The footpath extension at millstreet

Neyite

snubbleste wrote: »

But where will parents park their vehicles when awaiting their precious progeny alighting from schools?

Well, where they always have, of course. On the pavements, corners and double yellow lines right outside the schools using their "park anywhere" lights.

Fey!

Firstly, it's not scaremongering. According to the corpo Mill Street carpark is always empty, which is the main carpark on this side of town. Unfortunately you can never get a parking space in this empty carpark.

Dyke Road is all well and good if you don't have to carry anything up town. However, for those balancing kids and all that entails it might as well be on mars.

As for Jurys carpark, a lot of people refuse to park in it. The marks on the walls of the ramps are refered to as the Jurys Kiss, as are the marks on the bumpers of many of the cars in there. The spaces are too small to get in and out of your car, and if you're in anything bigger than a mid sized car it's a nightmare. I parked in there daily for 10 years, but stopped because my car was getting destroyed in there from people opening doors into it.

Several people have said that a removing parking won't stop people from coming into town; why would you come into town if you can't park? The city centre is quiet enough right now, and it's just going to get quieter.

Someone mentioned that we couldn't have too many taxis; we have over 1,300 taxis here (as mentioned earlier, more per capita than New York).

Over the last couple of years a lot of extra space has been given over for taxi ranks, which includes in Eyre Square and Market Street. A lot of existing ranks aren't being utilised, but there is still more space being given over.

Paddyfield

Fey! wrote: »

Over the last couple of years a lot of extra space has been given over for taxi ranks, which includes in Eyre Square and Market Street. A lot of existing ranks aren't being utilised, but there is still more space being given over.

There are taxi ranks everywhere now including Salthill and Knocknacarra.

I didn't know that there was one on Market Street too. Why wasn't it there ten years ago when I was going home alone from CP's on wet Tuesday nights in November?

Mrs OBumble

Fey! wrote: »

Firstly, it's not scaremongering. According to the corpo Mill Street carpark is always empty, which is the main carpark on this side of town. Unfortunately you can never get a parking space in this empty carpark.

Ahh, I believe that it's revenue figures, rather than operational ones, which say it's empty.

I've been told that the difference could be due to the effect of a St Paul's Credit Union book left in the car dashboard. Never observed it myself - but then I've never tried to park a car there.

You do know there are also carparks in Woodquay, Merchants Rd (two big buildings, which I've never had a problem getting cars around in), Market Street/Bowling Green, Radisson, Fairgreen the coach station, Corrib Court, the Cathedral, Newtonsmith, Harbour Hotel, and at the weekend in St Pats and the Mercy and the county-council yard?

So I wouldn't think that the removal of a few hard-to-get-out-of-safely parks in Bridge St is going to destroy the town.

ben.schlomo

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Ahh, I believe that it's revenue figures, rather than operational ones, which say it's empty.

I've been told that the difference could be due to the effect of a St Paul's Credit Union book left in the car dashboard. Never observed it myself - but then I've never tried to park a car there.

You do know there are also carparks in Woodquay, Merchants Rd (two big buildings, which I've never had a problem getting cars around in), Market Street/Bowling Green, Radisson, Fairgreen the coach station, Corrib Court, the Cathedral, Newtonsmith, Harbour Hotel, and at the weekend in St Pats and the Mercy and the county-council yard?

So I wouldn't think that the removal of a few hard-to-get-out-of-safely parks in Bridge St is going to destroy the town.

Im sure theres a plausible excuse as to why these arent usable though, people are probably too fat to fit in the entrances etc etc.;)

snubbleste

Lots and lots and lots of motorists don't bother paying for parking in MillStreet car park and the Council are aware of this for decades yet turn a blind eye.
It's not clear why this is the case. :rolleyes:

Fey!

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

You do know there are also carparks in Woodquay, Merchants Rd (two big buildings, which I've never had a problem getting cars around in), Market Street/Bowling Green, Radisson, Fairgreen the coach station, Corrib Court, the Cathedral, Newtonsmith, Harbour Hotel, and at the weekend in St Pats and the Mercy and the county-council yard?

You're absolutely right about Mill Street; they are judging it by revenue, and it has been pointed out that it is always full, and that a large number of spaces get blocked by imaginative parkers.

With the exception of Market Street carpark, most of the others are the other end of the town, which doesn't suit a lot of people who find it too awkward to drag themselves across the town (or who just can't be bothered; if it isn't handy, then don;t bother mentality).

