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Car Park - Portlaoise Train Station Car Spaces!!!!

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  • 19-11-2012 3:57pm
    #1
    Mike Guide 69
    Registered Users Posts: 6,509 ✭✭✭


    Right folks, part rant, other part enquiry. Just in relation to the car park at Portlaoise train station and its erm......well lack of car spaces to be honest!!! I've been commuting daily for the last 9 years to Dublin after moving back home to Portlaoise and over those last few years there has been a steady increase as you can imagine with daily commuters travelling up and down.

    However what is noticeable and in particular in the last 2 months, is the that the car park is now full and i mean utter chockablock, where people are now parking their cars against barriers and wedging cars into practically impossibe spaces against other cars, especially at the back of the car park. And im not talking at late commuting time when the car park is full, im talking about high peak times, the trains between 6.50am - 7.20am.

    Now i know location wise, the car park is a position where it is at the top of a hill and expansion of the car park is null and void. Im just wondering is there or was there any plans to develop another car park close to the station where it could accomodate the increasing numbers?

    When you put in comparison, size wise the difference between Portlaoise and Portarlington train station car parks, it beggars belief. The Portarlington car park is as big as the Lidl car park in Portlaoise.

    Its bad enough paying for the car space when your taking public transport, its even worse when your paying for a space that does'nt exist. Anyway rant over, thanks folks :)


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    #2
    Lynda Kiernan
    Registered Users Posts: 1 ✭Lynda Kiernan


    Hi Mike, I am a journalist with the Leinster Express, I would be interested in following up your 'rant' with a story, i think you have a valid point.
    Call me at office, 057 8621666 if you are interested, I can leave your name out if you wish.
    regards,
    Lynda


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    #3
    elvis jones
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,197 ✭✭✭elvis jones


    Lynda Kiernan wrote: »
    Hi Mike, I am a journalist with the Leinster Express, I would be interested in following up your 'rant' with a story, i think you have a valid point.
    Call me at office, 057 8621666 if you are interested, I can leave your name out if you wish.
    regards,
    Lynda

    Hmmm,

    perhaps it would be more in your interest to follow up on the thread here on laundered diesel being sold in a service station in Portlaoise.


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    #4
    Toulouse
    Registered Users Posts: 2,413 ✭✭✭Toulouse


    http://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/local/portlaoise-train-station-car-park-packed-out-1-4527078


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    #5
    elvis jones
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,197 ✭✭✭elvis jones


    Toulouse wrote: »
    http://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/local/portlaoise-train-station-car-park-packed-out-1-4527078

    and illegal diesel being sold in the town is ignored.........fine journalism:rolleyes:


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    #6
    sydthebeat
    Subscribers Posts: 41,104 ✭✭✭✭sydthebeat


    elvis jones wrote: »

    and illegal diesel being sold in the town is ignored.........fine journalism:rolleyes:


    I'm sure the newspaper would be all over the diesel story if there was tangible proof.

    The other thread here talks of a "rumour".

    I certainly wouldn't want to leave myself open to being sued based on a rumour.


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    #7
    elvis jones
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,197 ✭✭✭elvis jones


    sydthebeat wrote: »
    I'm sure the newspaper would be all over the diesel story if there was tangible proof.

    The other thread here talks of a "rumour".

    I certainly wouldn't want to leave myself open to being sued based on a rumour.

    Take diesel.......have it tested.........


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    #8
    sydthebeat
    Subscribers Posts: 41,104 ✭✭✭✭sydthebeat


    elvis jones wrote: »

    Take diesel.......have it tested.........

    Costs? Equipment? Expertise?....legality??


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    #9
    elvis jones
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,197 ✭✭✭elvis jones


    sydthebeat wrote: »
    Costs? Equipment? Expertise?....legality??

    So it will cost a few quid, ah a pointless story about a full car park is soooooo much better. I'm sorry but i think the above is a waste of ink when there are much more important stories out there worth investigating.


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    #10
    kizzyf
    Registered Users Posts: 206 ✭✭kizzyf


    Elvisjones this issue may not affect you but it does affect 100's of local people who have to travel out of Portlaoise by train every day. There are so many people having to drive on to Kildare or elsewhere when the car park is full and many that have chosen to give up taking the train and commute by car now to Dublin or take a train from a different station meaning more fuel consumption. The cost of my annual train ticket is over €3000 per year and then I pay for my parking which isn't guaranteed. I can't take a later train to Dublin, which would suit me for work, due to the restraints of the car park I always have to get to the station before 7.15.

    Martleys provide a good bus service for commuters to Dublin but due to the fact that there is only one bus each way it might not suit many people.

    I think Iarnrod Eireann need to take action. If it isn't sorted then maybe I'll need to visit the fuel station with the laundered diesel so that I can fuel up to commute by car.


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    #11
    elvis jones
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,197 ✭✭✭elvis jones


    kizzyf wrote: »
    Elvisjones this issue may not affect you but it does affect 100's of local people who have to travel out of Portlaoise by train every day. There are so many people having to drive on to Kildare or elsewhere when the car park is full and many that have chosen to give up taking the train and commute by car now to Dublin or take a train from a different station meaning more fuel consumption. The cost of my annual train ticket is over €3000 per year and then I pay for my parking which isn't guaranteed. I can't take a later train to Dublin, which would suit me for work, due to the restraints of the car park I always have to get to the station before 7.15.

