should contribute towards the cost of a much needed service.

Try paying for parking in a private car park and you would be only too glad to give the few cents to the Council

inishindie

I agree about the private parking. There isn't any here in Inishowen though thankfully!

Some motorists here think that they are paying enough already with the tax on cars without being charged locally again. The issue of Donegal being the forgotton county when funding allocations are dealt out, also hits a nerve.

Some peole feel that these parking spaces should be be built with most of the money coming from central government not locals pockets!

Change always brings resistance!

Cheers

Senna

Just a useless point, but in the car park at Letterkenny General, you can park for 20 minutes free. It doesn't say it on the signs and I used to always buy a ticket when i was just going in for a few minutes. A nice member of car park staff told me.

byte

ednwireland wrote: »

same in donegal town - no free period. mind since they took a chunk of the car park for the new tourist office its harder to park mind you most people dont seem to bother buying tickets

That's true about some not paying.

30c isn't too bad for an hour parking IMO. Especially if the money is used locally.

I think there's a month/year ticket you can get if you work in town, and need to use the carparks often and for extended periods.

@Senna: I didn't realise that 20mins was free.

jimmycrackcorm

Last week I paid €14 for less than 4 hours parking in Dublin city centre just for comparison. Still it was cheaper than getting a taxi home.

Senna

byte wrote: »

@Senna: I didn't realise that 20mins was free.

I don't think many people do, i know most people at the hospital will be their longer then 20 minutes. I was their regularly enough picking up my mother after tests and collecting family. I would never ask them to wait at the door for me, so i usually paid my money, when in and was back out within 20 minutes.
It should really be on the signs.

armour87

The traders on the street in Buncrana said they noticed a bit of a rise in profit due to more people stopping...due to there being spaces for them.

So as a non driver Im all for it!

regob

im a driver in the buncrana region and i personally think its a great thing, it caused a decrease in the amount of traffic in the town street, which is great

shiibata

they were on about it on highland today and the majority seemed happy with whats happened in the town.

deman

shiibata wrote: »

they were on about it on highland today and the majority seemed happy with whats happened in the town.

Yeah but believe it or not, some people were complaining about it.... having to pay 30c for popping into the shop for 10 minutes.

jonnygee

I live in buncrana and I can state right now that I will never ever pay to park on the main street for the following reason, I dont believe the story that the revenue is to pay for more carparks, I believe that this was introduced as nothing more than a way to replace the rates that the local council lost following the loss of the fruit of the loom from the town. Fruit were paying enormous rates, why werent the carparks that they say the need sorted out when the council had this income. Its nothing more than the usual tactic of using the motorist as an easy target when funds are needed.

inishindie

Hi

There was a demonstration outside the council offices this week in Buncrana. This time it is the peole who live on the roads with the restrictions. The households are being given one permit to park a named driver and their car on the road. The other family members,friends and relations will have to pay when they visit. The verdict isn't out yet....I'll keep you posted!

Cheers

Ian

ps. good point about Fruit of the Loom!!

http://inishindie.blogspot.com/

jonnygee

I went down to lidl today to buy a few things , the carpark was full, in the shop there were only about six people, obviously their carpark has become a free public carpark, I wonder how long they will tolerate this but maybe in time they will gain from this If only a few of the parkers decide to use their shop to buy something. I had to laugh last week when one of the local councillers said people were not entering into the spirit of things by parking free in lidl when they should really volunteer to pay on the mainstreet as a gesture of goodwill towards the new charges (or something like that.) I wonder if the business people that say the new charges are proving to be a good thing for their business will be as delighted when the council increase their rates because of all the extra business they are getting due to the new charges. A workmate from derry challenged me at the weekend as to why I would pay a pound sterling to park in derry but I wouldnt pay 50cent to park in buncrana, I told him that for a pound or more I could walk around most of the biggest department stores and retailers for a couple of hours but in buncrana I would have to pay 50 cent if I wanted to run into eunan the eggs for a daily star.

inishindie

Hi

It was me in Lidl's car park today!!

I did shop there but I also went to the school and did a walk down the high st. I talked to a few shopkeepers today, they all seem to be happy with the set up. The reckon that trade has increased because people can get parked outside their shops!

I also heard that there is word that the council still haven't a licence to issue tickets yet!!

Fun and games

Cheers

Ian

deman

Actually we have something in Finland called the "Blue Parking Areas" which is a great idea. The signs read like this for example -

30mins (varies between 30mins up to 3hrs)
8-20 =Mon-Fri
(8-20)=Sat
8-20 = Sun

And you will need to buy this disc (around 1.50 euro)


The time of arrival marked on the parking disc is the full or half hour following arrival depending on which is closer. The marked arrival time cannot be changed during parking.

The parking disc must be placed behind the windshield/ on the dashboard so that it is clearly visible from the outside of the vehicle. During parking there can only be one parking disc on display at a time.

Only the official parking disc is approved in disc-parking areas. The parking disc is sold in most supermarkets, gas stations and kiosks.

jonnygee

That system would be far to complicated for us irish to comprehend, I do think it would be a good idea if the shops could sell the parking tickets though as some of the ticket machines here are not convenient to the actual parking bays, not that I ever intend to buy a ticket of course.