St Pats is great at the weekend, but it's only at the weekend, and frequently has a queue to get into it.

It may only be 10 or so spaces, but it's another 10 or so spaces, as over the years a lot of on street parking have become loading bays and taxi ranks.

Zzippy

I agree with Fey. The parking spaces on the bridge and at Bridge Mills are very handy if you're just doing a bit of shopping. Taxis have been progressively taking over this space, even blocking cars in - we had a taxi driver almost refuse to move to let us out of a space at Bridge Mills once, he was pulled in across the front of the car and didn't want to lose his place in the "queue". Now we're supposed to give in to that behaviour and lose those parking spaces to pander to them? I'm sure a lot of people with limited mobility will welcome being told to feck off to Mill St or the Dyke Rd car parks, with the extra walking...

ben.schlomo

Zzippy wrote: »

I agree with Fey. The parking spaces on the bridge and at Bridge Mills are very handy if you're just doing a bit of shopping. Taxis have been progressively taking over this space, even blocking cars in - we had a taxi driver almost refuse to move to let us out of a space at Bridge Mills once, he was pulled in across the front of the car and didn't want to lose his place in the "queue". Now we're supposed to give in to that behaviour and lose those parking spaces to pander to them? I'm sure a lot of people with limited mobility will welcome being told to feck off to Mill St or the Dyke Rd car parks, with the extra walking...

Or they could just park in the Eyre Sq Centre and have everything they need under the roof.

Zzippy

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Or they could just park in the Eyre Sq Centre and have everything they need under the roof.

Did you miss the bit about people with limited mobility? Mill Street would be closer than Eyre Sq for certain parts of town, but its still too far for some people. And what relevance is a car park/shopping centre under one roof to people who want to visit a certain shop in another part of town?

ben.schlomo

Zzippy wrote: »

Did you miss the bit about people with limited mobility? Mill Street would be closer than Eyre Sq for certain parts of town, but its still too far for some people. And what relevance is a car park/shopping centre under one roof to people who want to visit a certain shop in another part of town?

Are the spaces they are getting rid of all for disabled people? There are many disabled spaces around the town, and to add your wonderful point what good is a space on Bridge St to one of these disabled people going to WhiteHall for instance?

Zzippy

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Are the spaces they are getting rid of all for disabled people? There are many disabled spaces around the town, and to add your wonderful point what good is a space on Bridge St to one of these disabled people going to WhiteHall for instance?

No, and I didn't mention disabled people, I said people with limited mobility. That could include older people, people with illnesses, mothers with young children, people needing to drop off or collect bulky items. I wasn't talking about disabled spaces, there are some of those already on Bridge St. (I don't know if these are planned to remain).
I'm not sure where Whitehall is in Galway, I've never heard of it. But I was talking about the usefulness of the spaces on Bridge St to people visiting businesses in that part of town i.e. in the vicinity of Bridge St., so unless Whitehall is close by there its completely irrelevant and I'm not sure why you mentioned it.

Iwannahurl

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Ahh, I believe that it's revenue figures, rather than operational ones, which say it's empty.

I was wondering whether that might be the case.

Mill Street car park is often full, but the Council isn't getting all the revenue it could. The reason is obvious.

EDIT: just spotted Snubbleste's post above.

Iwannahurl

Fey! wrote: »

As for Jurys carpark, a lot of people refuse to park in it. The marks on the walls of the ramps are refered to as the Jurys Kiss, as are the marks on the bumpers of many of the cars in there. The spaces are too small to get in and out of your car, and if you're in anything bigger than a mid sized car it's a nightmare. I parked in there daily for 10 years, but stopped because my car was getting destroyed in there from people opening doors into it.

Several people have said that a removing parking won't stop people from coming into town; why would you come into town if you can't park? The city centre is quiet enough right now, and it's just going to get quieter.

Jurys is a bit tight, that's true. I had a scrape there myself once, but I became much more careful after that.

I never park on anything but an empty level, of which there are many, which eliminates the door banging problem.

City centre parking, and parking management generally, is a major issue that needs to be addressed in Galway. Anyone know the total number of spaces in the city centre?

Storm 10

With regard to Millstreet Car Park I parked there recently and there was a guy in the blue container hut that is there, I saw him come out and walk around the car park looking to see if there were tickets on display, beware of that.

