Parking & Clamping in UCD

GusherING

Today I parked my car in the car park across the road,on the Fosters Avenue side of the Quinn School. This gravel area, as far as I'm aware is not pay and display. Today I happened to find a space in this car park which had been tarmacadmed and had white lines. I paid no attention to this, merely thinking that UCD was merely formalising this lands status as a proper car park. I return to my car this evening and find its been clamped. Since when did this begin??

Riamfada

I posted about it before Xmass. It appears to be only that car park and the one by the tennis courts. Its a f**cking disgrace IMO . Id go nuts if they clamped my car. Try arguing that it wasnt signposted enough, because it isnt and try and get your money back .

besty

I think I saw your car when I was leaving. That's a bit of a nightmare to be honest. In fairness though, there is the pay and display machine there in full view but I hate the clampers so I would recommend you fight to the death!
Good luck

Blush_01

Join Ray D'Arcy in small claims court!

Tayto2000

There's 3 pay and display car parks, back of the sports centre, opposite the no 10 bus stop and the one opposite Quinn. I would say that more of them will become pay car parks in future or at least permit parking.

Best way not to get clamped is not to bring a car to the campus! Maybe one day the public transport situation will have improved to the point where this is a real option for those living far away. But seriously, living close by? Leave the car at home, you'll feel better for cycling or walking!

Riamfada

Tayto2000 wrote:

But seriously, living close by? Leave the car at home, you'll feel better for cycling or walking!

Every chance you people get. It was lashing rain this morning, traffic was crap for public transport and cars alike. At least I was tuckered up with the heater and radio on and a full cup of coffee and box of smokes. I didnt however smell like wet dogs crammed in on some rollercoaster sweatsmelling cant see hout the windows bus.

Pay parking is unacceptable for students who already pay up to €4500 a year. Permit parking would be much more prudent but lets see Hugh Brady give up those lovely rolls of 50cent coins. In the club Hugh In the Club

beanyb

It's only certain sections of certain carparks which makes it even more confusing! They need way more signs to let people know.

I had to pay to park last wednesday because I couldnt find any parking and was disgusted!

irlrobins

Grimes wrote:

Every chance you people get. It was lashing rain this morning, traffic was crap for public transport and cars alike. At least I was tuckered up with the heater and radio on and a full cup of coffee and box of smokes. I didnt however smell like wet dogs crammed in on some rollercoaster sweatsmelling cant see hout the windows bus.

Pay parking is unacceptable for students who already pay up to €4500 a year. Permit parking would be much more prudent but lets see Hugh Brady give up those lovely rolls of 50cent coins. In the club Hugh In the Club

TBH as parking rates go it is pretty cheap. And it is a good incentive to get people to leave cars at home.

Unfortunately nothing in life is free, so if you want ur warm car, radio, smokes etc then the cost is paying a parking fee. And any student who can afford to run a car can afford to pay parking. So quit bitching.

Riamfada

irlrobins wrote:

. And any student who can afford to run a car can afford to pay parking. So quit bitching.

I already crippled by 4500 a year for the privalge of studying arts in this poor managed hellhole im not paying more money just because some people are bitter and wont accept permits for staff and students to stop outside parkers and would much rather see people pay money due to spite.

One more thing, if i leave my car at home (miles away tbh) it adds another 2 hours to my journey and im still stuck in traffic. Somone else will take my place and mother earth will still be choking on fumes.

irlrobins

Grimes wrote:

I already crippled by 4500 a year for the privalge of studying arts

4500? You repeating or something?

Riamfada

I dropped out of a private 3rd level college two years ago and dont qualify for "free fees" even though my other college took the same ammount off me. So ontop of college fees im paying my loans. I have given up drink and socialising in general and was forced to move back home. Working Saturday and Sunday and the odd weeknight and I refuse to pay for parking when I see that its covered in my annual fees

irlrobins

ic. bummer.

Anyway still no pity for you.

Tayto2000

Grimes wrote:

Every chance you people get. It was lashing rain this morning, traffic was crap for public transport and cars alike. At least I was tuckered up with the heater and radio on and a full cup of coffee and box of smokes. I didnt however smell like wet dogs crammed in on some rollercoaster sweatsmelling cant see hout the windows bus.

