Galway Airport - mega merge

ben.schlomo

antoobrien wrote: »

Nearly every time I pass Roaches (deb'nams for the blow ins), the co buildings car park & the dyke are full/have long queues. That's not indicative of an "no problems" finding spaces.

Anto shtop will ya, the Dyke Rd hasnt had regular queues bar Xmas for about 3 years now.

antoobrien

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Anto shtop will ya, the Dyke Rd hasnt had regular queues bar Xmas for about 3 years now.

It did last time I was down there (March ish).

ratracer

antoobrien wrote: »

Nearly every time I pass Roaches (deb'nams for the blow ins), the co buildings car park & the dyke are full/have long queues. That's not indicative of an "no problems" finding spaces.

We'll have to agree to disagree so Anto. As I'd posted, I only see Debenhams full maybe on a saturday morning. Dyke Rd is rarely full. I agree with the council car park, that is normally full early on a saturday. For the rest of the week though is that car park not reserved for council staff and closed to the public?
Merchants Rd, Eyre Sq Centre, Jurys car parks are rarely full.

At weekends St Pats and the Bish are handy enough places to get in, there may be a small queue, I normally bypass these if there is.

antoobrien

ratracer wrote: »

For the rest of the week though is that car park not reserved for council staff and closed to the public?

Don't think so, but open to correction.

ratracer wrote: »

Merchants Rd, Eyre Sq Centre, Jurys car parks are rarely full.

The car park in eyre square is somewhere we brought the car once in the 90s when it opened, never again. Apart from the fact that it's very hard to get to (along with Juries and hynes's yard (where I would park if I could), it's a snasty twisty little spot that's well useless for cars. I've heard the same complaints about juries. Perhaps we should putt the market and cycle parking in there instead;)

Gee I wonder why, could it be that they are hard to get to?

ratracer wrote: »

At weekends St Pats and the Bish are handy enough places to get in, there may be a small queue, I normally bypass these if there is.

I rarely go that side of the square, it's a bit of a last resort to go over there unless I have to pick up something in the area that I couldn't carry (very rare) - which is usually the only reason I bring the car anyways. Otherwise with so many other spots to try (including leaving mam the spare car key while she does the grocery shopping), why would I head over that way (rhetorical question, I wouldn't).

ratracer

antoobrien wrote: »

I shouldn't bite but cop on - it's so hard to get parking in the center of town that poeple are going to Athlone to shop instead of Galway.

antoobrien wrote: »

Don't think so, but open to correction.



The car park in eyre square is somewhere we brought the car once in the 90s when it opened, never again. Apart from the fact that it's very hard to get to (along with Juries and hynes's yard (where I would park if I could), it's a snasty twisty little spot that's well useless for cars. I've heard the same complaints about juries. Perhaps we should putt the market and cycle parking in there instead;)

Gee I wonder why, could it be that they are hard to get to?



I rarely go that side of the square, it's a bit of a last resort to go over there unless I have to pick up something in the area that I couldn't carry (very rare) - which is usually the only reason I bring the car anyways. Otherwise with so many other spots to try (including leaving mam the spare car key while she does the grocery shopping), why would I head over that way (rhetorical question, I wouldn't).

So you're original quote should have been 'it's hard to get parking where I want to park' as opposed to the over supply of parking in town in general?

I would have agreed with you about the car park in the Eyre Sq Centre, it used to be layed out very poorly, but since it's recen take over they have changed the parking layout and travel lines on the smaller floors and it is much more user friendly now. Jury's is still a crap car park.

This is the problem with park and ride IMO. If I am going into town shopping, I want my car parked close to where I am shopping so that I don't have to carry my bags around with me all day. I understand I have to pay for this privilege and sitting in traffic is one of the downsides to this. I will still take this anyday over driving to GA, parking my car getting a bus in and lugging stuff around the town all day. Even if it was free I wouldn't avail of the P&R service.

And to get back OT, I think this is a monumentous waste of money since it doesn't cater for people going to work in the Ind Est's who might have actually used the service.

antoobrien

ratracer wrote: »

So you're original quote should have been 'it's hard to get parking where I want to park' as opposed to the over supply of parking in town in general?

