# Paid parking in very small towns



## johng7 (4 Dec 2007)

I'm wondering if any AAMers out there can help me look into the issue of paid parking in small towns.

Pay and Display parking is to be introduced on the Main Street of our town - Kinnegad in Co. Westmeath. The local County Council tell us that it is not a money making racket, but is the only enforcable parking restriction that is workably used anywhere else.

We feel that our town is far too small for Pay and Display parking - pop. 2200. With that in mind we are trying to find other small towns in Ireland with parking restrictions in place other than paid parking - for example Virginia in Cavan has 2 hours maximum parking on its Main Street, but free of charge. We need as many examples as possible of other towns with similar byelaws from around the country. 

I'd really appreciate any help or tips anyone can give us, because at the moment the Council are insistent that Pay and Display is the only way that they will consider.


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## ubiquitous (4 Dec 2007)

For what its worth, the max 2-hours free parking regime in Virginia works very well. I was in Enfield recently and they appear to have something similar.


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## johng7 (4 Dec 2007)

Thanks for that ubiquitous - Meath and Cavan are the 2 examples we've given Westmeath County Council so far, but they don't seem to want to listen.


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## LFC Murphy (4 Dec 2007)

Last time I was there, Ballinasloe in Galway what Max 1-2 hours for free. Tuam is paid parking


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## beautfan (4 Dec 2007)

Athenry tried to bring in something but didn't in the end (I think) - you really wouldn't be anymore than 2 hours in athenry anyway.  It might help yer passing trade though.


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## annamac1 (4 Dec 2007)

Ballinrobe has no free parking time - you park, you pay.
Very unfair when you just want to do a quick shop.


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## johng7 (4 Dec 2007)

Thanks for your replies guys - keep them coming !

Annamac1 - that just sums up what our difficulty is with paid parking in place as small as Kinnegad. There's only a handful of shops, spread over a long Main Street, so you couldn't park and stroll to a number of shops and businesses - most people will be only popping into a shop for a couple of minutes. Very unfair to expect these customers to pay for the privilege.


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## zag (4 Dec 2007)

Doesn't help your case directly, but some other countries (New Zealand for one) normally have different parking zones in a small town.  Right outside the shops on the main street - free parking, but a 10/15/20 minute maximum.  On the side streets - cheap parking with a much longer maximum.

This greatly facilitates people who just want to drop in to pick something up or drop something off.  It ensures there is normally parking available right near the shops - this in itself shortens then entire transaction while leaving the side streets free for longer term parking.

It is hard to get parking near the little shopping area down the road from me because people park there for hours at a time.  If there was enforced (ah, but sure this is Ireland) maximum parking times, people would be a lot more likely to stop at the shops as they could rely on getting parking for their 2 minute visit.  Local shops lose out, supermarkets gain.

z


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## snuffle (4 Dec 2007)

Last time I was in Kilkenny, there were zones where you could park for free for a max of two hours, then move on otherwise you get a parking ticket, not sure it that was in place throughout Kilkenny, but certainly at the end of Rose Inn st and on John st, which are pretty main thoroughfares. I'd imagine this system would work well for you, it certainly seems to work in Kilkenny, once the two hours are up, you move on, leaving space for other visitors/shoppers etc. 

Also worthy of note - Waterford city used to use pay and display parking discs, one disc per hour, so even if you were only stopping for 5 minutes you'd have to pay full whack, however they recently introduced dispensing ticket machines where you can pay corresponding amounts for only 10 minutes, 20 minutes etc, up to a maximum of I think 2 hours, which is a lot more palatable than paying for a full hour when you only need 5 minutes. 
Reasons for this may have included resistance from local businesses to supply said discs, so might be worth getting the local chamber of commerce/local businesses to band together if you're not already doing this.


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## oldtimer (5 Dec 2007)

Tipperary Town has a  fair parking system. (1) Parking on the Main Street is only allowed on one side for two hours (free). (2) Central car parks near supermarkets allow free parking for first hour - free ticket must be displayed. (3) Car parks  off main thoroughfare are free at all times. (4) Central car park in Market area is pay and display. These arrangements agreed following consultations between local council and traders. Traders felt it would promote the town better and encourage people to stop and shop. Also Dunnes, Tesco and Lidl have big free car parks on their premises.


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## johng7 (5 Dec 2007)

Thanks for taking the time to reply - its interesting to see that different approaches can work if a little thought is put into it. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to apply to Westmeath Co. Co. who have one answer only and are adamant that our small town has to be treated the same as Mullingar (pop. 18000) and Athlone (pop. 17500).


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## johng7 (5 Dec 2007)

Just out of interest does anyone have any idea what the smallest town in Ireland is that has pay and display parking ? 

A bit obscure I know - but it would help our case if we could be sure that Kinnegad (pop. 2200) would be the smallest if they go ahead and introduce it.


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## Guest122 (5 Dec 2007)

No, Virginia Co. Cavan has a pop of 1734 according to 2006 census.

BB


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## Guest127 (5 Dec 2007)

Castleblayney has free in car parks all day ( plenty of space) and parking free on main street for 2 hours. enfocred by both the garda and sometimes a warden from Monaghan. Dundalk charge 20c for 15 mins and have a few all day car parks but a stranger would struggle to find one of them and the other is right beside a full paying car park. Only a local would probably know the difference. Kells has one all day car park for around €3 but again a stranger mighn't find it easily.  Drogheda has only one free car park and its a nice little walk to the main street from it but a long way from the new shopping centres. Can't see  how towns as small as Virginia or Kinnegad require  pay parking.


