parking at l'kenny bus station

emmemm

Have to go to Dublin overnight and need to park my car at the bus station.Someone said there is no provision for this.Surely this cannot be so.
Can somebody refute or verify this situation.

Civilian_Target

You can park it in the tesco carpark and hope its OK, but there's no secure parking I'm afraid. Get a taxi...

Paddy20

emmemm wrote:

Have to go to Dublin overnight and need to park my car at the bus station.Someone said there is no provision for this.Surely this cannot be so.
Can somebody refute or verify this situation.

Yes, it is sad but true that our main (Public service) Bus Eireann hub in Donegal is a disgraceful shamble's, situated where our beloved ancient County Donegal Railway station building is still located.

Something else that needs immediate attention, in a country where Capitalism has taken over from the citizens basic needs, in all respects ?...:( .

P. :cool:

muffler

Civilian_Target wrote:

You can park it in the tesco carpark and hope its OK, but there's no secure parking I'm afraid. Get a taxi...

Be careful with the parking at Tescos. I think there are signs around the car park indicating something like 3 or 4 hours free parking only.

On a visit there recently I seen one of those patrol type vans that you get around the car parks at the hospital.

Nothing as bad as coming back and finding the car clamped :mad:

Check it out first

muffler

Paddy20 wrote:

Yes, it is sad but true that our main (Public service) Bus Eireann hub in Donegal is a disgraceful shamble's, situated where our beloved ancient County Donegal Railway station building is still located.

Something else that needs immediate attention, in a country where Capitalism has taken over from the citizens basic needs, in all respects ?...:( .

P. :cool:

Paddy, another of your usual anti establishment posts. Tell me, is there anything that you are happy with.

Seriously is there any Government dept. or health board dept. or County Council dept. or politician or local business people that you have something positive to say about.

Civilian_Target

Only Damien Blake apparantly

Damien Blake

emmemm wrote:

Have to go to Dublin overnight and need to park my car at the bus station.Someone said there is no provision for this.Surely this cannot be so.
Can somebody refute or verify this situation.

I've tried to chase this up since seeing it posted here. I've spoken to people in the council, in Bus Aras and locally in Bus Eireann.

I was advised today (as an anonymous caller) to park in the car park in the LYIT. Ugh.

I had always thought that the big problem with public transport in this part of the world was the lack of connections. For example, I have travelled on the train from Sligo to Dublin. The bus from Letterkenny to sligo either got in 20 minutes to late, or three hours too early.

But this is ridiculous. I had been told that there were "arrangements" in place to see cars parked from the bus station in the front area of the car park at Tesco, but I don't believe there is much certainty in this.

If I hear any more, I'll report back.

Paddy20

muffler wrote:

Paddy, another of your usual anti establishment posts. Tell me, is there anything that you are happy with.

Yes, there are plenty of official establishments/services that I am happy with .

In fact if I was not, then I would be living permanently in Gran Canaria.However Home is Home and as I was born here it is my right to be critical on certain issues, but I do appreciate that we are lucky(and I am happy to live in Donegal) despite it's problems.

If no one was critical, then nothing would be improved, and I am also happy to be criticised because I am a critic .

Civilian Target,

As for Damien, I like his pro-active approach as well as his very open prompt & efficient communication with 'grass roots' voters on this N.W. forum, and there are other politicians of all political persuasions that I admire, believe it or not .

P. :cool:

emmemm

Damien Blake
Good to see a politician contactable on here.Thanks for making the enquiry.

Paddy 20
Keep on Paddying.

Civilian Target
Why should I fork out for a taxi when I own a car.Would bemore cost effective to drive to Dublin only circumstances prevent this.
Park and ride should be available in a town the size of Letterkenny.

smashey

emmemm wrote:

Damien Blake
Good to see a politician contactable on here.Thanks for making the enquiry.

Paddy 20
Keep on Paddying.

Civilian Target
Why should I fork out for a taxi when I own a car.Would bemore cost effective to drive to Dublin only circumstances prevent this.
Park and ride should be available in a town the size of Letterkenny.

Given the times we live in, it is a good thing that you want to use public transport to get to Dublin. Would it really hurt if you went all out and took the taxi to the station? Bear in mind that if you can find somewhere to park, then there is likely to be a charge for this.

Paddy20

smashey wrote:

Given the times we live in, it is a good thing that you want to use public transport to get to Dublin. Would it really hurt if you went all out and took the taxi to the station? Bear in mind that if you can find somewhere to park, then there is likely to be a charge for this.

smashey,

I have always regarded your posts as very fair and well thought out. However, in this instance I believe you are not taking the full facts into consideration.