Nope, I believe both are the case. Let me make it clearer: I don't think there are enough car parking spaces and I think they are badly sited. A good example of this is the complaint by coach operators a few weeks/months back that the bus parking at the cathedral is too far away from the shopping district (that's a but of a wtf to me but if it's full of older people...) and is costing Galway business.

There will be times when parking is not used (most monday mornings aren't the busiest for shopping as there are a lot of people working that can't shop then) but then we don't provide fixed infrastructure (of which car parks are an example) based on the lowest levels of expected use either.

Mrs OBumble

asdfg! wrote: »

Certain housing estates near Bus Eireann stops seem to have a lot of cars which disappear at going home time.

Are they parked legally? If so, then I cannot see the problem.

Mrs OBumble

antoobrien wrote: »

It did last time I was down there (March ish).

Ok, so they should have said "bar Christmas or Paddies' Day".

I've never seen Hynes Yard full, and only rarely the Eyre Square Centre carpark.

Dan_Solo

Does it really matter whether city centre car parks are jammed or not?
A park and ride at Galway airport is the predicted utter load of codswallop everyone except the fly boys said it would be.

antoobrien

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Ok, so they should have said "bar Christmas or Paddies' Day".

The week after actually (had to check my credit card for the stuff I bought at the time).

Dan_Solo wrote: »

A park and ride at Galway airport is the predicted utter load of codswallop everyone except the fly boys said it would be.

Ah come on now, I'm as skeptical as the next lad but 3 1/3 days is a bit early to be crying failure. Though it was funny to see (what seemed like) heavier traffic on Tuesday with BE buses running than Monday with the strike.

Dan_Solo

antoobrien wrote: »

Though it was funny to see (what seemed like) heavier traffic on Tuesday with BE buses running than Monday with the strike.

That reminds me of what they used to say about the old CIE strikes. Since they still got subsidized and didn't have to pay salaries during the strikes, it was the only time they operated at a profit...:D

what_traffic

antoobrien wrote: »

Nope, I believe both are the case. Let me make it clearer: I don't think there are enough car parking spaces and I think they are badly sited. A good example of this is the complaint by coach operators a few weeks/months back that the bus parking at the cathedral is too far away from the shopping district (that's a but of a wtf to me but if it's full of older people...) and is costing Galway business.

Thats a very bad example. The point re Bus parking is valid - but how is this a good eample of not enough car parking spaces?

More car parking in Galway City centre will only lead to further traffic congestion. If less provision of car parking in the city centre then a park and ride is more likely to work. See galwaycyclists post earlier.

antoobrien

what_traffic wrote: »

Thats a very bad example. The point re Bus parking is valid - but how is this a good eample of not enough car parking spaces?

Not really it's all the same set of symptoms - too far to walk to get where one is going. After all, you're not going to park in the dyke if you're doing the grocery shopping are you? Certain car parks are fine if you have certain trip requirements and certain ones are not.

what_traffic wrote: »

More car parking in Galway City centre will only lead to further traffic congestion. If less provision of car parking in the city centre then a park and ride is more likely to work. See galwaycyclists post earlier.

More car parking in the right places will reduce congestion because it will remove cars trying to get access to car parks from the roads. Hypothetical situation - remove parking from Argos & Lidl and extend the dyke rd by 30/40 spaces (whatever the capacity is) with refunds provided for the shop users (so as not to cost them extra). Traffic trying to get to Lidl no longer blocks the headford rd. Congestion increased - no.

asdfg!

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Are they parked legally? If so, then I cannot see the problem.

It isn't a problem merely an observation.

As for extra parking causing congestion, now we all know that the problem is actually the lack of a bypass and appallingly bad traffic management in Galway.

In any case it's not realistic to try and reduce parking space in the city because frankly it's very lucrative for the providers.

If and it's a big if, there was fast, efficient and inexpensive bus service. You might get people out of their cars. But my own experience of the buses borders on the nightmarish. Of course the cycling enthusiasts want us all on two wheels. But that's fantasy people are not going to migrate en masse to bicycles no matter how attractive it's made.

galwaycyclist

antoobrien wrote: »

Not really it's all the same set of symptoms - too far to walk to get where one is going. After all, you're not going to park in the dyke if you're doing the grocery shopping are you? Certain car parks are fine if you have certain trip requirements and certain ones are not.

