parkingtag.ie

Redsoxfan

Anyone use parkingtag.ie for parking around Dublin?

One of my mates now lives in an area with 24h metered parking and so having enough change for a few hours is always a problem.

Saw the ad for parkingtag.ie on the side of the meter last night and thought it might be a good idea. Any comments? I see there is an 'Administration charge' mentioned on the website, but there doesn't seem to be any indication of how much it is.

manc

don't know about that one but I use Mpark.com its available some of the city centre (map on website) basically you register your credit card and at the meter ring the phone number and give the meter number.

That activates the meter and you use the +/- buttons to say how much parking you want in €1 increments up to the max allowed (3 hours) for that area.

The call is the only additional charge and it takes about 15 seconds.

I find it very handy.

Redsoxfan

Thanks-but Mpark doesn't cover most of the areas where I need to park.

Stevie Dakota

I usually feed the meter all day when 3 hours is the maximum I should be parked in one spot. Given that they will now know all my parking details won't they now have evidence to clamp me after 3 hours, even if I've paid up?

Might not suit all day parking....

Alun

manc wrote: »

don't know about that one but I use Mpark.com its available some of the city centre (map on website) basically you register your credit card and at the meter ring the phone number and give the meter number.

That activates the meter and you use the +/- buttons to say how much parking you want in €1 increments up to the max allowed (3 hours) for that area..

When you say it "activates" the meter, is there any indication on the meter itself to show you've paid, which would, I assume, imply that the meters were networked somehow, or is it reliant on the traffic warden/whoever checking with some central system using some kind of hand-held wireless device? Just curious.

manc

Alun wrote: »

When you say it "activates" the meter, is there any indication on the meter itself to show you've paid, which would, I assume, imply that the meters were networked somehow, or is it reliant on the traffic warden/whoever checking with some central system using some kind of hand-held wireless device? Just curious.

you print off the ticket from the meter, but are using you CC rather than coins, note on my first post that thie is Mpark not the Tag system.

Redsoxfan

gdoyle1 wrote: »

it is .50c per month per tag which is good for the service you get from it. this fee only applies to an account which is linked to your credit/debit card card

I presume you mean 50c/€0.50 and not 0.50c which would indeed by good value!

gdoyle1 wrote:

Parking tag is now available city wide so you can use it in any DCC parking bay you don't have to go to the meter all you need do is send a text or call an IVR (phone system)

Are texts charged at operator's standard rate and are phone calls free or lo-call?

DubMedic

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Are texts charged at operator's standard rate and are phone calls free or lo-call?

SMS's are charged at your service provider's normal cost.

bk

gdoyle1 wrote: »

Sounding like an advertisement.... you can register on parkingtag.ie or by phone 0818 300 161

Do you guys have a normal 01/021/where-ever number people can call rather then the crappy "locall" 0818 numbers.

"0818" numbers are usually not included in free national calls packages that people have on their mobile or landlines and are very annoying.

DubMedic

bk wrote: »

Do you guys have a normal 01/021/where-ever number people can call rather then the crappy "locall" 0818 numbers.

You can register online and activate the tag there instead of calling the number listed.

manc

gdoyle1,

the info@parkingtag.ie email given on the website does not appear to work, as I got mail delivery failed

Do you know if mpark customers will be automatically moved over to parkingtag
automatically?

You may not be able to answer this but will mpark customers be advised that the service is been removed?

manc

thanks for your replies gdoyle, just a couple of more for you....

1) What is the cost of the Cash tags and is there a top up fee?

2) I can't find it on the website but am I correct in thinking that when you park, you then Ring/Text a number, give the Zone and How long\much you want to park for? The tag is already activated by ringing\texting with the tag number and reg number. If this is missing from the website it really should be added.

3) If parking is max of 3 hours can you park for more?

thanks in advance.

antoinolachtnai

I wrote a bit about parkingtag.ie here. http://www.eire.com/2009/06/08/parkingtagie-and-cashless-parking/

markpb

Presumably the 50c fee (mentioned in your blog) covers the credit card charges? I could be flippant and point out that MOL charges €5 for the same ;o)

antoinolachtnai

You could be flippant if you want, but the fact is that Mick doesn't currently accept payment in 10c pieces, nor does he maintain and operate a dispersed network of ticket issuing machines.

What he has done, however, is effectively get rid of manual check-in.

Collecting and counting cash costs a lot of money. The bank charges are typically 50c/100 euros. Collecting costs, as does counting and bagging.