!. If you go to an airport, you can park and fly ?..
2. If you go to a railway station, it is normal to be able to park and "Let the train take the strain" ?..
3. Yet if we want to take the Express Bus to Dublin from Letterkenny, no similar facilitie's are available.

This is obviously not in the best interest of the only main public transport Bus Eireann hub that we have in Donegal, as people need to be able to park their own vehicles, and then use public transport for a multitude of reasons.

Can you not appreciate this ?... I believe if you give it some serious deliberation, you will come to the conclusion that citizens have a basic right, to expect to be able to park and use a bus from and back to Lettekenny .

P. :cool:

smashey

Correct Paddy. However, if you go to the airport and park for a week, then you can expect to pay a minimum of €70 for the privilege, on your return. Also, from what I know about the main rail stations, the parking isn't cheap there either. My point was that maybe the taxi option would be better than paying the parking charges.

muffler

I tend to agree with smashey on this one. Anyone going to get the express bus in Letterkenny will either have to get a connecting local bus to the depot or alternatively get a taxi.

What do you do when you get the express bus from Dublin. Im not aware of any car parking available beside Busarus. So the problem is not confined to letterkenny.

In a perfect world there would be proper car parking facilities available at all bus depots and you would have the choice to either take your car or take a taxi to the bus depot.

But if you fell so ill and had no choice but be admitted to the local hospital you would expect to be put in a bed in a ward and not left parked on a trolley for a couple of days.

There are a lot more serious matters out there

nanook

i know its off topic slightly but if you park at the new airport carpark then it is on 5 yoyo's a day with a full shuttle servcie to and from the airport, give yourself an extra 20 mins or so to be on the safe side.

In relation to parking in the town, it has been along time since i have been in letterkenny but even 12 years ago, parking was limited. Growth can also be negative.

Paddy20

smashey wrote:

My point was that maybe the taxi option would be better than paying the parking charges.

Yes, but my point is that citizen's such as emmemm do not currently have the luxury of an option ?.. and as we do not have a railway or airport in Letterkenny

It is our main public transport interchange. So should we not be able to park our cars and use the public transport system when we have too, at a reasonable charge ?...:) Plus lets not forget the needs of disabled drivers whose need to park when using any public service is supposed to be guaranteed and facilitated under current legislation ?.. Not from what I witness at Letterkenny !.

The right to park and fly, take a bus, or a train is economically and socially a basic right IMHO.

P. :cool:

Civilian_Target

Paddy20 wrote:

citizens have a basic right, to expect to be able to park and use a bus from and back to Lettekenny .

lol! There's a certain funny touch to that! "The basic right to park" is something that only exists in the US, the UK, and apparantly Ireland

I see your plight Paddy, but honestly, a taxi from anywhere in town to the bus station is going to cost you less than a tenner, which isn't a whole lot more than a day's parking's going to cost you, and a whole lot simpler.

And BTW, it costs €9 a day to park in an Irish airport...

Paddy20

Civilian_Target wrote:

lol! There's a certain funny touch to that! "The basic right to park" is something that only exists in the US, the UK, and apparantly Ireland

I see your plight Paddy, but honestly, a taxi from anywhere in town to the bus station is going to cost you less than a tenner, which isn't a whole lot more than a day's parking's going to cost you, and a whole lot simpler.

And BTW, it costs €9 a day to park in an Irish airport...

Not everyone who use's Letterkenny public transport hub live's anywhere near Letterkenny, and BTW disabled drivers must be faciitated 'Free of charge'

BTW, I note you are in Belfast, what are the facilities like there in relation to train, bus, and airport parking ?.... for all categorie's of citizens, I bet they put Lettekenny to shame

P. :cool:

Paddy20

muffler wrote:

I tend to agree with smashey on this one. Anyone going to get the express bus in Letterkenny will either have to get a connecting local bus to the depot or alternatively get a taxi.

What do you do when you get the express bus from Dublin. Im not aware of any car parking available beside Busarus. So the problem is not confined to letterkenny.

In a perfect world there would be proper car parking facilities available at all bus depots and you would have the choice to either take your car or take a taxi to the bus depot.

But if you fell so ill and had no choice but be admitted to the local hospital you would expect to be put in a bed in a ward and not left parked on a trolley for a couple of days.

There are a lot more serious matters out there

muffler,

This must be the most immature post that I have read from a Mod, in a very long time you must be a lot younger than I thought ?...