Pay parking is unacceptable for students who already pay up to €4500 a year. Permit parking would be much more prudent but lets see Hugh Brady give up those lovely rolls of 50cent coins. In the club Hugh In the Club

"You people"? Do you mean cyclists? Harsh. But I should add I had a choice of car or bike this morning and I chose the bike for a couple of reasons. Traffic, lack of parking and time are the main ones 50 mins + by car, 25 mins by bike guaranteed. And I have to say I was glad as almost the entire trip was past stationary traffic. Contrary to popular belief it seems, rain does NOT in fact dissolve flesh.

Easy as it is to blame the park and riders, the main reason for the lack of parking is simply the explosion of car ownership among students. This trend is not likely to reverse itself, so I'd expect either a blanket pay and display policy or permits to come back in the future. Either would be an improvement on the current situation. I've heard that UCD is considered good free parking for the airport by some people outside Dublin because of the aircoach.

Riamfada

By "you people" i meant those who are anti-car. The pay and display may be cheap but it is unecessary when permits would do the same job. Also with more people owning cars the college (and society :rolleyes: ) must be forced to accomodate them. They cant stop the growing trend in car ownership but other colleges are building underground systems (GCD for one) .Also the car parking facilites in the college are a bit hap hazard. The SU center car park could easily fit another 20 -30 cars if it were laid out effective. It is unfortunate that the green area behind the library is gone but the entire area could be designated better leaving space for another 150-200 cars .

singingstranger

Problem with multistoreys and underground is that they've been known to cost up to €4,000 per space... or more...

irlrobins

Grimes wrote:

Also with more people owning cars the college must be forced to accomodate them.

forced? It just as easily tell car owners to fuck off. Anyway, all carparks (including surface ones) require planning permission. So if anyone objected to UCD creating additional car park space, the college wouldn't be able to accomodate more cars.

I get the impression that the college authorites would prefer not to have as many cars on campus as they do presently.

And as regards permits, you'd have to pay for them as well.

Tayto2000

I'm not anti car. As mentioned above, I own a car and a bicycle, but I choose to cycle. What I'm anti is the unnecessary number of cars brought to the campus from local areas. I'm also against more carparks being built - demand will always grow to match supply, it would be a retrograde step to encourage more cars onto campus.

Secure bike parking and car permits for staff and students would be my solution.

beanyb

I'm with Grimes, lots of the car parking facilities are really badly laid out. A few lines wouldnt go amiss! I had to park in the random little car park with no lines by the Clonskeagh gate today, and you could easily fit loads more cars if people didnt park so far apart from each other. They leave loads of space, but just not enough to fit a car in. It's really frustrating when you've been driving around looking for parking for 20 minutes, and could park somewhere if they only had marked spaces!!!

I agree on the fact with people who live close by driving. I've a friend that lives in Goatstown and drives. It'd literally be a ten or fifteen minute walk if she wasnt lazy as hell.

Riamfada

irlrobins wrote:

And as regards permits, you'd have to pay for them as well.

A little tiny sticker that says UCD that goes above your tax disk? Can UCd not spring for that? Yes it would be easier to tell car owners to F*ck off but then again that practise already has the college and the admin in the Sh*ts.

And yes forced. Parking facilites are one of the reasons I came here and if they didnt exist i would have prefered to go to an inner city campus. Ill only have a real problem if pay and display is brought in in the remaining carparks.

Or even if the money made from this went to improving that car parking facilites already available however i assume it just gets ploughed into the beurocratic mess that is UCD Belfield.


For those who come to college by Bike would you pay if UCD told you that it was going to be 50 cent an hour to leave your bike in designated areas.

Also paid parking will push all the drivers with brains out onto the clonskeagh and roebuck roads.

irlrobins

oh someone sounds bitter!

You can currently get a parking permit for UCD that allows you to park in the pay and dispay areas without have ign to pay the parking fee. Afaik it costs €60 each year to get this permit. Which is a bargain if you end up using the pay and display everyday currently.

Maybe it's just me but choosing a college over another college because it has better parking facilities is a pretty stupid way of choosing.

Riamfada

Parking facilites influence very much how many people get to college . Im not bitter but Im a bit tired of the arguements for introducing pay and display. People will still park there only the college will generate lots of revenue for nothing . Yet another charge by UCD to squeeze all the money they can out of their students while neglecting their teaching standards.


As I stated if UCD actually improved the existing carparks into real designated zones thus increasing the volume of cars while not removing anymore greenspace. It cant cost that much to lay down some tarmac.

elmyra

Didn't Dan Hayden's manifesto say something about addressing the parking problem?

