Motorway stations: 300 jobs on the way

JHMEG

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/motorway-stations-300-jobs-on-the-way-2246299.html

Have to admit after reading that I have very low expectations of everything aside from the toilets. It's debatable as to whether Burger King sells "food", and Costa Coffee really should be Celtic Tiger Coffee. I also suspect most of the 300 jobs will be taken up by foreigners giving visitors the impression there are very few Irish people left (already identified as an issue in the UK and US media).

Ah well, at least we'll finally have somewhere to stop for a pee.

Cookie_Monster

I don't see there ever being the volumes to support such businesses.

L1011

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I don't see there ever being the volumes to support such businesses.

I, however, do. Just look at how busy service stations off the main motorways are. If you've got the option of NOT having to forage offline for something when its there with big glowing signs, you'll go there instead.

skelliser

In galway if you head out the ballybrit road and are heading towards dublin there is no service station on the left until Dublin!!
Heading south to cork its charleville before you meet a petrol station on the left hand side!!

jimmycrackcorm

100 people in each service station - what the hell will they all do? I can picture getting a sandwich and there being a specific person to butter the first slice and another to put the top slice on.

Cookie_Monster

MYOB wrote: »

I, however, do. Just look at how busy service stations off the main motorways are. If you've got the option of NOT having to forage offline for something when its there with big glowing signs, you'll go there instead.

they'll support some jobs but not that many. while a garage may be viable I don't rally see the volume to support a burgerking (or whatever else) alongside it

KC61

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

100 people in each service station - what the hell will they all do? I can picture getting a sandwich and there being a specific person to butter the first slice and another to put the top slice on.

Presumably there are to be at least 3 shifts to maintain a 24 hour service, and that suggests over 30 people per shift. Given each location has (it would appear) two separate facilities (one on each side of the road) that implies 15 people per facility.

I guess it depends on the range of services that are planned at each of these stations?

whosedaddy?

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

100 people in each service station - what the hell will they all do? I can picture getting a sandwich and there being a specific person to butter the first slice and another to put the top slice on.

the're 3 sites - I think each has two stations (one each direction)... makes 50 per station.

Assuming they open 24/7 you need a few to work those shifts.

edit: KC61 beat me to it.

L1011

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

they'll support some jobs but not that many. while a garage may be viable I don't rally see the volume to support a burgerking (or whatever else) alongside it

As I said, look at the existing near-motorway sites, or those on major N routes which are not yet motorwayed.

Most have a McDonalds or Supermacs either inside or co-located. For 24/7 operation of 6 sites they're going to near the number of staff announced.

antoinolachtnai

Because of the repressive, anti-employer laws in this country, which require niceties such as 'holidays' and 'rest-days', you will need closer to 5 40-hour shifts to cover a 168-hour week. So that's a crew of 10, which I suppose you would need.

The bigger flaw than the arithmetic is that these new sites will not generate any new expenditure on petrol, they will just move it from other places. I suppose they will create a little extra spend on the 'extras'. Certainly some rest stops will make the route safer.

L1011

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

The bigger flaw than the arithmetic is that these new sites will not generate any new expenditure on petrol, they will just move it from other places. I suppose they will create a little extra spend on the 'extras'. Certainly some rest stops will make the route safer.

While the petrol thing is definitely true I've got anecdotal evidence (from myself and colleagues in the same job with the same length of driving) that suggest that a large amount of on-road food sales have basically vanished since the motorways opened. I'm more likely to press on home and get food there than get dinner on the road now, due to a lack of anywhere to do it.

Not that Burger King is going to tempt me off, will have to see what the Applegreen Cafe offering is like.

doctorchick

skelliser wrote: »

In galway if you head out the ballybrit road and are heading towards dublin there is no service station on the left until Dublin!!
Heading south to cork its charleville before you meet a petrol station on the left hand side!!

1. Tom Hogans on left hand sife of main road at Ballybrit before you get to motorway
2. OK nothing currently on the motorway, but there IS one being built on the left
3. Athenry - take the junction and you have 3 petrol stations within 2 minutes of the motorway exit
3. Ballinasloe - Petrol stations within a few minutes of the junction
4. Athlone - Many stations and food within a few minutes on the N6 stretch etc

OK so you have to come off the motorway but petrol is in easy access

As for the trip to Cork, from Dublin on the M8 there are many petrol stations if you come off junctions. If you are talking about driving from Galway to Cork then there are petrol stations on the left in Limerick. As this is not motorway then what is the problem with driving into one on the right hand side of the road ?

Run_to_da_hills

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

100 people in each service station - what the hell will they all do? I can picture getting a sandwich and there being a specific person to butter the first slice and another to put the top slice on.

They will need people employed to collect toilet fees.

spacetweek

JHMEG wrote: »

I also suspect most of the 300 jobs will be taken up by foreigners giving visitors the impression there are very few Irish people left (already identified as an issue in the UK and US media).

Nothing we can do about that - the Irish just won't do it, and not surprising. I'd rather kill myself then flip burgers at the side of a motorway all day.

Where has that been seen in US and UK media?

