UCD Parking

dyl10

I don't know if this interests anyone here, but I see parking related topics here from time to time.

I was speaking to a friend the other day who will be working in UCD over the next couple of weeks, installing vehicle registration, recognition cameras.
This will be a trial run of these, being on a few entrances and if successful will be rolled out all over campus.

Perhaps a good step toward solving the 'park and ride' issue in UCD.

n2o

In fairness I don't think park and ride is as significant a problem as people seem to think. There's just more cars and less spaces than there used to be. Water tower car park is out of action now as well.

dyl10

n2o wrote: »

In fairness I don't think park and ride is as significant a problem as people seem to think. There's just more cars and less spaces than there used to be. Water tower car park is out of action now as well.

In that case, I guess cameras are a cheaper way to appear to be tackling the problem than laying new car parks :eek:

Notorious

I say they scrap that white elephant of a student centre and put a multi-story car park in its place.

Ado86

So how is this going to work ?
Will we have to register our cars and then apply for some permit or something?
My car is going to be in the UCD car park pretty much 24/7 this year with the hours Im going to be doing...hope it wont be metred !

delta_bravo

dyl10 wrote: »

In that case, I guess cameras are a cheaper way to appear to be tackling the problem than laying new car parks :eek:

If they provided another 1000 spaces they would all fill. The car parks were about 70% full in summer when i was around. Nobody within a 4 mile area of campus should be driving unless they have some mobility difficulties. Bike lanes are quite good on routes to ucd and there are plenty of buses. Ucd opened a dirt car park last year over near newstead and it did nothing to ease parking. The campus has a unfair image of being a concrete jungle, covering the greenfield we have with Tarmac is not going to help

Red Alert

I live within a 4 mile radius of campus and there is only one bus in the morning and one in the evening. If I do any other combination of buses and walking it would take an hour and a half to get in and out. Compare that to say Kilmacanogue which is more than 4 miles away but has direct buses that are relatively regular. So banning anyone within any specific radius is not a good idea.

delta_bravo

Red Alert wrote: »

I live within a 4 mile radius of campus and there is only one bus in the morning and one in the evening. If I do any other combination of buses and walking it would take an hour and a half to get in and out. Compare that to say Kilmacanogue which is more than 4 miles away but has direct buses that are relatively regular. So banning anyone within any specific radius is not a good idea.

I'm not suggesting a ban, I suggest you cycle

muboop1

n2o wrote: »

In fairness I don't think park and ride is as significant a problem as people seem to think. There's just more cars and less spaces than there used to be. Water tower car park is out of action now as well.

Not true. Have you been there this summer? Still very busy in the car parks beside the n11. Even though 90% of the pol attending college aren't around. Once it hits like 8 on the morning so many people appear who park and bus it to town. Very obvious by their suits etc.

I agree the less spaces thing has made things worse. But that doesn't excuse hundreds of spaces not going to students.

Yuugib

Ey, can anybody advise where can students park for free on campus? I live quite far, so thinking of driving down sometimes... Have seen few pay parking machines before there..

antomorro-sei

What way will this work? Register at start of year, and then would you be guaranteed a spot?

n2o

muboop1 wrote: »

Not true. Have you been there this summer? Still very busy in the car parks beside the n11. Even though 90% of the pol attending college aren't around. Once it hits like 8 on the morning so many people appear who park and bus it to town. Very obvious by their suits etc.

I agree the less spaces thing has made things worse. But that doesn't excuse hundreds of spaces not going to students.

In fairness UCD does not revolve around undergrads. There must be around 3,000 staff and postgrads who are there for most of the summer.

While I'm sure there are a few park and ride people you must also remember that UCD is currently the biggest building site in the country. The O'Reilly car park is full of construction workers from the science centre.

graduate

And construction has meant the loss of the car park beside Quinn now too.

helimachoptor

Even from my time there parking was also a serious problem. I can never understand why they dont build and underground/multistorey car park. Get some of the student archi's and engineers involved.