Mrs OBumble

Zzippy wrote: »

I agree with Fey. The parking spaces on the bridge and at Bridge Mills are very handy if you're just doing a bit of shopping. .

Shopping where exactly?

It's not like Bridge St / Dominic St / Mill St / Nuns Island are any kind of retail mecca ...

01902

Was so lovely to walk past the Bridge Mills today on the new widened footpath. It has always been to slim there.

Zzippy

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Shopping where exactly?

It's not like Bridge St / Dominic St / Mill St / Nuns Island are any kind of retail mecca ...

Between shops, restaurants, pubs, public buildings, language schools, cultural centres, doctor/dentists surgeries, etc there are at least 40 "commercial" premises between the canal on Dominick St and the junction with Cross St., not to mention the dozens more businesses on Mainguard St., Cross St., Lombard St., Shop St., Quay St. and High St., all of which are within a minute's walk of the parking on the bridge.

Or does there have to be a M&S or Dunnes for a street to qualify as a "retail mecca"?

Fey!

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Shopping where exactly?

It's not like Bridge St / Dominic St / Mill St / Nuns Island are any kind of retail mecca ...

Cross Street, Mainguard Street, High Street, Lombard Street, Market Street.

A lot of great, independent shops who rely on local custom.

yer man!

Fey! wrote: »

Cross Street, Mainguard Street, High Street, Lombard Street, Market Street.

A lot of great, independent shops who rely on local custom.

What about the likes of Easons, Powells, Anthony Ryans and every other shop on shop street, they were up in arms when pedestrianization was first mooted, saying people won't be as likely to come into town or will avoid the area. Ever since they got rid of cars there, the place has flourished. It's standard practice for any urban area, you cannot have a situation where everyone can bring their 3X2 metre metal transport box just because they don't want to walk a little bit.

galwaycyclist

Zzippy wrote: »

Between shops, restaurants, pubs, public buildings, language schools, cultural centres, doctor/dentists surgeries, etc there are at least 40 "commercial" premises between the canal on Dominick St and the junction with Cross St., not to mention the dozens more businesses on Mainguard St., Cross St., Lombard St., Shop St., Quay St. and High St., all of which are within a minute's walk of the parking on the bridge.

Or does there have to be a M&S or Dunnes for a street to qualify as a "retail mecca"?

OK I am trying to get my head around this. If these shops are within a minutes walk of Bridge St then they are within 5 minutes (or 400metres) of somewhere else where parking could be provided.

In a location like Bridge St there is always going to be way more demand for parking than supply (unless you do like Amsterdam and charge eu5 an hour).

In that situation, all you are doing is tempting people to drive in as far as Bridge St on the off-chance that there "might" be parking spaces there. In most cases there won't be and our speculative parkers will have to drive around looking for somewhere else to park.

So rather than facilitating traders all you are doing is attracting more needless traffic congestion and pollution. From memory, in Munich they showed that by making on-street parking residents only they cut traffic by something like 20%. This was simply because it got rid of the speculative parkers who keep driving around and around looking for parking 1 minute away instead of parking and walking for 5 minutes.

Zzippy

galwaycyclist wrote: »

OK I am trying to get my head around this. If these shops are within a minutes walk of Bridge St then they are within 5 minutes (or 400metres) of somewhere else where parking could be provided.

In a location like Bridge St there is always going to be way more demand for parking than supply (unless you do like Amsterdam and charge eu5 an hour).

In that situation, all you are doing is tempting people to drive in as far as Bridge St on the off-chance that there "might" be parking spaces there. In most cases there won't be and our speculative parkers will have to drive around looking for somewhere else to park.

So rather than facilitating traders all you are doing is attracting more needless traffic congestion and pollution. From memory, in Munich they showed that by making on-street parking residents only they cut traffic by something like 20%. This was simply because it got rid of the speculative parkers who keep driving around and around looking for parking 1 minute away instead of parking and walking for 5 minutes.

They are not removing cars. They are replacing on-street parking with on-street taxi rank. So instead of people parking there you will have taxis parking there and queueing for fares. I made the point that the on-street parking there is very handy for people with limited mobility to get close to the shops in that area. That's all I was saying. Those people would find it a lot harder to walk the 400m that you mention. I'm not limited mobility, but I did spend time on crutches before and found that parking very handy for Mainguard St. If I hadn't been able to park there I wouldn't have bothered.