Heroditas

I can see the Applegreen just off the M1 at the Balbriggan exit suffering badly from the opening of the motorway service station at Lusk. It's practically just down the road from it.

delta_bravo

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

they'll support some jobs but not that many. while a garage may be viable I don't rally see the volume to support a burgerking (or whatever else) alongside it

McDonalds off the N7 at Roscrea is one of the busiest i know of and that has a petrol station also. Its only customers are road users really. I dont think volume will be an issue

Run_to_da_hills

spacetweek wrote: »

Nothing we can do about that - the Irish just won't do it, and not surprising. I'd rather kill myself then flip burgers at the side of a motorway all day.

Where has that been seen in US and UK media?

Not that way any more.

http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/idojidaumh/

jack presley

I presume petrol/diesel will be a few cent more at these locations than at their other facilities?

And what about food etc. Will that be another rip off? they'd better not charge for taking a pee

Hogzy

jack presley wrote: »

I presume petrol/diesel will be a few cent more at these locations than at their other facilities?

Definitely. I guarantee the fuel will be a rip off, as well as the food. Thing is in order to avoid it just fill up before you hit the motorway.

JHMEG

spacetweek wrote: »

Nothing we can do about that - the Irish just won't do it, and not surprising. I'd rather kill myself then flip burgers at the side of a motorway all day.

Who did it before the foreigners did it?

Going OT, but wages have dropped so much in the fast food industry that over half those migrant workers in the industry are working for less than minimum wage. I personally know people who have worked for €3 an hour on the QT, made possible by being in receipt of social welfare.

mikemac

spacetweek wrote: »

Nothing we can do about that - the Irish just won't do it, and not surprising. I'd rather kill myself then flip burgers at the side of a motorway all day.

Irish people have done these jobs and they'll do them again.
We've all worked ****ty jobs, mine was a hotel porter and at the time McDonalds paid more and I couldn't get a job there, so many applications they weren't hiring. Rejected by McDonalds, the shame!
This was 2004, boom times appearantly when it seems I was too good for this job according to boards and me finished college

Working in the service station is a good job for a student, they get set hours and can do evenings or even nights if they are in college. A second job even for some people.

Todays announcement can be welcomed
It's good news, though not for the towns that lose custom but that's inevitable.
A few construction jobs generated too

whosedaddy?

Heroditas wrote: »

I can see the Applegreen just off the M1 at the Balbriggan exit suffering badly from the opening of the motorway service station at Lusk. It's practically just down the road from it.

why? the Applegreen at Balbriggan will be cheaper ... and its both Applegreen.

L1011

jack presley wrote: »

I presume petrol/diesel will be a few cent more at these locations than at their other facilities?

And what about food etc. Will that be another rip off? they'd better not charge for taking a pee

I suspect they won't be allowed charge for the toilets, these are effectively state services (they'll become state property after the contract - 30 years I believe - expires and then be let out to the highest bidder).

Almost inevitable they'll take advantage of a captive audience price-wise, thats business...

whosedaddy?

Hogzy wrote: »

Definitely. I guarantee the fuel will be a rip off, as well as the food.

which is the same on every single European motorway..

JHMEG

MYOB wrote: »

Almost inevitable they'll take advantage of a captive audience price-wise, thats business...

Price gouge you mean? Having a captive market in Ireland seems to mean you just have to gouge customers.

mikemac

Hogzy wrote: »

Definitely. I guarantee the fuel will be a rip off, as well as the food. Thing is in order to avoid it just fill up before you hit the motorway.

Of course the food will be a rip off.

The director of Applegreen was on Matt Coopers show on Today FM.
Fuel will be benchmarked against their competitors in the local areas.

Maybe they have some condition from the National Roads Authority in the contract.

Hogzy

Well i can fuel up at home and if the food is a rip off ill keep going to the Portlaois place. Reasonable value and TBH its just as close to the motorway as any other service center can be.

Cookie_Monster

Hogzy wrote: »

Definitely. I guarantee the fuel will be a rip off, as well as the food. Thing is in order to avoid it just fill up before you hit the motorway.

its just as well that dublin-cork, dublin-belfast, dublin-galway and pretty much everywhere else are only a few hours apart and stops aren't even needed for the vast majority of motorway users.

Terrontress

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

its just as well that dublin-cork, dublin-belfast, dublin-galway and pretty much everywhere else are only a few hours apart and stops aren't even needed for the vast majority of motorway users.

Motorway service stations seem to occur every 25 miles or so in England so I'd say that people will stop at these.

The English stations are the most soul destroying, wretched cess-pits on the face of the earth. All produce in the shops are about 50% more than you can expect to pay elsewhere yet they don't pay to have the toilets cleaned properly. Any bank machine in them costs a few quid to use and there are hordes of morons pumping coin after coin into fruit machines.

In spite of all this I go in when on an English motorway journey and begrudgingly buy their ****e.

Run_to_da_hills

Without a McDonalds these places are not worth stopping at.

L1011

JHMEG wrote: »

Price gouge you mean? Having a captive market in Ireland seems to mean you just have to gouge customers.

Remove "in Ireland" and you're on to something. Businesses always charge captive markets more, its called capitalism.

I know you're utterly paranoid about fuel retailers though. So be careful! The lads from Petrogas will be sending the baseball bats around!