P. :cool:

muffler

Paddy20 wrote:

muffler,

This must be the most immature post that I have read from a Mod, in a very long time you must be a lot younger than I thought ?...

P. :cool:

Kindly explain Paddy

Paddy20

muffler wrote:

Kindly explain Paddy

Explain what ?... your 'last' post is self explanatory in it's plain ignorance, and blatant lack of compassion of our citizens most basic rights, and my post is not Anti-Establishment: . You are entitled to your opinion, but I for one would appreciate if you restricted your comments to the thread subject i.e. " Parking at Letterkenny Bus Station " !, without involving the health services and the BUs Aras Dublin depot facilities etc.is just another demeaning insult to the intelligence of the people from the North-West.

Please, feel free to ban me if you think I am being unreasonable, as on this issue which I care about, your expressed opinion is IMHO totally wrong :mad: .

P. :cool:

donegalman1

Back to the subject for a min....

Should the council not have made it a condition on Bus Eireann and or the shopping centre to provide some sort of facilities (with cameras) when they facilitated a grand new roundabout and extended entrance for them at the port road.

Until this realignment was done it was easy to access the bus station and no barriers were in place. Surely if someone produced a bus ticket for a journey of this nature they would have been allowed a certain amount of time parking in the yard.

Albeit conditions attached it would perhaps be good for business.

muffler

Paddy20 wrote:

You are entitled to your opinion, but I for one would appreciate if you restricted your comments to the thread subject i.e. " Parking at Letterkenny Bus Station " !, without involving the health services etc.

The OP queried, and rightfully so, why there was no parking spaces available for anyone using the bus service to Dublin. It was suggested that he take a taxi to the bus station and he said he didnt see why he should. He righfully expected parking to be available. But its not available so he will have to make other arrangements.

I made the comparison of someone being admitted to a hospital and rightfully expecting a bed to be available and when its not available other arrangements are made (trolly treatment).

My point is that we are not in a perfect world and we dont always get what we want and deserve and that, yes, we should fight for these issues but I personally would consider it to be more important to highlight the bed issue ahead of the parking issue.

If you have issues with my posts Paddy take it up by PM. I have given you a fair bit of leeway in relation to staying on-topic but if you consider my posts to be immature and off topic and you feel that this forum should be modded in a stricter fashion then you shall have your wish granted

Paddy20

[QUOTE=muffler

If you have issues with my posts Paddy take it up by PM. I have given you a fair bit of leeway in relation to staying on-topic but if you consider my posts to be immature and off topic and you feel that this forum should be modded in a stricter fashion then you shall have your wish granted[/QUOTE]

That reads to me like a threat directed at me. That is not warranted, this thread concerns the general publics right to park at the main Bus Eireann depot in Letterkenny, and IMHO not everyone is heading for Dublin, far from it..

Your referance to beds at Letterkenny hospital, is not relevant to this particular thread, and neither are your comments in relation to parking at Bus Aras in Dublin, as this is after all the North- West forum, and my main concern are those who live here.

I do not consider this a PM matter, as I and you are entitled to diagree, that is democratic,

If you want to moderate "In a stricter fashion" go ahead.

P. :cool:

smashey

Paddy20 wrote:

Yes, but my point is that citizen's such as emmemm do not currently have the luxury of an option ?.. and as we do not have a railway or airport in Letterkenny

It is our main public transport interchange. So should we not be able to park our cars and use the public transport system when we have too, at a reasonable charge ?...:) Plus lets not forget the needs of disabled drivers whose need to park when using any public service is supposed to be guaranteed and facilitated under current legislation ?.. Not from what I witness at Letterkenny !.

The right to park and fly, take a bus, or a train is economically and socially a basic right IMHO.

P. :cool:

We certainly should have the option of parking at the bus station but we don't. Fact. That is why, sometimes you have to bite the bullet, and get a taxi.

What is a reasonable charge? Look at the hospital car park. Rip-off central. You have to pay for a minimum of four hours even if you are only going to be there for ten minutes. Daylight robbery. From memory, the bloody machines only accept the correct fee. They didn't even have the foresight to install a machine that would accept notes and give change.

muffler

Paddy20 wrote:

your 'last' post is...... plain ignorance, and blatant lack of compassion of our citizens most basic rights............................is just another demeaning insult to the intelligence of the people from the North-West.......................Please, feel free to ban me

If I strayed off topic I apologise but I have given my reasons. Remarks made by you such as the above do little to contribute to a healthy debate and only confirm a lack of knowledge and the inability to respect another persons opinion. My comments haven't offended anyone else as I dont see anybody else ranting about them except you Paddy.