OK people doing grocery shopping are not generally the target market for Park and Ride services.

The usual target is commuters whose cars sit there doing nothing between 9 and 5.

galwaycyclist

asdfg! wrote: »

If and it's a big if, there was fast, efficient and inexpensive bus service. You might get people out of their cars. But my own experience of the buses borders on the nightmarish. Of course the cycling enthusiasts want us all on two wheels. But that's fantasy people are not going to migrate en masse to bicycles no matter how attractive it's made.

Exactly right. People will not migrate to the alternatives if the main focus is going into making it easier and more convenient to use private cars.

Dutch people don't cycle only because its more attractive - they cycle because it is harder and more expensive to use a private car for commuter trips than to cycle.

That's the way it has to be if you want a city that works for everyone. Otherwise the cars just grow to fill all the available space.

Shane St.

When I heard about this and the amount of buses running to and from the airport I just couldn't believe it. This was just such a bad idea. What a waste. I live out near the airport and it is convenient for me if I need a bus but running buses every 30mins is just a disaster.

asdfg!

Well I don't know whether she used the park and ride but the flying nun definitely put the airport on the map. With her on every news bulletin and the the Late Late. Galway airport is open as far as everyone else can see.

Shane St.

Where do these buses go from town?

Storm 10

I saw two of the Airport buses on Saturday evening going into the Airport and they were pretty full up so it looks like that people going into the City from the East are using them for shopping etc.

antoobrien

Storm 10 wrote: »

I saw two of the Airport buses on Saturday evening going into the Airport and they were pretty full up so it looks like that people going into the City from the East are using them for shopping etc.

Did you see them actually going into the airport?
There are two reasons for the question:
The only sign I've seen advertising it says the service is Monday-Friday (at the RAB on the N18)
The same company also run the bus service to Athenry (in place of the 418), so it could be just the buses.

Dan_Solo

Storm 10 wrote: »

I saw two of the Airport buses on Saturday evening going into the Airport and they were pretty full up so it looks like that people going into the City from the East are using them for shopping etc.

Is it also possible that they aren't going to the park and ride at all and just getting a handy extra bus into town? That bus has other stops, right?
Let me gaze into my crystal ball and predict that all passengers from the east side to the city centre on this bus will be designated as evidence of the outstanding success of the Galway Airport park n ride scheme...

asdfg!

I don't know about Saturday but there was lots of activity in the car park on Sunday. Something to do with the match between Galway and Mayo??

antoobrien

asdfg! wrote: »

I don't know about Saturday but there was lots of activity in the car park on Sunday. Something to do with the match between Galway and Mayo??

Yeah, the P&R was (I'm told) advertised for it.

dloob

According to the city tribune and Cllr Ollie Crowe the airport park and ride is now a "fiasco" and losing 4000 a week.

https://twitter.com/endacunningham/status/345280752830779392

Private Joker

dloob wrote: »

According to the city tribune and Cllr Ollie Crowe the airport park and ride is now a "fiasco" and losing 4000 a week.

https://twitter.com/endacunningham/status/345280752830779392

Not suprised . Every time I see the buses they are completely empty.

seanin4711

Whoever came up with the crazy idea should pay for it themselves. As they don't really care about public funds.
I wonder did they even do a basic survey to see would it be used.
They would all be fired in the first week on the apprentice the proper uk version.

emptybladder

dloob wrote: »

According to the city tribune and Cllr Ollie Crowe the airport park and ride is now a "fiasco" and losing 4000 a week.

https://twitter.com/endacunningham/status/345280752830779392

Whose 4,000 a week is it? Taxpayers?

Mrs OBumble

I don't think that it losing 4k as such: the taxpayer subsidy of 50k was not going to be repaid if the service ws successful AFAIK.

I doubt its anywhere near turning a profit yet, but all services need time to grow, and i have seen some people on the buses. And the GAA service was a success by all accounts and only hapened cos they had the infrastructure in place.

antoobrien

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I doubt its anywhere near turning a profit yet, but all services need time to grow, and i have seen some people on the buses. And the GAA service was a success by all accounts and only hapened cos they had the infrastructure in place.

Mrs OB. the services need to be useful or they won't grow. This service is too small to make any difference to Galway and is designed as a lifeboat to save the chamber of commerce investment in the airport.