wit Parking protest????

FineFinn

Fair enough, and apologies for any resentment caused. The fact remains that many students over the past ten years in Ireland have cars and drive to college, which is a situation that the institutions are ill-equipped to deal with, and shouldn't really have to deal with. These colleges are meant to provide education, not parking spaces for the students, so it's much more important to have buildings on the land that attract students, R & D, etc. It seems very wasteful to me to use land on-campus for parking facilities, when such an issue should really be one for the local authorities.

merlante

FineFinn wrote: »

It seems that there are many third level institutions in Ireland that have parking issues - UCC only seems to have on-campus parking for staff members, for example, and Trinity College doesn't appear to have parking facilities at all. It's an issue in many Finnish colleges also, but whether or not a facility 'deserves' university status is not measured according to such factors.

I can understand that it's frustrating for local residents, but surely it's up to the municipality to put proper measures in place; disk parking exclusively for residents, for instance, which is then properly supervised, with offenders penalised accordingly. Are there such measures in place? Not to mention adequate public transport to and from the institute.

I hardly see how the Waterford Institute, or any other college, is responsible for the fact that pretty much everyone in Ireland seems to have bought cars for their children.

In Waterford we have a situation where the residents in the area of WIT objected years ago to a multi-storey carpark, iirc., for the usual NIMBY related reasons. Now, given that there's no parking, the staff and students are pissed off that there's no parking, and the residents are pissed off that the former resort to parking in their spaces. The self-same residents that objected to the multi-storey (or maybe slightly different residents) are now objecting to the natural consequence of not having a multi-storey, i.e. that people are parking in their spaces, etc., and will probably object to any proposed solution as well, that doesn't involve the demolition of WIT.

I think the disc parking idea + parking permit + relatively high charge might be a temporary solution to one side of the problem. More use of public transport might help with the other.

The public transport connections are pretty good in Waterford. WIT is well served imho.

echosound

A multi-story carpark would have been the ideal solution to the problem. On one hand, I can see why people think students shouldn't expect there to be parking spaces allocated to them; many other third level institutions don't have any parking facilities for students at all and manage quite well, having said that, they are located for the most part in areas of Ireland that have decent transport links that will drop you safely outside the college. (I'm thinking of the likes of Trinity, most of the DITs, etc). I attended DIT Aungier st myself for 4 years, and no-one ever complained about the lack of parking as we were all able to get connecting buses/trains from wherever we lived, be that in the city proper, or further out in the likes of Bray/Wicklow/Kildare, straight to the street the college was located on.

On the other hand though - Waterford: yes, there are transport links from town out to the college, but I personally know many students who are not living in Waterford city, and who travel from all corners of the surrounding area, where public transport isn't an option. That may be because there is literally none to be had, or it may be because the schedule isn't workable timewise if PT is available.

Hence they have to drive from wherever they live (often rurally based) in Counties Wexford, Kilkenny, Tipp and East/West Waterford, and what are they supposed to do - abandon cars outside town and walk miles into college, walking back to their cars in the dark along dangerous busy roads? Drive as far as the quays, and park up in a carpark there to get a bus out to the college, and have to shell out approx 25 euro per week for parking on top of petrol/tax/insurance costs, plus the bus fare too? Doubt many students could afford that on top of all the other costs associated with attending college. And then we'd only have people complaining about students taking up all the long-stay parking spaces on the quay/Miller's Marsh etc. anyway.

WIT needs to take into account the region it is based in and the profile of it's students and staff - it has a wide catchment area, with students travelling from all over, neccessistating the use of private cars. It also needs to take into account the fact that the people living in the area immediately surrounding the campus are having to put up with the parking issue on a daily basis. If no-one from the college could even be bothered to meet with the resident's association who took issue with the parking, that's pretty bad IMO. Even if only to explain that they can't do anything immediately regarding a long term solution, but to just acknowledge the hassle that residents have to endure, and to see if there is anything they can do in the shortterm to allieviate the problems.

Is there any movement on the suggestion of opening up the RSC carpark to students on weekdays? What was the stumbling block there - insurance issues?

ec18

Sully wrote: »

I
(Btw, it is time for a change in government.

*cough* *cough* Fine Gael Supporter *cough**cough* :p:p

gobo99

The buses are too unreliable in waterford city to be relying on them. Waiting round in the pissing rain and paying €1.60 just to end up late for class anyway. no thanks.

Sully

gobo99 wrote: »

The buses are too unreliable in waterford city to be relying on them. Waiting round in the pissing rain and paying €1.60 just to end up late for class anyway. no thanks.

Happened to a friend of mine. Took ages for the bus to arrive and she missed her class (coming from Cork Rd. to College St) as it was stuck in traffic.

dlofnep

More the reason to slab down the green.

BlaasForRafa

merlante wrote: »

I should just get with the programme. Hurt WIT, hurt the council, hurt the government, then find another crowd to blame and hurt them, and throw our hands in the air in dispair when things go downhill. I'd be happier really.