Michael Collins

helimachoptor wrote: »

Even from my time there parking was also a serious problem. I can never understand why they dont build and underground/multistorey car park. Get some of the student archi's and engineers involved.

It is planned I believe.

From the Campus Developement section of the UCD website:

Surface car parking will be replaced by multi-storey parking structures at strategic locations to provide a more sustainable use of campus lands. The development of a coherent and safe network of cycle paths will also help offset the use of and dependency on cars.

helimachoptor

OSI wrote: »

It is a big problem, every morning I turn up for work and watch as people park up and then walk over to the bus stop.
Planning laws for DLRCC means UCD can't build any more parking.

Michael Collins wrote: »

It is planned I believe.

From the Campus Developement section of the UCD website:

OSI, i do remember someone form the SU mentioning this a few years ago but as MC says i thought they had got it reversed as a special case. I'd rather see them build underground car parks than multi storey ones and try and keep some greenery.

wonderworm

OSI wrote: »

It is a big problem, every morning I turn up for work and watch as people park up and then walk over to the bus stop.



we do have students and staff who work/student off campus for example in the University hospitals and they are quite entitled to park in belfield and get the bus to their destination.

Paul Tergat

Im just wondering whether anyone reckons I could rent out a car park space to someone in UCD (this is not a direct attempt to sell). I live in the apartments above the Roebuck Spar and have 2 spaces that I just wont use so if I stuck up some notices around UCD does anyone think people would take em.

lemon_sherbert

p_larkin99 wrote: »

Im just wondering whether anyone reckons I could rent out a car park space to someone in UCD (this is not a direct attempt to sell). I live in the apartments above the Roebuck Spar and have 2 spaces that I just wont use so if I stuck up some notices around UCD does anyone think people would take em.

You may well find demand, but I'd suggest you look at the terms of your lease beforehand - don't want to give your landlord grounds to complain

antomorro-sei

p_larkin99 wrote: »

Im just wondering whether anyone reckons I could rent out a car park space to someone in UCD (this is not a direct attempt to sell). I live in the apartments above the Roebuck Spar and have 2 spaces that I just wont use so if I stuck up some notices around UCD does anyone think people would take em.

I'd buy it

Moomia

Im just wondering whether anyone reckons I could rent out a car park space to someone in UCD (this is not a direct attempt to sell). I live in the apartments above the Roebuck Spar and have 2 spaces that I just wont use so if I stuck up some notices around UCD does anyone think people would take em.

I'd be very interested!!!

ironclaw

I'd say it will be a registration system. Your number plate tagged to your student card / SIS Web Account. Then its a simple case of seeing what cars appear that are not on the list in the car parks. Its a good idea in my book.

In fairness, UCD parking is private property and should be used by people who have a direct and tangible connection to the University.

Chet T16

I have 6 cars and regularly take 2* up, maybe i'll need to put one reg on all of them

*no, not at the same time

jimmyfixit

I cant see how they could be used to add parking, UCD could have a couple of hundred visitors on any given day for meetings etc. What could UCD do with the reg numbers? They couldnt charge you for parking as you may be driving through the campus or dropping off. They could tell what time staff and students entered and left the campus maybe but what use is that.

It may be an extra security mesure to work with the existing CCTV system.

Parking is sh*te in UCD and always has been always will be. We will have to live with it, approx 17000 staff and students approx 3000 parking spots. At a meeting once and we were informed that the park and ride problem was less tha 70 cars as that a lot of them worked in the terrace, blackrock and the hospitals. They had the clampers at one stage warning people but it didnt pay.

n2o

jimmyfixit wrote: »

Parking is sh*te in UCD and always has been always will be. We will have to live with it, approx 17000 staff and students approx 3000 parking spots. At a meeting once and we were informed that the park and ride problem was less tha 70 cars as that a lot of them worked in the terrace, blackrock and the hospitals. They had the clampers at one stage warning people but it didnt pay.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who thinks that park and ride is a nothing issue.