I accept your points about reducing congestion, but why eliminate a few parking spaces close to a busy shopping area in order to pander to taxis? The only time that taxi rank sees significant custom is at night, so you will have taxis sitting there for long periods taking up the same spaces that shoppers' cars would have previously.

At least your post was constructive, and not disparaging about people with less mobility, or sarcastic comments about retail meccas...

Fey!

As Zzippy said, 400 metres or 5 minutes walk is, for a lot of people, a huge distance.

GalwayCyclist; unfortunately the residents in the area are some of the worst affected. If they don't park in their designated area during the day (which they often can't as the taxis won't let them) they get ticketed, and appeals don't work for them when the reason is "bullied out of parking in designated area".

galwaycyclist

Fey! wrote: »

As Zzippy said, 400 metres or 5 minutes walk is, for a lot of people, a huge distance.

GalwayCyclist; unfortunately the residents in the area are some of the worst affected. If they don't park in their designated area during the day (which they often can't as the taxis won't let them) they get ticketed, and appeals don't work for them when the reason is "bullied out of parking in designated area".

400m is about the distance from the bottom of Mainguard St to the Imperial Hotel.

If residents are getting bullied out then the answer is to forbid anyone who doesn't live there, or is not visiting a resident, from parking on those streets.

Fey!

Unfortunately it is the taxis who are bullying them; I've had this said to me by half a dozen people in recent weeks.

Again, 400m, or the trek through the town, is difficult if you aren't fully able bodied (and you mightn't be entitled to a handicapped space), or if you have kids in tow, or even if you only want to go to a particular place, or are just coming in for lunch.

galwaycyclist

Zzippy wrote: »

I made the point that the on-street parking there is very handy for people with limited mobility to get close to the shops in that area. That's all I was saying. Those people would find it a lot harder to walk the 400m that you mention. I'm not limited mobility, but I did spend time on crutches before and found that parking very handy for Mainguard St. If I hadn't been able to park there I wouldn't have bothered.

I accept your points about reducing congestion, but why eliminate a few parking spaces close to a busy shopping area in order to pander to taxis? The only time that taxi rank sees significant custom is at night, so you will have taxis sitting there for long periods taking up the same spaces that shoppers' cars would have previously.

I accept your point about limited mobility. I can only project from my own experience which is that if I drive to town during peak shopping hours I would think myself very lucky to get a space on Bridge St or Market St or anywhere in that zone. So it leads me to conclude that it is a matter of luck for people less mobile than myself as well.

If we accept a need for parking for less mobile people - then how do we remove luck from the equation?

Zzippy

galwaycyclist wrote: »

I accept your point about limited mobility. I can only project from my own experience which is that if I drive to town during peak shopping hours I would think myself very lucky to get a space on Bridge St or Market St or anywhere in that zone. So it leads me to conclude that it is a matter of luck for people less mobile than myself as well.

If we accept a need for parking for less mobile people - then how do we remove luck from the equation?

Its probably impossible to do so. Getting a parking space there will always be a matter of luck. However, removing the spaces means removing any chance of getting a space there, and just handing street space to taxis.

You're also removing a revenue stream from parking fees and giving free parking/waiting areas to private business (taxis), at the expense of other private business in the area (shops etc losing customers). Why should taxis get preferential treatment over other businesses, and over citizens?

Cleahaigh

Ultimately we're talking about 8 parking spaces.

Mrs OBumble

Fey! wrote: »

Cross Street, Mainguard Street, High Street, Lombard Street, Market Street.

A lot of great, independent shops who rely on local custom.

Virtually all of which are closer to the carpark in Market Street than they are to Bridge Street. :rolleyes:


I know that some of you have been parking in Bridge Street for generations, but really it's ridiculous gettng upset by the removal of probably about 10 spaces in order to make the intersection safer for everyone.

Fey!

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Virtually all of which are closer to the carpark in Market Street than they are to Bridge Street.

Then to leave Market Street carpark you have to do a circuit of the town or of the cathedral if you're heading toward Salthill or Westside.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

:rolleyes:

??

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I know that some of you have been parking in Bridge Street for generations, but really it's ridiculous gettng upset by the removal of probably about 10 spaces in order to make the intersection safer for everyone.

That isn't it at all.

The spaces which currently exist until 6:30pm are now being being moved across the road and being made into 24 hour taxi spaces. Nothing to do with the intersection, and nobody here is against making the intersection safer. Also no objections to thm being moved across the road.