3 hour parking limit in West End Retail Park

athtrasna

Hadn't heard about this until today when Cllr. David McGuinness posted this on twitter https://twitter.com/CllrMcGuinness/status/301653518647963648/photo/1

Free parking has always been a big lure to Blanchardstown Shopping Centre and although West End is owned by a different company I think this is a negative move.

Personally I hate that car park, some real bottle necks and always way busier than it looks. But like many people I'm likely to park there, do my shopping there and then leave the car while I nip over to the centre, saves the hassle of moving it. 3 hours is not very long to do all that. If people have to move their cars then it's going to add to the congestion at the shopping centre which is bad enough as it is.

Murt10

athtrasna wrote: »

[url]


.... 3 hours is not very long ......


3 hours is a lifetime to spend shopping. :D[/url]

amdublin

I love shopping. And I love the towncentre. But jeebs I'd be unlikely to be there over 3 hours.

jeffk

Three hours is loads , its not like the have started to charge(that would be a big mistake)
Be handy if they had signs up to this effect also, over there today an I didn't see any.

athtrasna

Three hours is fine if you know you have X,Y & Z to get and you know where to get them. It's not fine if you're comparing prices across a couple of stores or stuck for an idea for a present. God forbid you'd want to get a coffee or lunch too.

I find the centre to be a bit of a black hole timewise, I pop over to get one or two things, allow 30 mins in my head and two hours later I'm still there. I'm sure I'm not alone in that

jeffk

athtrasna wrote: »

Three hours is fine if you know you have X,Y & Z to get and you know where to get them. It's not fine if you're comparing prices across a couple of stores or stuck for an idea for a present. God forbid you'd want to get a coffee or lunch too.

I find the centre to be a bit of a black hole timewise, I pop over to get one or two things, allow 30 mins in my head and two hours later I'm still there. I'm sure I'm not alone in that

Park in the numerous non three hour limit car parks ? The one @ light etc is a two minute walk away.

ShM

Stupid idea...What if you have to park there for work and your shift is over 3 hours? An employer wont let you out too drive your car out and back in again?!?
:mad::mad:

Gate Automation

It's happened because parking is permanently blocking for people who left the car and went to work.

jeffk

Gate Automation wrote: »

It's happened because parking is permanently blocking for people who left the car and went to work.

Do most/all staff that start first thing not park in the upper level of the multi story?

miamee

Only applies Monday-Friday, €120 clamp after 3 hours. It's an odd move but the piece says it is intended to discourage outside workers from parking there. At a (wild) guess I'd say it might be people who work in the places behind them on the Snugborough Road who might use it as a staff car park, can't think who else would need to.

Murt10

I can see their point to be honest.

You could park there and then walk to Coolmine Train Station. Bit of a hike I suppose, but given that the train will have you in Town in 20 mins, it would be worthwhile for some, especially if they work near the train or Dart lines. Anyway, the exercise would do you good.

Also, you could park up there and walk across and get the 39 express or any of the other buses that stop at the Centre.

Its cheaper than paying to park at the train station and it's certainly cheaper than parking in Town.

If I was living somewhere not served by the bus I wanted, or any bus at all, I would definitely consider one of these options.

dickwod1

<Snip>

Gaspode

Keep it on topic please

B.A._Baracus

I get the move, after all its their carpark and its meant to be for customers. It's a business and private property after all. But is this only a threat to stop people who use it for free parking? or an actually intention to clamp people?

Because don't tell me you wont have people parking by Argos (or what have you) doing a little shopping there and then spending a couple of hours in the centre. It would be messed up to have spent X amount of money and to be then clamped. Then going through a whole process to say you were doing X, Y, Z the whole time.

Being honest this aint going to stop shit either way. Anyone who does use the Westend for free-parking is just going to park in either the Green, Blue, Red or Yellow carparks upon hearing this.

Gate Automation

Rest car park it's open at 8, that is too late for people who left car and went to work.

ljcoolk

I think Westend are doing this to stop Liberty staff from parking in the westend car park, they open the red entrance carpark after 9, multistory has security guard at the entrance.