As far as it always having been poor, 15 years ago before the student centre, before the health sciences building and before the conway institute there were always free spaces in the old science car park. The main difference is that back then students generally didn't have cars!

ironclaw

jimmyfixit wrote: »

I cant see how they could be used to add parking, UCD could have a couple of hundred visitors on any given day for meetings etc. What could UCD do with the reg numbers? They couldnt charge you for parking as you may be driving through the campus or dropping off. They could tell what time staff and students entered and left the campus maybe but what use is that.

It may be an extra security mesure to work with the existing CCTV system.

Parking is sh*te in UCD and always has been always will be. We will have to live with it, approx 17000 staff and students approx 3000 parking spots. At a meeting once and we were informed that the park and ride problem was less tha 70 cars as that a lot of them worked in the terrace, blackrock and the hospitals. They had the clampers at one stage warning people but it didnt pay.

Its actually pretty simple. Big corporations have whats called a AVPR system (Automatic Vehicle Plate Recognition) Its very simple to use, one or two cameras on every entrance logs the plate of every car in and out. This can then be compared to a database of allowed plates, anything that shows up can be considered a park and ride, visitor etc.

In big corporations, such as Microsoft, your asked for your car reg before you come to any meeting. So that plate is added to the system for the day your due to arrive. Or just have all visitors pay for parking and remind them that spaces are limited.

It actually wouldn't be a huge investment at all and would help in some way to alleviate the problem. I think it is clear however there arn't enough spaces but if 100 spaces per day where taken back from freeloaders we'd be well on our way.

mumtoe&e

I am a UCD student - doing Midwifery and when on placement in Holles st - I park in UCD and get the no 10 in - so dont assume that everyone u see parking and then getting the bus are just being cheeky and taking up UCD spots - there are many nursing students who do this - as there is no other option of getting into their placement hospitals!

ironclaw

mumtoe&e wrote: »

I am a UCD student - doing Midwifery and when on placement in Holles st - I park in UCD and get the no 10 in - so dont assume that everyone u see parking and then getting the bus are just being cheeky and taking up UCD spots - there are many nursing students who do this - as there is no other option of getting into their placement hospitals!

Not a personally directed comment, but the arguement can be made that your not conducting business in UCD on the day in question and as such your taking away a space for a student who may be.

You can get to Holles St without parking in UCD. A student attending UCD may not be able to go to a lecture etc without driving & parking.


Its a two sided argument, I can appreciate that.

mumtoe&e

ironclaw wrote: »

Not a personally directed comment, but the arguement can be made that your not conducting business in UCD on the day in question and as such your taking away a space for a student who may be.

You can get to Holles St without parking in UCD. A student attending UCD may not be able to go to a lecture etc without driving & parking.


Its a two sided argument, I can appreciate that.

Well no offence, but I AM a student of UCD and as part of my course I HAVE to do placement in the hospital, so sorry, I dont agree with you!!!

I am commuting from Baltinglass Wicklow! I drive an hour to UCD and then bus it to holles st, believe me I would much prefer an alternative option!
Us who have to do work placement as park of our course are well entitled to park in the college while we are on placement!

stop

mumtoe&e wrote: »

Well no offence, but I AM a student of UCD and as part of my course I HAVE to do placement in the hospital, so sorry, I dont agree with you!!!

I am commuting from Baltinglass Wicklow! I drive an hour to UCD and then bus it to holles st, believe me I would much prefer an alternative option!
Us who have to do work placement as park of our course are well entitled to park in the college while we are on placement!

Do you actually have to do anything in Belfield while on placement? Because if not, I can't see any excuse for taking someone else's spot.
If you do (library etc), that's fair enough.

mumtoe&e

stop wrote: »

Do you actually have to do anything in Belfield while on placement? Because if not, I can't see any excuse for taking someone else's spot.
If you do (library etc), that's fair enough.

Nope generally no, I wouldnt go into college the days I am on placement, the odd day I might head into the library if we finish up early in the hospital - but we will have to agree to disagree on this one i'm afraid. as part of our course as UCD students we HAVE to do placement - we are still students of UCD while on placement - so if you want to be petty - well there will always be a few wont there..