Cop on boy, this is an issue that WIT should be able to deal with in a fairly cost effective way and would have the benefit of getting local people on their side rather than have them pissed off.

Some of the streets in Lismore park are pretty narrow and having students parked up on both paths can make it hazardous for both old people and young kids plus make it extremely difficult for tradesmen/builders/binmen etc to get through to houses there meant to go to.

Its about WIT having some consideration for the environment that their in, they can't just impose themselves on the local community with people being annoyed about it.

Its up to WIT to organise more and better carparking (for instance why isn't there a multi story carpark at the college?, it could raise revenue as well), also why isn't the college working with the local authority and CIE to increase the availability and frequency of public transport during college hours. There aren't that many more students at WIT than when I was there yet there are many more cars than there used to be. Have students become too good to walk or use public transport? It would be better for the environment also to shift them from car usage to public transport...what exactly are the college, student union and local authorities doing about that?

Cabaal

BlaasForRafa wrote: »

Its up to WIT to organise more and better carparking (for instance why isn't there a multi story carpark at the college?, it could raise revenue as well), also why isn't the college working with the local authority and CIE to increase the availability and frequency of public transport during college hours. There aren't that many more students at WIT than when I was there yet there are many more cars than there used to be. Have students become too good to walk or use public transport? It would be better for the environment also to shift them from car usage to public transport...what exactly are the college, student union and local authorities doing about that?

It seems so, fair enough to people that live far away but there is certainly a high percentage of students living within Waterford that still drive to the college,

merlante

gobo99 wrote: »

The buses are too unreliable in waterford city to be relying on them. Waiting round in the pissing rain and paying €1.60 just to end up late for class anyway. no thanks.

Dublin is run on buses and those buses are far less reliable. I've had mainly good experiences with buses in Waterford, with buses being quite new and the majority leaving the terminus on time. Waterford being Waterford, if it leaves on time it will probably get there on time too.

Isin't there a bus every 15/20 mins in and out of the WIT? Even having to wait 20 minutes is not the end of the world when it only takes 5/10 minutes to get in or out.

It makes sense for students to live close to the WIT or in town where the bus links are good. Obviously, those coming from outside the city have less choice.

gobo99

merlante wrote: »

Dublin is run on buses and those buses are far less reliable. I've had mainly good experiences with buses in Waterford, with buses being quite new and the majority leaving the terminus on time. Waterford being Waterford, if it leaves on time it will probably get there on time too.

Isin't there a bus every 15/20 mins in and out of the WIT? Even having to wait 20 minutes is not the end of the world when it only takes 5/10 minutes to get in or out.

It makes sense for students to live close to the WIT or in town where the bus links are good. Obviously, those coming from outside the city have less choice.

I wouldn't be too familiar with dublins bus service so i couldn't comment. Iv no complaint with the quality of the buses in Waterford either.

Its the waiting around that bugs me. Im living down in polberry and have taken the bus plenty of times, but iv waited at that topaz garage for half an hour a few time before walking home and going back to bed.

Other times, after waiting around in the rain, the bus just drove past about 10 of us cause it was full.

Also if you dare take shelter under the forecourt they'll just drive past you. You cant see them coming unless you stand out in the rain.

I usually walk in if it's dry these days but I drive if its raining.

You say you've had good experiences with buses in Waterford, i bet its not too often you use them though.

gscully

According to the front page of this week's Munster Express, the city council are allowing the 300 empty spaces at the RSC to be used by college students and staff.

Now, will this be used properly, or will some lazy buggers still park in Lismore Park?

To be enforced properly, the residential estates must prosecute parking offenders without exception.

merlante

gscully wrote: »

According to the front page of this week's Munster Express, the city council are allowing the 300 empty spaces at the RSC to be used by college students and staff.

Now, will this be used properly, or will some lazy buggers still park in Lismore Park?

To be enforced properly, the residential estates must prosecute parking offenders without exception.

This is the test now. What's the betting the place will be half empty and Lismore park will still be overrun with staff and students parking?

Anyone who isin't willing to walk half the width of a pedestrian area to get to a shop, or to walk from the ALDI carpark to the city centre, is not going to be bothered walking *all the way* from the RSC to the Cork rd. campus either.

Still, this is a very positive development. Well done to those responsible for what is a creative solution to the problem.

gscully

merlante wrote: »

This is the test now. What's the betting the place will be half empty and Lismore park will still be overrun with staff and students parking?

Anyone who isin't willing to walk half the width of a pedestrian area to get to a shop, or to walk from the ALDI carpark to the city centre, is not going to be bothered walking *all the way* from the RSC to the Cork rd. campus either.

Still, this is a very positive development. Well done to those responsible for what is a creative solution to the problem.

Indeed. I believe Cha O'Neill was heavily involved.

I think the only way this will work is if the neighbouring estates put down yellow lines over the summer...and the Gardai enforce them...or the committees hire clampers.

The solution is there now for all to see. The college are putting it in their code of conduct. But will it be heeded?