[Article] Battle for the car parks to begin at Dublin Airport

Victor

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2003/12/18/story126293.html

Battle for the car parks to begin at Dublin Airport
18/12/2003 - 4:40:46 pm

The opening of a second car park facility beside Dublin Airport on Friday could lead to a price war between it and the current car park operator Aer Rianta.

Quick Park is to open a low cost car park close to Dublin Airport on the old airport road.

The car park will be serviced by a fleet of coaches that will travel to and from the airport’s main terminal building every five minutes.

Quick Park’s standard daily tariff will be €5, according to the businessman behind the venture, John O’Sullivan.

He was formerly behind the Aircoach operation and sold 90% of the company to UK bus operator Firstgroup for €15m last month, netting him €7m in the process.

O’Sullivan, who retains a 10% stake in Aircoach said today : “Quick Park will now bring competition and will challenge the state monopoly of Aer Rianta on its overpriced car parking tariff.

“Quick Park will provide the frequent leisure or business traveller with low cost parking and a shuttle service to and from the Airport,” he added.

The car park is located on a 29.5-acre site that will hold up to 3,500 cars.

Dockstop Ltd trading as Quick Park has leased the site from Gannon Homes.

The company is currently arranging a series of affinity deals with a number of business interests which will be made public in the near future.

a_ominous

Thanks be to jaysus. Had reason to be out in Dublin Airport recently. GF was on a trip aborad and getting a lift back from a (female) colleague. Got a call after thye'd been in the car park for hour and a half without finding car at 10:30 pm! Was a freezing night. I ended up having to go into the car park and paid 7.50 euro for 20 minutes in the fricking car park. Just because Aer Rianta are $#!+e

ZENER

Got a call after thye'd been in the car park for hour and a half without finding car at 10:30 pm!

Did you not read the notice on the way in to the car park ?? It sats " Aer Rianta reserver the right to move your car anywhere they please depending on the humour their in !"
:rolleyes:

I've no sympathy for anyone who loses their car in a carpark ! Even in a city centre park you make a note of where you leave your car ! How could they possibly be to blame for someone without the sense to write down the Zone and row where they parked their car on the ticket !

If your GF had gone to the Exit building and talked to them they would have gladly helped her to find her car even driving her around the area until it was found - free of charge - try that in the new carpark ! This is a regular occurance there and the staff are used to this situation !

I ended up having to go into the car park and paid 7.50 euro for 20 minutes in the fricking car park. Just because Aer Rianta are $#!+e

First off there is a 30 minute grace time in all Long term carparks at Dublin Airport - so perhaps a little bit of exaggeration on your part here ! Secondly the sign at the entry tells the parking rates i.e. 7.50 per day or part their of. Why did you go in ? Did you not read the sign ? Again why did you not go to the exit building and talk to them - I have no doubt they would have viewed your situation sympatheticaly.

What other evidence can you present to support your claim that Aer Rianta are $#!+e. Perhaps you are just repeating the words of another well publicised opponent of the company.

Tinky

ZENER

Truth hurts I guess !!

Tinky

DMC

I've never had to pay anymore than €5 whenever I used the short-term car park. And I could be there for a couple of hours.

ZENER

I think the second poster was referring to the Long Term carpark where the daily fee is Euro7.50. This is also the service provided by the new carpark at the back of the Airport by Aircoach.

Tinky

sceptre

Originally posted by tinky
I've no sympathy for anyone who loses their car in a carpark ! Even in a city centre park you make a note of where you leave your car !

Occasionally when I drive out to UL I forget which carpark I left the car in. It's useless information I don't need to file away.

therecklessone

Originally posted by tinky


If your GF had gone to the Exit building and talked to them they would have gladly helped her to find her car even driving her around the area until it was found - free of charge - try that in the new carpark ! This is a regular occurance there and the staff are used to this situation !

IIRC, car park staff used to drive around the car parks every few hours, noting down the registration and position of all the cars to help with this very problem. That was a few years ago mind.

Unfortunately, the number of people who abandon all reason on entering an airport is staggering.

ZENER

Carpark staff were given the job of logging the reg number of cars in the long term carpark situated beside the Multi-storey until the larger longterm park was introduced. This was a customer service excercise to reunite drivers with their cars after a long period away.