    Martleys provide a good bus service for commuters to Dublin but due to the fact that there is only one bus each way it might not suit many people.

    I think Iarnrod Eireann need to take action. If it isn't sorted then maybe I'll need to visit the fuel station with the laundered diesel so that I can fuel up to commute by car.

    I actually commuted by train for 7 years so i do know the problems and the added cost of parking.


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    #12
    sas
    Registered Users Posts: 1,282 ✭✭✭sas


    elvis jones wrote: »
    I actually commuted by train for 7 years so i do know the problems and the added cost of parking.

    I commuted for 10 years so I'm in a position to comment here too.

    Parking in the multistorey beside the heritage is around 500 for an annual ticket. It's very close to the station. There is no way that is working out more expensive than the petrol cost of driving to kildare plus parking.

    Online it suggests that the monthly ticket for the portlaoise train station carpark is €30.
    The multistory would work out at €42 based on €500 annual ticket. You would also (for locals) be able to use it at the weekends too for free which offers another slight cost offset vs the cheaper train station carpark.

    With €12 per month difference in parking between the train station and the multistorey, anyone that is choosing to drive to kildare purely for a parking space is a fool.

    However, I don't believe for a second that peoples decision to take the car to dublin or kildare is based on the parking situation. It's far more likely to be schedule related as kildare has a significantly better service. Driving to kildare to avail of earlier trains etc. was something I often did during my commuting days.

    The reality of it is that Irish rail is in huge financial difficulty. Even if it wasn't that carpark simply isn't extendable to any great extent. The only way to realy fix this would be to move the station itself. That's not going to happen.


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    #13
    kizzyf
    Registered Users Posts: 206 ✭✭kizzyf


    Good suggestion but parking in the multistorey is hardly convenient though especially in winter weather and in the morning when time is of the essence alot of time would be wasted driving into station car park around to multistorey and walk all the way back and across the bridge and you've not only missed the train you intended getting but probably the next one too.


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    #14
    paperclip2
    Registered Users Posts: 2,280 ✭✭✭paperclip2


    I park in the Mill Carpark and walk up to the train. Costs €2 per day.

    Also the CBS is being leased and renovated by the VEC to develop into an adult ed centre so that puts the kibosh on that parking solution.


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    #15
    sas
    Registered Users Posts: 1,282 ✭✭✭sas


    kizzyf wrote: »
    Good suggestion but parking in the multistorey is hardly convenient though especially in winter weather and in the morning when time is of the essence alot of time would be wasted driving into station car park around to multistorey and walk all the way back and across the bridge and you've not only missed the train you intended getting but probably the next one too.

    I wasn't suggesting that you try the train carpark first and then go to the multistorey. There is no logic in that whatsoever.

    The walk from multistorey to the platform is 5mins. As regards weather, you at least are covered in the multistorey so you can prepare your umbrella\rain gear while covered in.

    The bottom line is that the train station carpark isn't going to get extended. Iarnrod Eireann are in very serious financial difficulty.

    We can find our own reasonable solutions or we can vent our frustration anonymously on internet forums. One of those approaches is a tad more effective than the other.


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    #16
    Mike Guide 69
    Registered Users Posts: 6,509 ✭✭✭Mike Guide 69


    The CIE Group itself is actually down on funding it receives from the PSP (Public Service Payment) in the last 3-4 years, its down by around €45 millon.

    However the entire CIE group received a whopping €279 million in its last structural payment. I do understand that the payments have to be divided equally and accordingly where see fit amongst the different service providers and also to relevant projects that are in development (Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann......etc....) but surely to goodness someone should see fit, where funding could be put in place especially at local level, where not only does it incentivice public transport but also put the cash back into the company itself, even the small margins add up at the end of the day.

    In this case this should have been done with the expansion of the car park in Portlaoise. My biggest gripe is that this should have been looked into around 6-7 years ago, during the boom and with the obvious increase in the number of commuters, but alas now, its like an irish solution to an irish problem now!!!!!

    I do agree though that you will see more people using the likes of Kildare and Newbrige train stations to park their cars especially with the new timetable (interim, mind you )coming into place, as there does seem to be additional trains now stopping at these stations


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    #17
    kizzyf
    Registered Users Posts: 206 ✭✭kizzyf


    paperclip2 wrote: »
    I park in the Mill Carpark and walk up to the train. Costs €2 per day.

    Also the CBS is being leased and renovated by the VEC to develop into an adult ed centre so that puts the kibosh on that parking solution.
    Where is the Mill car park? Behind The Company?

    I think that if you have to park elsewhere than it should cost less than the station carpark or be free to justify the additional walk, that's all.


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    #18
    Elaine29
    Registered Users Posts: 2 ✭Elaine29


    Hi Just wondering if the parking is still as bad(or worse) now?


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    #19
    Chriscl1
    Registered Users Posts: 999 ✭✭✭Chriscl1


    The standard of some peoples parking can be described as shoddy at best!! But in relation to if it gets full, yup, pretty full by 0700. The multi-storey at the heritage hotel will give commuters parking for the same rate ncps charge at the station though.


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