Car Parking issues

440Hz

Im going to paste the following emails which are being circulated to the staffmail and events all day. I will post anonymously but I think the students have a right to read what is being sent regarding them.

1.

I think the concern is that this is just the start. We get free electricity, free email and internet access, free office space and furniture (for staff anyway) pay no service charges towards water or sewage disposal....the list of such 'subsidies' could be endless. Do companies with the space charge their employees for parking? Analog devices in Raheen? Dell etc? Encouraging less car use is a different issue altogether. Most of us are ecologically minded as best we can be, but it would be almost impossible for many of us to get here and do our jobs if we had to rely on public transport. Improved public transport is the key - not higher car parking charges. There is another important issue - when the car parking fee was first introduced the excutive at UL made an undertaking that it would be ended once the public car park space had been paid for. The fact that the executive have gone back on this undertaking and are now taking advantage of the fee is more than ample enough reason for considering this a "rip-off". I would be more rude about it (but only in private, of course)

2.

We should be discouraging cars, not encouraging them. There are health, safety, environmental and practical transport reasons for increasing the costs to motorists, while encouraging walking, buses and taxis. There are some people who will still need to use cars, but they are not well served by the traffic congestion around UL from other people using their cars when they should be finding a better alternative. The problem is, as city planning has proved, if you provide cheap car parking you will actively encourage motor traffic.

3.

Students should be actively discouraged to use cars by the SU....Any eco-conscious student president and student administration should see that parking fees are an active and positive deterrent to traffic, parking, and other consumption problems in the UL environs; while simultaneously promoting social responsibility, healthy and active living, etc. among the student population

Its less than ten years ago since I graduated from UL and we never had this issue because students simply didn’t have cars in such numbers...and we got to college fine...by bicycle, bus, or whatever alternative mode of transport(including, dare I say it....walking!) If cars (also subsidised in most cases by parents), are "de rigueur" accessories for the student population, the 'beal bocht' attitude simply doesn't wash.

The people who talk about global warming etc. from loudspeakers need to support the initiatives that can make a small difference in the very locality that we live in....This is UL and we are all part of the solution..
Please don’t make it Beverly Hills 90210.

Meeting about this is on this evening An Phluais @6pm

kaimera

Whats this car parking you speak of?

if folks within walking distance would do just that, walk it would save a lot of grief tbh.

440Hz

kaimera wrote:

Whats this car parking you speak of?

if folks within walking distance would do just that, walk it would save a lot of grief tbh.

Indeed. However, the same applies to alot of staff members. Faculty also live within walking distance and still drive. There are alot of people who should walk it. But fact still remains that for those that cannot the facilities are not there for them.

Finding spaces in this University is a joke. It would take me about 40 mins to walk in, which is fine but I drive cos I stay late alot of the time and dont want to walk home on my own at that time.

Everybodies circumstances are different but whatever way you look at it I think €3 a day is too much. Staff have free parking. Why should the students who dont earn money have to pay. Whether they bought their own car or not is not the issue really.

kaimera

Multi_story parking ftw.

440Hz

Another mail

The UL HR webpage (click on 'services', HR) provides details of a Travel Pass - a tax incentive scheme to encourage the use of public transport - and which is facilitated by employers. Click on compensation package/travel pass for details of how to proceed, save money and wear and tear on yourself and the campus infrastructure.

The UL Environmental Committee has a Transport Sub-Committee - http://www.ul.ie/envirocom -access the Transport webpage, and click on the carpooling - once off or daily commute. The Committee is anxious to encourage usage - and feedback on the pros and cons. We would encourage regular access by the campus community.