For the most part remembering where you parked your car a few hours ago is not a problem ! I think most people are capable of recalling familiar objects after a short period of time.

The point of my comment was that airports are 24 hour facilities therefore it's quite possible that an intending passanger may be parking their car in relative darkness.

It's rare to find a passanger etc. lose their car in the short term - less than 2 hours - carpark ! It's a simple matter of jotting down, on the parking ticket, the zone and row number which are clearly marked in the long term carpark.

Anyway if you prefer to forget where you park your car so be it! My main reason for replying to this thread initially was due to the sweeping statement made by the second poster that Aer Rianta are sh*te !!!! That poster has yet to support his statement despite being on this forum since !

As an employee at Dublin Airport I take great offence to people judging the company I work damn hard for - hence me -with throw away remarks like that. I feel I offered common sense advice to prevent a similar future episode occurring. Perhaps I have a chip on my shoulder over this but increasingly people vocally attack employees at the airport instead of simply asking for help, we are human being after all despite misconceptions !

Anyway rant over !!

Tinky

therecklessone

Rant fully understood tinky, as an ex Airport employee I feel your pain. I wasn't trying to have a go (with the staff used to record regs thing, in case you thought I was), just pointing out the lengths staff often go to, to help make people's journey through the airport a little bit less stressful.

I've done more than my fair share of helping dopes find their cars, in the multi and the long term car parks. And I recall having to help bewildered car hire punters being given s***e directions by Hertz and friends...

The amount of crap Aer Rianta staff take in the airport is uncalled for.

ZENER

I guessed you may have worked there !

You raise an interesting point about car-hire etc. Aer Rianta are often mistakenly blamed by passangers for the poor service they have been subjected to by their airline or other consessionaire at the airport. These same people then refuse to accept that they are blaming the wrong people ! God help anyone wearing an Air Rianta ID - you're an easy target !

I could list many things here that the airport authority have made airlines do in order to better serve their customers - one that springs to mind is wheelchairs for disabled/infirm passangers ! Ryanair were the biggest opponents to this move claiming that it would increase airfares FFS !!

Apologies . . rant continues !!!!:mad: :mad:

Tinky

robbie1876

Maybe you guys can correct me on this, but is it my imagination or is there nowhere to pick passengers up outside the terminal? All I seem to find when I pick people up is the drop off zone, and there are always punters hanging around moving me on from there. So I end up in the multi-story most of the time.

Can somebody clarify this for me?

Cheers.

ZENER

Maybe you guys can correct me on this, but is it my imagination or is there nowhere to pick passengers up outside the terminal? All I seem to find when I pick people up is the drop off zone, and there are always punters hanging around moving me on from there. So I end up in the multi-story most of the time.

Can somebody clarify this for me?

There was a time when the arrivals road could be used for collecting your nearest and dearest, but when you think of the number of people that fly into Dublin Airport today compared with say 10 years ago you can understand that to let everyone pick up on the arrivals road would require an area the size of say . . a multistorey carpark !!

I think Dublin Airport is unique in this respect as the carpark is right outside the terminal building.

The Departure road can still be used to drop passangers and their luggage off so passangers dont have to carry baggage all the way from the carpark to the terminal and to help prevent missed flights.

There is also the security side of things - Police and Fire Services are the only other vehicles permitted to use the Arrivals road, aside from taxi's and busses, their progress must be allowed unhindered so they can access incidents as quickly as possible.

Tinky

DMC

Probably right on that, tinky, he must have parked in the long-term to help find his GF's collegues car in the Long-term park.

You could always tell your nearest and dearest to go up the stairs to the departure entrance and pick them up from there.

ZENER

SSHHHH!!! dont tell everyone now !

Chances are you will be told by the police that you must go to the car-park but generally they only concentrate on keeping the arrivals road clear of public cars. The departure road is well gaurded and if you dont look like you're dropping off you will be moved on. If you do intend to pick up be sure THEY are waiting for YOU and not the other way around !!!

Tinky

antoinolachtnai

It shouldn't really be possible to lose your car completely in the long-term car park, if you can remember what day you left your car there (which will be printed on the ticket, in the worst case). They only open a controlled section of the car park to new vehicles each day. I assume the driver of the bus will be able to tell you what days correspond to what sections of the car park.