In general it's a bloody nightmare parking here, though today I actually arrived at lunch time and pulled straight into a space, it was a miracle! Well, I did try one other car park first, but still, less than five minutes driving around, amazing for UCD!!

I'm not too bad usually, having 3 nine a.m.'s I get in early enough to get a good space usually, even with the forty five minute drive than only takes ten in off peak hours, but on the days I'm in at lunch it's crazy and I've ended up paying loads of times.

Incidentally, was fun in the not-really-a-car-park car park across from Quinn when I drove through there too, somebody had blocked off one of the rows by parking completely inconsiderately (no prizes for guessing who's getting clamped today) and there was a little learner driver convention of about 4 girls realising with horror that they couldn't turn and would have to do a three point turn between the cars....I'm a learner myself and a girl, but this was better lunchtime entertainment than a comedy debate....

irlrobins

elmyra wrote:

a little learner driver convention

Oh to have seen this....

Riamfada

I pulled in when all those people who were blocked off were sitting in their cars looking none to happy with themselves. I reversed out of that place as fast as I could after getting a bit of a temper from watching cars dance . What a mess. It really was very funny however if I came back to find a car blocking me in after about 20 minutes i would have removed it with my bumper or driven off across the grass.

Font22

I also witnessed a poor girl that was blocked in that car park a couple of weeks ago. Fair do's to her though, she managed to get out. It was very very very tight.
One thing that majorly pisses me off is the inability of some drivers to park properly early in the morning, especially in that car park. If people positioned their cars properly you could fit in way more cars into the car park! The gaps between some of the cars is ridiculous!!!

Riamfada

Exaclty. Mark the spaces. For a laugh when leaveing the college late try driving over that gravel really fast and get around the tree. Its like Too Fast Too Furious so it is. Dosnt get better than that.

besty

I wonder what % of spaces are taken by non-students and non-staff every day? UCD's car parking facilities are open to complete abuse from people using the spaces as a park and ride. Permits for students and staff would be a great idea. It took me 35 minutes to get a space yesterday.

Font22

i think you can buy permits. i remember reading it somewhere when i first started driving into college.

irlrobins

http://www.ucd.ie/building/code/traffic/discs.htm

elmyra

Font22 wrote:

i think you can buy permits. i remember reading it somewhere when i first started driving into college.

It hardn't matters given that the permits don't guarantee you a space. If the car parks were only open to people who had permits and they were only available to staff and students everything would be grand, of course everybody knows that, now to wait the 3-4 decades for implementation...

elmyra

Grimes wrote:

Exaclty. Mark the spaces. For a laugh when leaveing the college late try driving over that gravel really fast and get around the tree. Its like Too Fast Too Furious so it is. Dosnt get better than that.

I would actually volunteer myself and bring my own can of white paint and brush if I thought it would help! The parking over there truly is atrocious, as is my ability to park so I need a standard size space!!

eth0_

I have an interview in UCD tomorrow, what's the story with parking? Is it permit only? :-/

elmyra

eth0_ wrote:

I have an interview in UCD tomorrow, what's the story with parking? Is it permit only? :-/

Nope, it's actually a free for all, but good luck finding a space. If you're in after lunch, you should be fine given that it's Friday and people tend to leave earlier on Fridays. If you're in the morning, get here early. Also, depending on what part of campus you're heading to you might want to bear in mind that the gates around campus close in the morning and evening to prevent traffic coming through from fosters ave to clonskeagh etc. Best of luck in the interview!

elmyra

Sorry for dragging this up but I didn't think my question deserved a whole new thread.

Can someone tell me what the craic is with parking at the RDS for exams? i.e. can I? will it cost me and does it fill up like this place so should I get there early?

Jonny Arson

elmyra wrote:

Sorry for dragging this up but I didn't think my question deserved a whole new thread.

Can someone tell me what the craic is with parking at the RDS for exams? i.e. can I? will it cost me and does it fill up like this place so should I get there early?

From what I remember cars just drove and parked in last year

but maybe I'm wrong.

Villaricos

yep tis free, but its just big open gravelly spaces usually plenty of room from what i can remember, didnt do mine there last year!

elmyra

Thanks both, sounds good, now all I have to do is negotiate the scary dualler in rush hour *scared learner driver whimper*

eth0_

Hang on...the poxy gravelled space opposite Quinn, behind the bus shelters, that's pay and display? There are *no* signs! And there's no ticket machine near it either.

