PARKING!!

lucygoosy

Right we all know the craic with the parking. And now they want us to pay for a permit which still does not guarantee us a space and 32e compared to staff who earn a pretty good salary of 35e is a bit unfair, they could have kept the 3e. Anyways the point I am making is does anyone know anywhere else to park that I wont get clamped or ticketed? Have already got two fines fairly pi**ed off with the college I don't think it's very fair that even the pay and display spaces are taken up. Some people find it really hard to college and want to go to lectures etc but have missed them because of the parking situation! The college should provide parking for us!

Victor

The college is there to provide an education, not parking.

If fewer people drove, it would be easier for public transport to provide services.

the-island-man

At the moment the only place you can park free outside the college is in the newcastle estates and the seamus quirke road(the one that links the lower newcastle road to the roundabout leading up to westside) that won't last though. Residents are not happy and they're making the unhappiness known to the city councillors and to be fair I'd be the same if I was renting/owned a house in town and I had barely space to move my car outside my house. It's been acknowledged for years that the university really needs a multi-storey car park but there doesn't really seem to be a will to do anything about parking among the university hierarchy. The following report shows how bad the parking situation has got:
http://www.nuigalway.ie/administration_services/partnership/documents/joint_parking_position_paper_221208.doc

The report was published on the 22nd of December 2008 so that meant the car park at dangan was not in use and the car park opposite aras moyola was still in use.
The amount of permits given out each year amounts to 4600 and the amount of total car spaces then was 1600.
I estimate that the total car spaces now are 1740.
It shows that the uni considered a multi-storey but opted for the cheaper option of providing 500 car spaces at dangan which is there now.
In my opinion the solutions to deal with the problem outlined in this report are bulls*** because they focus mostly on trying to get people to change their attitude i.e cycle and take public transport. I doubt they'll be able to decrease 4600 permits down to 1740 by changing peoples attitudes!

Salt McMan

The prevailing attitude with the staff seems to be "protect your ass" with regards to everything.

the-island-man

Salt McMan wrote: »

The prevailing attitude with the staff seems to be "protect your ass" with regards to everything.

And our (student) attitude isn't the same?
Staff & students need to stop pointing the finger at each other and realise that it's university management/planning that is the problem.

kevcos

Victor wrote: »

The college is there to provide an education, not parking.

If fewer people drove, it would be easier for public transport to provide services.

The college is not only there to provide an education, but also to provide access to an education.

Public transport is not available to all. What about students travelling in from rural areas where public transport doesn't service. I do agree though that more people should cycle/walk, especially those living a stones throws away from the campus.

leeroybrown

the-island-man wrote: »

It's been acknowledged for years that the university really needs a multi-storey car park but there doesn't really seem to be a will to do anything about parking among the university hierarchy.

The problem is paying for the damn thing. No form of publicly available funding or private donation can be spent directly on car parking. If the University built a multi-storey they'd effectively be spending the matching funding they'd require to attract capital for two buildings of the same cost. The only likely outcome would be a public-private partnership with fees like you'd expect to pay in town. No one wants that...

Tawny

Aldi carpark. Takes me about 7 mins or so to walk from there to the uni. You are not annoying any residents, and there is always plenty of room. Its free and clamper free too. I don't see any reason why students should get free parking, and no one should be taking up space on residential streets because they are too lazy to walk for 10ish mins.

http://www.google.co.uk/local?ie=UTF8&ll=53.276044,-9.072132&spn=0.002932,0.006899&t=h&z=17 for map.

dnme

IMO

If you live within 3 miles of the college, dont drive in, you can cycle or if you are a bit closer, walk. I live in Athenry and on fine days I cycle (15 miles each way) and really enjoy it. Other days I get the train ( a weekly ticket) and walk to and from the stations.

When I do drive in, I really have to and it used to piss me off not being able to get a space but now the car park up in dangan is open and its \a beautiful walk down to the Uni from it.

Mikey23

Have you tried the Dangan car park? 500 spaces, maybe a quarter full at most any time I've been there. I know the original park & (st)ride initiative was a joke, especially for anyone studying in the evening, but a bus has been put on since Monday 11th January.

Full info, map etc here: http://www.nuigalway.ie/buildings/park_and_ride.html. That's where your €32 quid is going so you may as well use it if the times suit.

Mikey23

The most useful bits:

To ensure the immediate benefits of improving access to the unused spaces, a free bus service will be introduced from Monday 11 January, and operate Monday to Friday until 28 May.

The first bus will leave from the Dangan car park at 08.15, with the last bus of the morning service leaving at 11.05 and buses expected to operate every 10-15 minutes.

There will be a limited lunch time service, with one bus leaving the Orbsen Building terminus at 13.05 and one bus returning from the Dangan car park at 13.55.

For the evening service, the first bus will leave the Orbsen Building terminus at 16.15 and the last bus at 19.05, with buses expected to operate every 10-15 minutes.

There will be a late night shuttle service, commencing from the Orbsen Building terminus at 22.20 and making three journeys to the Dangan car park.

Claypigeon

Isn't the park and ride working pretty well now? Any time I've been walking to/from campus I see at least 2 buses

LadyMayBelle

I'm lucky as my lectures are in Aras Moyola so generally get parking in Corrib Village, and the bus will pick you up along the road too and drop you in! Brilliant! I also suggest parking in Westside library carpark, lots of spaces and a five-seven min walk..