Victor

http://www.thepost.ie/web/DocumentView/did-443798647-pageUrl--2FThe-Newspaper-2FSundays-Paper-2FNews.asp

Dublin Airport : car park competition hots up
11/01/04 00:00
By Niamh Connolly

Dublin Airport's new private car park had 2,500 customers over the Christmas period, according to figures for its first three weeks of business.

The 3,500-space Quick Park facility was most popular with people travelling abroad after Christmas, according to its operator John O'Sullivan.

December 27 was Quick Park's busiest day, when it facilitated 1,100 cars. Quick Park owner John O'Sullivan said the car park is "convenient, safe and price competitive" for airline passengers.

"We didn't call it Quick Park for nothing. We have a free bus for passengers and a bus lane leading right to the door of the airport ± it takes only five minutes," O'Sullivan said. Quick Park, located off the Santry Road, charges €5 daily and €1 hourly.

It is the first car park to set up in competition with Aer Rianta, which charges a daily rate of €7.50 and a hourly rate of €2.30.

Business passengers are also expected to use the private car park. "In the next week we expect to see business travel return. We believe that's really our market.

"It's the frequent users who we believe will make an informed choice, and save money in the process," he said.

The 29.5 acre site is owed by Gerry Gannon of Gannon Homes, and is leased by Quick Park which is fullyowned by John O'Sullivan and his wife Una.

O'Sullivan made €7 million when he sold 90 per cent of his private bus company, Aircoach, in November last year. He remains managing director of Aircoach which serves both Quick Park and the Aer Rianta long term car park.

The Aer Rianta contract was worth €3m to Aircoach last year and is understood to be up for renewal next year.

Business travellers' average parking demand is three days, costing €15 at Quick Park, and €22.50 at Aer Rianta's long-term facility.

Car space for a week costs €35 at Quick Park compared to €43 for an eight-day week at Aer Rianta. A two-week holiday would mean a saving of €16. Aer Rianta's special offer would pare savings back to €6 if the break ran to 16 days.

Aer Rianta said it had no plans to change its pricing policy in response to the new competitor, but it "would bear it in mind when looking at our pricing policy in the future".

Quick Park expects to discuss additional road signage with Fingal County Council shortly, but O'Sullivan said the current lack of commercial road signposts did not pose a problem.

Driving from the city centre, Quick Park is most easily accessed from Santry Village. The park can also be reached from the M1 by taking the Santry road at the airport roundabout and passing through three sets of traffic lights.

How they compare
Quick Park / Aer Rianta
Hourly rate €1 / €2.30
Dáily rate €5 / €7.50
Fortnightly rate (16-day offer) €70 / €86
Spaces QP : 3,500 / AR : 4,000 short-term, 14,000 long-term

davidm20

Do they have a web site with Frequency/Start time of buses. Going to airport next week for flight at 6:30am will have to check in 5:45 region and need to know there will be a bus to bring me to airport. Had a look around but could not find an official site

Thanks

Victor

Originally posted by davidm20
Do they have a web site with Frequency/Start time of buses. Going to airport next week for flight at 6:30am will have to check in 5:45 region and need to know there will be a bus to bring me to airport. Had a look around but could not find an official site

Aircoach run through the night. Or you could take the last Nitelink (31N, 41N) to Swords at 4:30am (Thursday to Saturday, 2:00am Monday to Wednesday).

Also http://www.iol.ie/~dkane/menubar.gif

www.aircoach.ie

The Ballsbridge / Donnybrook service departs Dublin Airport every 15 minutes from 4.30am until Midnight and hourly from Midnight to 4.30am.

The Lepoardstown / Sandyford / Stillorgan service departs Dublin Airport :

every 30 mins from 4am to 6am
every 15 mins from 6 am to 8pm
every 30mins from 8pm to 11pm

http://www.dublinairport.ie/AR_Dublin/Live/Lv_pres_GenTemplate.asp?strPage_Name=DN_Parking
Car Park Information Line 1800 204010 (within Ireland) - +353 1 8144828 (outside Ireland)

Quick Park appears not to have a website.