Paddy you are the person who most frequently strays off topic. I have PM'd you quite a few times now advising you of this and affording you the opportunity of editing your posts so dont start a rant about me being off topic.

Both myself and nanook have been more than lenient with you till now. The NW forum is running very smoothly despite each and every one of us straying off topic at times but if you want to go down the road of complaining about posts being off topic, ignorant, insulting and theatening then so be it.

You're a big boy now Paddy and you should know what is acceptable on these boards and bans will follow if there are breaches of the charter

Civilian_Target

Paddy20 wrote:

BTW, I note you are in Belfast, what are the facilities like there in relation to train, bus, and airport parking ?.... for all categorie's of citizens, I bet they put Lettekenny to shame

Not at all actually - Belfast's public transport system is just woeful and people constantly abuse the disabled parking spaces and other facilities. You can park at Great Victoria St. Bus Station, yes, but it'll cost you about £10 a day. Busses are infrequent and irregular. The train service is good but only serves very limited areas. And all public transport is completely useless at nights and on weekends. Which is why I cycle. Dublin is far easier to get around by public transport.

And Letterkenny at least has reasonably priced taxis, and you can walk most places in the town. The bus station has disabled parking, and it's not abused.

[EDIT]And on this one occasion, I have to agree with Paddy20, muffler. I think you're being a bit harsh. I have noted very few occurances where Paddy20 has gone on more of an offensive than your earlier rant, and at least he always puts in plenty of smileys [/EDIT]

muffler

Civilian_Target wrote:

[EDIT]And on this one occasion, I have to agree with Paddy20, muffler. I think you're being a bit harsh. I have noted very few occurances where Paddy20 has gone on more of an offensive than your earlier rant, and at least he always puts in plenty of smileys [/EDIT]

First of all i didnt have a rant at all. I posted a comment and explained it.

As for the above comment I dont understand what you mean. How am I being a bit harsh - I haven't done anything.

"Paddy20 has gone on more of an offensive" - not sure what you mean here either.

"and at least he always puts in plenty of smileys" - again I dont see what your point is.

Civilian_Target

muffler wrote:

First of all i didnt have a rant at all. I posted a comment and explained it.

As for the above comment I dont understand what you mean. How am I being a bit harsh - I haven't done anything.

"Paddy20 has gone on more of an offensive" - not sure what you mean here either.

"and at least he always puts in plenty of smileys" - again I dont see what your point is.

Thats exactly my point! Paddy 20's put less of a foot out of line than you on this thread, yet you're lambasting him! He's stating his opinion, and even though I think he's wrong, you drag in hospitals and then call him off topic when he responds to your stimulus. You dragged cancer patients into the railway argument as well to respond to me, even though it was nowhere even related to my arguments - only difference is that my reply then bought things back on topic.

To a limited extent, paddy 20 at least disclaims his argument to a certain extent by using simleys, indicating at least he knows he a grumpy old carmudgen to some extent - you saw a lot less smiling in his Mulrines posts!

Regardless, this discussion is an exercise in pointlessness - who'd start provoking anti-establishement threads with Paddy20 banned The OP's car is still unparked...

muffler

Just to clarify. I went off topic myself and apologised. Paddy20 got annoyed and his post was less than complimentary and this from a man who has got off with a fair bit over the of years - people in glass houses and all that. I was disappointed at his remarks as I had helped him along via PM's as I have done with several other people here.

I didn't lambast him but I made it clear that if he was going to call foul every time somebody would go off topic then we will have to tighten up and he will suffer more than most as some of his posts can be way, way off the mark.

We all stray now and again and common sense has to prevail. I think myself and nanook have done a reasonable job in modding this forum and never wielded the axe every time unacceptable posts and comments were made and I would like to keep it that way

At this stage the whole damn lot of us are offside here. I can see nanook appearing out from the bushes and dishing out yellow cards for persistant off thread discussion

We will leave it at that and hope that emmemm made it to Dublin and back and found his car in one piece wherever he parked it.

emmemm

Going next week.
Probably use hospital car park and walk down.Returning might reluctantly get a taxi-that's a stiff climb when you mightn't be fit.
For all it's profiteering the hospital car park is the most secure in town.

nanook

emmemm, glad to hear that you are going to park somewhere, it shows that we are good for some advice.