There is also commission to be paid if customers buy credit in a shop. This is going to amount to a couple of percent.

loyatemu

Ì liked mPark - I don't live in Dublin and only occasionally park in the City Centre. MPark meant I could park without needing cash and there was (IIRC) no monthly fee - its a shame it was never expanded nationally.

This new system sounds like a backwards step - there's no way I'm paying 50c a month for a system I might use once or twice a year.

manc

loyatemu wrote: »

Ì liked mPark - I don't live in Dublin and only occasionally park in the City Centre. MPark meant I could park without needing cash and there was (IIRC) no monthly fee - its a shame it was never expanded nationally.

This new system sounds like a backwards step - there's no way I'm paying 50c a month for a system I might use once or twice a year.

I'd have to agree with your here as i'd be the same, but there is a Payasyougo option which costs €3.99 but going by the parking tag website you might get €5 credit, not sure if it applies to the payasyougo option.



@antoinolachtnai, your little piece sums up whats wrong with this and all the missing pieces from the Parkingtag.ie website well

the detail in the dublincity.ie explains what customers need to know easily and simply

http://www.dublincity.ie/Press/PressReleases/PressReleasesMay2009/Documents/Retail%20Leaflet.pdf

also

http://www.dublincity.ie/RoadsandTraffic/MajorTransportProjects/CashlessParking/Pages/CashlessParkingPressPack.aspx


@gdoyle1, thanks for the responses, it would be worth looking at antoinolachtnai link incorporating it and the dublincity details into parkingtag.ie.



If Dublin CC were serious about this then there should be a reduced parking cost (10%), with free tags, free account maintenance, no charge for credit on the pay as you go option and possibly even a free or at least reduced rate call to say where you are parked. After all they are saving on on servicing meters, printing tickets, etc. But then again there would be no money for someone else to make.

It might also be useful with this type of system if multiple phones can be added to a tag or multiple cars can be added to a tag as a lot of households have multiple cars and drivers.
At least with Mpark it didn't matter whos car you were in which made it more useful.

markpb

manc wrote: »

If Dublin CC were serious about this then there should be a reduced parking cost, with free tags, free account maintenance, no charge for credit on the pay as you go option and possibly even a free or at least reduced rate call to say where you are parked. After all they are saving on on servicing meters, printing tickets, etc.

You mean they should absorb the costs of paying software developers, maintaining and running servers in a data centre, paying Eircom for leased lines, having staff on call to respond to problems, paying staff in call centres, paying the banks for accepting credit cards, etc, etc? I think you're being a bit unrealistic in your expectations - these things cost money.

Likewise, if DCC wanted to give out tags free of charge, why would any shop agree to stock them? They're not running shops as a community service and would flatly refuse.

As far as I know, the monthly fee only applies to credit card accounts and not to cash accounts topped up at Payzone shops.

manc

markpb wrote: »

You mean they should absorb the costs of paying software developers, maintaining and running servers in a data centre, paying Eircom for leased lines, having staff on call to respond to problems, paying staff in call centres, paying the banks for accepting credit cards, etc, etc? I think you're being a bit unrealistic in your expectations - these things cost money.

No, the money from the parking fee that would have gone to meter maintenace/printing tickets/collecting money/etc would probably cover the costs.

I also said if not free then reduced (10-20%) would encourage people to use it.

Slightly off topic, but as with the new smart cards being introduced on bus/rail you don't get a price reduction but other highly sucessfull (i.e. Oyster in the uk) sytems do this.

markpb wrote: »

Likewise, if DCC wanted to give out tags free of charge, why would any shop agree to stock them? They're not running shops as a community service and would flatly refuse.

Give the tags free from council offices or even shops (which are giving the tags free to Account users just not the payasyougo user), the shops would make the money from increased shop traffic and top ups similar to the way they deal with mobile phone companies or any other such.

markpb wrote: »

As far as I know, the monthly fee only applies to credit card accounts and not to cash accounts topped up at Payzone shops.

yes you are correct but there may be a charge when topping up the tag, similar to the one mobile phone companies had, which was then removed.

wolrabp

I think 50c a month is acceptable considering you won't have to fish for change or go near a meter. Also there is no charge for topping up in a store as far as I am aware.

Similarly EazyPass charge 1 euro a month for account maintenance and personally I think this is acceptable, you are paying for the convenience of not having to fumble for change and sometimes get through the toll much more quickly...

Just my 2 cents....

