park & ride - salthill

loyatemu

I had to park my car at salthill dart station for the first time today.
I had been worried it would be full by the time I got there (about 0845) but was pleasantly surprised to find it nearly empty...

until I discovered why - it is pay and display and it's a fiver to park there for the day.

In general i don't think park & ride facilities should be charged for as it discourages drivers from using them, but if you are going to introduce pay parking you should at least keep the charge down to a level where people still use the carpark. I don't know if this one is owned by IE or DLR Co. Co. but what is the point of having a car park beside a railway station if it is going to sit empty all day!

I know the sandyford luas stop has pay parking beside it but it seems to be well used nonetheless - what is the daily charge there?

Zaph0d

€4 full day
€2 half day

dmeehan

they should let you have a reduced rate for the car park if you can provide a validated ticket, or some other proof that you used the dart

otherwise if it were free, people working nearby would just avail of the free car parking



does the luas park & ride give a discount for ticket holders?

loyatemu

salthill isn't really an officey area though - the fact that the car park was empty shows they have the price too high (€2 would be reasonable enough)

John R

It is empty because all the car users are parking elsewhere.

mollser

dmeehan wrote:

does the luas park & ride give a discount for ticket holders?

well, they say they do - the cost for non-luas users is, ahem €45 per day :eek:

The car park isn't actually that well used at all, I would say only 1/3rd is used every day, while cars are parked all over housing estates everywhere.

The simple and rather obvious thing to do, is, as you suggested, have a reduced charge of say €1/2 for persons in possession of a valid ticket. No, they've gone for the make as much money as we can approach, to hell with the customer. :mad:

Victor

Salthill is a council car park.

Luas is pay parking to stop people working in the industrial estate from parking there.

loyatemu

100 people paying €2 a day would net the council more money than 20 people paying €5 a day.

the idea of park and ride is to get people who already own a car to take the train instead. if you already own a car the tendency is to use it. if getting the train is going to cost you an arm & and a leg in comparison to the cost of petrol to drive into work then why would you get the train??

gjim

I don't understand why people think they should be paid to use public transport or why public transport should be free or almost free. Maybe this attitude is a product of the relatively poor quantity and quality of public transport in Ireland. In most other countries in the world having access to public transport is seen as a lifestyle bonus.

Why use a train? Simple economics. Even if you're on minimum wage, a fiver is worth about 40 minutes of your time. If getting the train knocks 20 minutes of each leg of your trip then it makes sense to use it unless you enjoy sitting in traffic jams. If you earn average industrial wage then you only need to save about 8 or 9 minutes. If you're a professional or work in the public sector it's could be about half that again or less.

Victor

The objective isn't money, its turnover of parking spaces, so that if people need to use the DART, there will be spaces available at the station.

Of course you could spend €20 a day parking on Baggot Street or €2,000 a year for an off street space.

SeanW

Victor wrote:

Salthill is a council car park.

Luas is pay parking to stop people working in the industrial estate from parking there.

But what about the Red Cow Roundabout car park? Surely few people park there except Luas users?

I think there should be no charge for train station parking but more road tolls on motorways and dual carriageways running alongside hi-frequency railways.

Just my $0.02

Victor

I think only Balally, Stillorgan and Sandyford have pay parking.

murphaph

Paid parking at train stations is correct. If it's free people who could walk will drive leaving fewer spaces for those that cannot realistacilly walk.