Are you sure that's pay and display?

The car park opposite the bus stops (well, the number 10 terminus), I think one half of it is pay and display and the other half isn't.

God..it's not exactly rocket science to properly signpost your car parks, especially considering they have an outside company who looks after parking here!

I'm afraid to drive to into work now!

Riamfada

Hey Elmyra

Parking is insane at the RDS. At crimbo the car parks filled up hours before the exams start and that was just the first years. And if your exam is in the after noon forget about it. My tactic is to get there very very very early and cram. If you dont manage to get a space then you going to be relegated out to Ballsbridge and Pay a bomb.

elmyra

Aw no way! All but two of mine are afternoon. Would I be better leaving the car in UCD, grabbing a 10 and walking? That sounds like a nightmare. I mean, when you say go really early, would I be okay if I went at like half twelve when the first exam is over so I'd get a space with people leaving?

Riamfada

yeah you could do that . But just to warn you it can be a bit crazy out there. You know the entrance is right across from the four seasons? I ended up all over the place last time

Villaricos

the xmas exams werent held in the same part of the rds as the summer ones are because the summer ones are held where funderland is at xmas. theres always been loads of parking at summer, never heard of anyone having trouble

elmyra

Confused now lads! I know where simmonscourt is, I had my exams there last year, just wasn't driving at the time. Were they not there at Christmas and if not should I be ok for parking there? Oh, and it is the same entrance for cars as in the same place where everyone walks in yeah?

Villaricos

id assume summer exams are held where they always are...but getting confused now too!
all i know is where the summer exams are theres usually plenty of parkin as ive always driven. as the xmas exams were just first years or less numbers than summer they were held in different part of RDS because funderland was on. and i dont know names of what they are, yea im useless sorry!

singingstranger

elmyra wrote:

Aw no way! All but two of mine are afternoon. Would I be better leaving the car in UCD, grabbing a 10 and walking? That sounds like a nightmare. I mean, when you say go really early, would I be okay if I went at like half twelve when the first exam is over so I'd get a space with people leaving?

100% to all of the above. If you need to drive then get there at 12:30 to nab the spaces being vacated, but it's not all that terrible a walk from Donnybrook (or even UCD itself! :eek:) to the RDS.

elmyra

singingstranger wrote:

100% to all of the above. If you need to drive then get there at 12:30 to nab the spaces being vacated, but it's not all that terrible a walk from Donnybrook (or even UCD itself! :eek:) to the RDS.

Yup I know the walk's not bad I did it last year but I have a nasty bit of a knee problem (which I've neglected to inform the college of) which means I'd rather drive if at all possible. Guess I'll be getting there early so. Thanks everyone!

skyhighflyer

elmyra wrote:

Yup I know the walk's not bad I did it last year but I have a nasty bit of a knee problem (which I've neglected to inform the college of) which means I'd rather drive if at all possible. Guess I'll be getting there early so. Thanks everyone!

Don't worry about parking at Ballsbridge for the Summer exams, I drove there as a first year last year to each exam (and the exam hall was full at the time too) and there was LOTS of space to spare. And parking is free.

Note, if you're coming down the Stillorgan dueller, you turn right at the Donnybrook bus garage and just drive up Simmonscourt road. The entrance is on your right around halfway up. Be advised that the lights which allow people to cross the dueller at the garage are very quick and only let a few people across at a time. With the extra volume of traffic turining there for the exams, you could ba waiting 20 minutes in rush hour for your turn to go. So budget LOTS of extra time.:eek:

Or do what I did, drive in the bus lanes

elmyra

skyhighflyer wrote:

Don't worry about parking at Ballsbridge for the Summer exams, I drove there as a first year last year to each exam (and the exam hall was full at the time too) and there was LOTS of space to spare. And parking is free.

Note, if you're coming down the Stillorgan dueller, you turn right at the Donnybrook bus garage and just drive up Simmonscourt road. The entrance is on your right around halfway up. Be advised that the lights which allow people to cross the dueller at the garage are very quick and only let a few people across at a time. With the extra volume of traffic turining there for the exams, you could ba waiting 20 minutes in rush hour for your turn to go. So budget LOTS of extra time.:eek:

Or do what I did, drive in the bus lanes

Thanks for that, I knew how to get to it but didn't realise that about the turning lane on the dualler, i'll leave myself a good bit of time.