I dont work in Liberty but I personally think its unfair as their part of the centre its not the employees fault, some have no option but to drive, bad planning is at fault, Westend staff can park all day in the carpark a tad unfair.

Saruman

3 hours is not a lot of time if going to see a movie or play or eating dinner along with your shopping.

miamee

Saruman wrote: »

3 hours is not a lot of time if going to see a movie or play or eating dinner along with your shopping.

There are plenty of other car parks closer to Draíocht and the cinema and restaurants though. West End car park would be my last choice if I was driving for cinema or the theatre.

jeffk

miamee wrote: »

There are plenty of other car parks closer to Draíocht and the cinema and restaurants though. West End car park would be my last choice if I was driving for cinema or the theatre.

saved me typing this out , you can park in any car park and walk to any part of the centre in about five minutes.

plus if the weather is bad , id much rather park in the sheltered multi story an come in by M&S.

Saruman

My bad, I thought we were talking about a centre wide thing rather than just West end.

If it's just West end then I know exactly why they are doing it.
Ebay employees don't have enough car park spaces and many park in the West end overflow behind heatons. Parking in places that are not even car park spaces.
I have seen people stuck because morons have parked in front of their car.

jeffk

Saruman wrote: »

My bad, I thought we were talking about a centre wide thing rather than just West end.

If it's just West end then I know exactly why they are doing it.
Ebay employees don't have enough car park spaces and many park in the West end overflow behind heatons. Parking in places that are not even car park spaces.
I have seen people stuck because morons have parked in front of their car.

Also the dole car park has about ten spaces and then inside the gate there are spaces free they don't let people use. So most of them end up in the overflow car-park as well.

markas

excelent idea. first 30 min free would be better

cython

ljcoolk wrote: »

I think Westend are doing this to stop Liberty staff from parking in the westend car park, they open the red entrance carpark after 9, multistory has security guard at the entrance.

I dont work in Liberty but I personally think its unfair as their part of the centre its not the employees fault, some have no option but to drive, bad planning is at fault, Westend staff can park all day in the carpark a tad unfair.

Neither is it the fault nor responsibility of WestEnd to provide parking for employees of businesses whose facilities were not planned appropriately. Westend are a separate entity to much of the rest of the centre, and hence they have even less reason to accommodate such issues. I used to work in Coolmine Business Park, and we had a shortage of spaces allocated to our unit, but I didn't decide it was appropriate for me to go up to (what is now) Topaz and park there because their staff had no shortage. This is no different

anniehoo

Does anyone know if its the same story for the carpark over where TK Maxx is?

miamee

Not that I am aware of and I walk through there regularly. Lots of people park there first thing in the morning. The shop end of the carpark is closed off until 9am so staff and 'park-and-ride' people who leave the car there to get the bus can't fill up the spaces near the shops. But no charge to park there (at the moment).

BabysCoffee

Are they going to clamp if you park for longer than 3 hrs?

Wils110

They are going to clamp down more on people driving to the center parking and getting the bus to work and there damn right to...what west end is fed up of is people parking there side going to the main center doing there shopping and not spending a penny over the westend

BabysCoffee

Wils110 wrote: »

They are going to clamp down more on people driving to the center parking and getting the bus to work and there damn right to...what west end is fed up of is people parking there side going to the main center doing there shopping and not spending a penny over the westend

Are they going to clamp cars that are there for longer than 3 hrs?

Wils110

BabysCoffee wrote: »

Are they going to clamp cars that are there for longer than 3 hrs?

Why not...you can't park at the drive thru in McDonald's for more then a hour without getting clamped

Wils110

At the end of the day people are abusing the centres free parking and it will be there fault when you have to pay a fiver to do your grocery shopping

chucknorris

Wils110 wrote: »

At the end of the day people are abusing the centres free parking and it will be there fault when you have to pay a fiver to do your grocery shopping

Well, it's either free or it isn't. I wouldn't park in the center for more than Three hours myself, but many, many a woman would do Six without blinking :-)