Carawaystick

There is no extra charge to pay EUR2 by credit card at the luas park'n'ride carparks. Dublin city council charge enough to take this hit if you ask me, they are charging the same per hour as commercial carparks who include VAT at 21.5% in their fees, while the corpo don't.

philiph

Hi,

There is a ParkMagic(.net) parking tag system in operation in Limerick(2005) and Cork(2008). The same tag works in both cities and also if you have a tolltag.ie tag for toll roads it works on the same account (and vice versa). In both Cork and Limerick the tags are free and come with 5 credit. They are distributed either online or in shops. Shops are generally agreeable to distribute them as when the tag is topped up they get their margin then.

On the surcharges, I personally dont agree with them but thats just me, yes it costs to run a mobile payment system but likewise it costs to maintain ticket machines. I don't imagine the response would be too favorable if a ticket machine asked you for an extra 50c a month to maintain them. It's not unreasonable to assume that the running costs are covered from the parking amount paid othersiwe you are looking at a defacto increase in the price paid to park

Ultimately, I guess, it's up to an individual council to decide how they will price any service they offer and up to the public to decide whether that is acceptable or not

Just to fess up, I've already declared my interests on boards.ie but I do work for ParkMagic and the disclaimer is the views expressed are personal...etc etc:)!

/Philiph

alanc2003

I know its only 50c a month but its just another rip off, are we not paying enough for parking as it is!! If parkmagic in limerick dont charge why do we in Dublin have too??

luckat

I just got one of these - They're 50 cent a month, are they? Good God.

I got mine because I was trying to help an unfortunate Wexford man who visits Dublin perhaps once every three months. He'd got one and it wouldn't let him register - kept saying "invalid details", even though he taxes his car online.

So I got one and went home and tried, it and got the same message.

I can't see anything on the leaflet about a 50 cent a month charge - am I missing it, or is it not mentioned?

What I did notice was that you can only top up to a *minimum* value of €20. That's twenty good-looking smackers of yours that they have to buy bank stocks with.

Kosta

It seems to me that this system is sadly over-engineered. Tags that you stick to your windscreen that are sent by post? Seriously? What is the purpose of that?

There is a completely tag-less system present in Cork where you simply send an SMS to a number with your reg plate number and you're sorted! A system like that is also present in my home town (capital of Croatia). You simply send an SMS to a number that corresponds to the zone you are parked in. The balance is taken off your phone directly. That means no "account maintenance" charges, no top-up, no stupid windscreen tags, no post, you don't pay for sms reminders (20c charge for parking tag) etc.

Not to mention the fact that by having tags that are registered to your car you also have to go through the hassle of re-requesting it and re-activating it every time you change your car.

So, if simpler (and cheaper) systems are deployed in different cities in Ireland and around the world already, why step back and invest into something that's obviously lacking from the start?

Rud Annamh

Not only over-engineered, but very poorly explained on the Payzone.ie website - there is absolutely NO mention whatsoever on the website of parking!

(or none that a reasonably intelligent 12+ hours a day online person could find in a reasonable time frame....)

There are 11 "products" listed, but no parking tag amongst them. Their old website parkingtag.ie does explain it, plus the links posted by manc, but if it weren't for boards.ie, they'd have lost me as a customer...

Rud Annamh

And another thing....

The 'salutation' options are 'Mr / Mrs / Miss / Dr' - no 'Ms'

OK, so it's not a required field, and normally I'm not rushing out to burn the bra, but it's just annoying...

Andrew Campbell

Sorry for dragging up an old thread but i've just registered and although its nearly a year later, the system is still IMO overly complicated, I hope I can remember what to do when I try to use it.

What i would like is an open (up to three hours) ticket that you can end when you are finished, like the luas smart card system. The number of times I've paid for an hour only to find that i'm finished early or the place i was going was closed.
That facility alone would more than compensate for the monthly charges.

multiple phones for the same tag would also be nice as I often use my wife's car.

anyhow i still have to use my tag yet....hopefully it will be worth the initial trouble

markpb

Andrew Campbell wrote: »

What i would like is an open (up to three hours) ticket that you can end when you are finished, like the luas smart card system. The number of times I've paid for an hour only to find that i'm finished early or the place i was going was closed.
That facility alone would more than compensate for the monthly charges.

It would be a very handy feature but I can see people forgetting to tag off and complaining when they get a massive bill or people running out of credit and complaining when they get clamped.

larry1

I use it all the time now, fantastic service.