As for the rest of you lot, Muffler, paddy20 and civillian; WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE.

I have to say that it is a bad day when a topic can not discussed.

New thread starting so please follow. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=51486045#post51486045

cheers

byte

nanook wrote:

i know its off topic slightly but if you park at the new airport carpark then it is on 5 yoyo's a day with a full shuttle servcie to and from the airport, give yourself an extra 20 mins or so to be on the safe side..

Yes, that's the Quickpark service, which is great, but not to be confused with the airport carpark, which is a fair bit more.

byte

emmemm wrote:

Going next week.
Probably use hospital car park and walk down.Returning might reluctantly get a taxi-that's a stiff climb when you mightn't be fit.
For all it's profiteering the hospital car park is the most secure in town.

Let's hope it's not raining for your descent from the Hospital to the Bus Station!

Wishbone Ash

byte wrote:

Yes, that's the Quickpark service, which is great, but not to be confused with the airport carpark, which is a fair bit more.

your intentions are good but this is advertising, no worries

foggy

emmemm wrote:

Going next week.
Probably use hospital car park and walk down.Returning might reluctantly get a taxi-that's a stiff climb when you mightn't be fit.
For all it's profiteering the hospital car park is the most secure in town.

Emmemm,
Why not park at the LYIT (as also suggested by Damien Blake) , it's a straight walk in and out, no hills rather than parking at the Hospital where you have to pay. also less of a walk so no need for a taxi.

Paddy et al,

In relation to the earlier posts where somebody was lambasted for mentioning lack of parking in bus aras in Dublin as it was a northwest forum. There are no parking facilities in Ballybofey, Lifford, Sligo, Monaghan or even in Derry at the bus stations for people using them, why should Letterkenny be any different.
In this day and age, it is obvious that space is at a premium, look at how much Mr Tinney had to pay for a few fields for his blackfaced sheep therefore why would we ask a substandard bus service to waste their money buying land for people to park.

Damien Blake

foggy wrote:

Emmemm,
Why not park at the LYIT (as also suggested by Damien Blake) , it's a straight walk in and out, no hills rather than parking at the Hospital where you have to pay. also less of a walk so no need for a taxi.

I wasn't suggesting that, just relaying the suggestion that was made to me! The car park at the IT is there for the needs of the students, and is regularly filled beyond capacity, throughout the academic year.

foggy wrote:

Paddy et al,

In relation to the earlier posts where somebody was lambasted for mentioning lack of parking in bus aras in Dublin as it was a northwest forum. There are no parking facilities in Ballybofey, Lifford, Sligo, Monaghan or even in Derry at the bus stations for people using them, why should Letterkenny be any different.
In this day and age, it is obvious that space is at a premium, look at how much Mr Tinney had to pay for a few fields for his blackfaced sheep therefore why would we ask a substandard bus service to waste their money buying land for people to park.

I don't think we can deny that their is a need for parking at the bus station. However, it is also true that the station there was in disgraceful condition before it was recently refurbished. I, for one, wouldn't like to go back to the way it was.

But that's not the point, really. (Some could call it a weasly-politician trick to avoid the real issue).

Letterkenny Bus Station never, technically, had any parking. I can remember the sign at the entrance- Parking reserved for L&LSR Busses only (I think). I'll be getting in contact with Bus Eireann to try and figure out how some sort of provision can be made. It'll also be connected to their planning permission.

People have been in touch with me recently on this. Yes, it is true that most of the major bus stations around the country don't have parking facilities, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be trying to have them in Letterkenny.

nanook

Damien Blake wrote:

People have been in touch with me recently on this. Yes, it is true that most of the major bus stations around the country don't have parking facilities, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be trying to have them in Letterkenny.

Good to see someone following up on the request of the people. Keep us posted damian

emmemm

I wonder how secure is LYIT for overnight parking.
Perhaps a site out of town for a car park?

DonegalMan

smashey wrote:

What is a reasonable charge? Look at the hospital car park. Rip-off central. You have to pay for a minimum of four hours even if you are only going to be there for ten minutes. Daylight robbery

Whilst I agree with the main thrust of what you are saying - their charges are excessive - you are wrong about the 10 mins, you can park for up to 20 mins free to facilitate people dropping of blood samples, etc.

Funny enough, they don't say that on the notices in the car park itself but it's on the notices in the reception area.

Mind you, that's a bit underhand, not telling you you can park free for 20 mins until you are actually inside and have probably already paid :mad:

smashey

Well, that makes it okay then.