Leixlip Louisa bridge parking charges

[firefly]

Hi All

I am a regular train user from Leixlip Louisa bridge to
Pearse street station. Parking has been a continuous problem with the majority of station users having to park along the main road. A new carpark has recently been built and was open yesterday for the first time. I was disgusted to find that IE intend to charge rail users for this car park. To my mind this is ridiculous, We are supposed to be encoraged to use public transport not penalised for it. Whilst the charge is not a lot (for the Moment), on prinsible i think something has to be done to stop this. Can anything be done?

regards.

[Ronald Binge]

It says a lot that you have to come over from Celbridge to Louisa Bridge. The Hatch is so snarled up at the front end with overflow parking and it's a bit of a lottery to get one of the very few spaces at the back end.

Even if it is €2 or so per day it is still preferable to driving into town and paying for parking after tearing the hell out of your clutch.

We shouldn't have to pay but I suspect IR are worried about managing demand.

[Mark Gleeson]

We have been witness to some very heated debate on the issue of car parking. Believe it or not it is the number one issue raised at public meetings

What is required is
Clean, well marked, decent surface adequately lit with CCTV. In light of high levels of vandalism numerous people have asked that there be a man in a booth on site through the day to keep an eye on things

Irish Rail agree on most of this but and its the big but they won't have a on site presence unless you pay

End result is if there is a charge there should be a man on site and provision is made such that non rail users are heavily penalised for using the car park

And there is a 300+ space car park with a new link road going in in Hazelhatch

Can someone confirm
1. What the charges are
2. Are non rail users charged more
3. Is there a physical presence on site

[firefly]

The charges are €2 per day or €5 per week, as i said its not that expensive but once established im sure it will be increased at EI discretion.
There is no advantage that im aware of given to train users over general users of the car park but in saying that there is not much else in the area which general users will need to park here for.
I take ronalds point of parking charges in town but , not all car comuters to town have to pay parking. I have the use of a company car park for no charge but stopped driving into work last August in favor of using public transport. I feel this €250 a year charge on top of my ticket price is now discoraging me from using the train service and car park.
I intend to remain parking on the road for the moment as why would i pay for a car park when i can legally park on the road, im sure the roads department will soon put a stop to this though, then i will have to make the discision on how i intend to commute to town. incidentially i did park in the original car park but due to EI poor managment of parking i was repeatidly blocked in my parking space by other inconsidered parkers. Is this car park going to be properley managed and inconsiderate parking prevented when the car park is full at a future date. for the moment i see no incentive to stop parking on the road which im sure was one of the main reasons for construction of this car park.
there is no physical prescence on site but there is CCTV covering an area of the car park.

[CSL]

well in most carparks you get clamped if you park out of order

UCD is an absolute PITA for this

All the big stations charge for parking [ Heuston for example ] but it's not that pricey.

[Derek Wheeler]

This issue was flagged in the Kildare media by P11. Kildare post ran the story, that included P11 and Catherine Murphy. The statement issued was as follows;

“ The introduction of car parking charges in Leixlip rail stations is further evidence that the Park n Ride concept is failing. Station car parks throughout Kildare are already bursting at the seams. Introducing a charge is just another catalyst for rail users to bypass the station car park and continue their journey by road. Irish Rail don’t give a damn. They’ll just take the revenue and run. It’s totally counter-productive to what we should be doing. Poor parking facilities and a charge, can only lead to a backlash from already hardpressed commuters. Unfortunetly this backlash will result in more cars on the road. It’s about time that Kildare county council took a lead and started to examine initiatives that promoted reliable local bus routes serving outlying areas and connecting with rail stations. It isn’t feasible to build multi-story car parks at all stations. We can’t possibly expect to always meet demand for car spaces. We have to start thinking outside the box we’re in. Address the car dependency. This is where the importance of local transport initiatives comes in. Solve that problem and the station car park becomes a luxury rather than a dreaded necessity.”

[dowlingm]

Bus service is what's needed - carparks will never keep pace. Obviously the best option would be free bus with monthly pass with IE picking up the tab or shared revenue but that's not likely!

Also, IE should be running regional buses out into the countryside to local towns to directly feed the stations with continuous tickets. For instance, at present you can get a ticket from Barrie to Toronto which is bus about halfway (to Bradford) where you change to the train. Soon that will be train all the way but I suspect then buses will start linking towns outside Barrie like Collingwood. A similar example would be running buses into Navan and Midleton to prove the feasibility or otherwise of Kingscourt and Youghal - but the through fare/ticket/pass is the key. BE would have a fit but that's why CIE shouldn't exist any more.

[Derek Wheeler]

Originally Posted by dowlingm

Bus service is what's needed - carparks will never keep pace. Obviously the best option would be free bus with monthly pass with IE picking up the tab or shared revenue but that's not likely!

Also, IE should be running regional buses out into the countryside to local towns to directly feed the stations with continuous tickets. For instance, at present you can get a ticket from Barrie to Toronto which is bus about halfway (to Bradford) where you change to the train. Soon that will be train all the way but I suspect then buses will start linking towns outside Barrie like Collingwood. A similar example would be running buses into Navan and Midleton to prove the feasibility or otherwise of Kingscourt and Youghal - but the through fare/ticket/pass is the key. BE would have a fit but that's why CIE shouldn't exist any more.

I agree completely.

[dowlingm]

I also notice that some GO Transit car parks have only handicap & carpool spaces if I read the release right.

[Oisin88]

Originally Posted by dowlingm

Bus service is what's needed - carparks will never keep pace. Obviously the best option would be free bus with monthly pass with IE picking up the tab or shared revenue but that's not likely!

Also, IE should be running regional buses out into the countryside to local towns to directly feed the stations with continuous tickets. For instance, at present you can get a ticket from Barrie to Toronto which is bus about halfway (to Bradford) where you change to the train. Soon that will be train all the way but I suspect then buses will start linking towns outside Barrie like Collingwood. A similar example would be running buses into Navan and Midleton to prove the feasibility or otherwise of Kingscourt and Youghal - but the through fare/ticket/pass is the key. BE would have a fit but that's why CIE shouldn't exist any more.

Absolutely.
Biggest waste in the country is the way Bus Eireann pump money into new buses on the Dublin to Galway, Sligo, Limerick routes instead of linking with the existing train services to get people places.

A few years ago I tried to get to West Clare by bus and train, but you can't do it. You have to get a bus from Busaras.