PeterDuggan

I agree with many posters and the comments of many Dubliners. Parking Tag is unnecessarily over-complicated and poorly thought out. But the main problem with Parking Tag is the hidden charges and there are a lot of them. My advice - stay away.

PeterDuggan

gdoyle1 wrote: »

...the charges are in no way hidden.

By "hidden" I meant that they don't advertise these charges and you're not advised of them up front when you register.

There are other charges which it sounds like you may not be aware of either - including a charge to leave the service.

And did you know they seize money in your account if you're not actively using it! There's no excuse for that as they have your full contact details and credit card number to return your money.

They also reserve the right to increase charges at will and without notification to users. They have your email address and your home address so there's nothing preventing them from notifying you properly.

All in all it just smells of greed by Dublin City Council who are already making obscene profits from onstreet parking charges.

antoinolachtnai

gdoyle1: how much is the exit charge for the service? Don't see it mentioned on the website.

What is the point of the 50c monthly charge? What does this achieve?

antoinolachtnai

But it's not about charges. It's not an 'added value' service.

The council saves money though reduced cash collection charges every time someone uses this service.

What bank admin charges are these?

antoinolachtnai

If you don't use the tag there are no administrative charges. There is a line in a database, that is all. It does not cost six euros a year to maintain a line in a database.

The monthly toll charge is ridiculous as well.

What is your margin?

antoinolachtnai

There is a lot more benefit for the local authority than there is for the customer.

If you want to talk about convenience, you really need to up your game. The website is really rough, for a start. The process to get a tag should be simple, but is convoluted.

The 6 euro/year charge makes it unviable to stay permanently on the scheme, if you only use it occasionally. That's not convenient at all.

I would use this service, except that using coins is a lot easier for the amount of parking I do.

You have positioned what should be a mass-market service as a niche service for better off people on expense accounts. That seems like a mistake.

EI787

Not sure if this has been posted already...

http://www.dublincity.ie/RoadsandTraffic/Parking/Pages/HalfPriceChristmasParkingforDublinCity.aspx

From 15th November 2010 to 9th January 2011 (inclusive) any motorist who parks on-street in a paid parking place and pays using Parking Tag will be charged half the normal tariff (e.g. in the very high demand yellow zone the tariff will be €1.45 per hour instead of the standard tariff of €2.90 per hour).

Could be quite a substantial saving for some!

Cookie_Monster

it was posted, in multiple forums. The poster has been banned for advertising and spam posting...

Leatherman

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

There is a lot more benefit for the local authority than there is for the customer.

If you want to talk about convenience, you really need to up your game. The website is really rough, for a start. The process to get a tag should be simple, but is convoluted.

The 6 euro/year charge makes it unviable to stay permanently on the scheme, if you only use it occasionally. That's not convenient at all.

I would use this service, except that using coins is a lot easier for the amount of parking I do.

You have positioned what should be a mass-market service as a niche service for better off people on expense accounts. That seems like a mistake.

I was going to post pretty much the exact same thing.

We've been meaning to use the Parking Tag we were given by a local business but when I went to read the t&c s I was not impressed. The website felt like it was hiding the charges. It was not up front, it was not straight forward and it penalises those who would take up and use such a service on the rare occasions they are in the city centre or in parking zones.

Make it convenient, make it reasonably priced and you will see an improved service grow.

Dublin City Council can do better.

Obskure

Hi folks,
Again, digging up an old thread!! Need advice on removing credit card.
I have a parking tag account. It's of little use to me right now as I live in the west. I had used it extensively, but it grates on me that I can not see a way to remove my credit card. Anytime I go under €10 I am automatically topped up by another €20. I just want to use up the €27 odd that's in my account and not get topped up again, unless I do it manually.

Any suggestions?

markpb

Call them up, close your account and get your money back.

Obskure

Appreciate the quick reply markpb, but I was under the impression that they don't do refunds; if the account is closed any money remaining is lost! I still have 27 quid in the account and will have an opportunity to use it, but a lot more slowly now. I did contact them and ask for the card to be removed but was informed it's not possible.

markpb

Obskure wrote: »

Appreciate the quick reply markpb, but I was under the impression that they don't do refunds; if the account is closed any money remaining is lost! I still have 27 quid in the account and will have an opportunity to use it, but a lot more slowly now. I did contact them and ask for the card to be removed but was informed it's not possible.

It's definitely possible to get a refund on any money in your account, maybe it wasn't in the past.

Obskure

Will give it a go and Report back. Cheers

L1011

It'll come by cheque but it's no problem. I stopped needing it after years and cancelled it