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## johng7 (5 Dec 2007)

Thanks again to everyone for contributing on what must seem a pretty boring topic !
Breffni Boy 2 - the point is that parking in Virginia is free - not pay and display.


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## gipimann (5 Dec 2007)

cuchulainn said:


> Drogheda has only one free car park and its a nice little walk to the main street from it but a long way from the new shopping centres.


 
Drogheda actually has 2 free car parks - one on the Donore Rd (close to the bus station) and the other on Trinity St (on the way to Aldi).  Neither are terribly close to the new shopping areas - which both have pay carparks of course!


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## Megan (5 Dec 2007)

Was shopping in Newry last week and both Shopping Centres have free parking. Newry is a city. Also parked for free outside my dentist which is quiet close to the centre of Newry.


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## johng7 (6 Dec 2007)

Just to recap what everyone has come up with :

there are towns - or areas of towns - with parking restrictions, but free ie. 2 hour maximum stay etc. in the following counties 
        Cavan, Monaghan, Meath, South Tipperary, Galway and Kilkenny.

Thanks for your help with this - I hope Westmeath Co. Co. see some sense. 

If anyone has any other examples I'd love to hear them - especially from counties other than the ones I've already mentioned.


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## Guest127 (6 Dec 2007)

thanks gipiman, didn't know about the donore road one as I would always be travelling from 'the town' and find the Mell one very handy. Don't mind the walk as its not  unpleasant on a nice day. 
cheers


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## fobs (6 Dec 2007)

In charleville town co. cork there is a one hour free parking on the main street and an (up till now) free town carpark. Dunnes has opened recently with another 450 free spaces. Talks of introducing pay and display on the car park in the town though.


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## johng7 (6 Dec 2007)

Thanks for that fobs - glad to add the southern republic to the list !!


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## oldtimer (6 Dec 2007)

ASAIK Mitchelstown also in Co. Cork has free parking.


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## bogwarrior (7 Dec 2007)

Shannon in Clare (pop 10,000+) has 2 hours free parking, you pay after that.  There are no streets in Shannon town centre (the 'town centre' is actually a shopping centre - thats 1960's planning for you).  After the shopping centre was refurbished about 5 years ago the company that run the place started to charge for all parking (it was completely free before that).  Trade dried up as the locals moved their shopping to Limerick and Ennis in protest.  The company backed down eventually and the 2 hour free parking rule was imposed.  There are still grumbles about it but its probably a fair compromise.


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## ATgirl (7 Dec 2007)

Dungarvan, Co. Waterford gives 30min free parking, after that you pay, its really handy if you're just popping into a shop for a few minutes.  
I think they still have a free car parking beside one of the roundabouts on the bypass, only a 5min walk for the town centre.


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## johng7 (7 Dec 2007)

Really appreciate everyone taking the time to add to this list - as usual AAM comes up trumps !


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## johng7 (10 Dec 2007)

I wonder if anyone can confirm or deny that there is part of Lucan which has free parking - with a maximum stay period in place - rather than the pay and display system that they have in the centre of the town ?


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## ubiquitous (17 Dec 2007)

Dunno about that. However I did notice recently that Ardee Co Louth has full pay & display parking with no "maxiumum stay free parking".


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## Caveat (17 Dec 2007)

Fairly sure that Castleblayney, Co Monaghan has free parking - both on the main street(s) and in at least one town centre car park.


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## johng7 (17 Dec 2007)

Thanks again to everyone for adding to this - we are making our case to the County Council so I'm very grateful for all input - either to do with the facts about parking restrictions, or how best to get a County Council to change a misguided decision.


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## rco2000 (18 Dec 2007)

Tuam in County Galway is €2 for 2 hours street parking(metered) but there is a state of the art Multi Store Car Park (c400 spaces) in the town charging just €2 PER DAY!


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## bb12 (19 Dec 2007)

just out of interest, who is going to police it in very small towns? there's hardly going to be a dedicated traffic warden purely for kinnegad?


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## Guest120 (19 Dec 2007)

Balbriggan (population 15k) has P&D.

Main street and side streets all P&D, cost approx 20 cent for 10 minutes.

2 car parks (a few 100 spaces between both) off the main street are P&D, both besdie each other. The closer one to the main street in around 1 euro for an hour, max stay 3 hours I think. The other one (still only 100 meteres from main street) is 2 euro for a days parking - mainly used by train users. The train station car park is FOC at present (100 spaces approx)

There is a free cark park at the southern end of the town, the church car park - a few 100 spaces in it.

Some of the money genertated from the P&D has been used to install CCTV in the 3 cars parks in the town.

[broken link removed]

There is also a multistory car park in the centre town, not sure of prices but I belive it's similar to the P&D as was developed with FCC.


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## johng7 (19 Dec 2007)

The pay and display system for Kinnegad is supposed to be policed by traffic wardens from Mullingar who will come intermittently.

We just feel its over the top for a small town - and only applicable on the Main Street, with the supermarket on the edge of the town providing free parking. Also a good size Tesco is planned for a site away from the Main Street as well. Hard to see how people will justify paying to visit the small number of small, mainly family owned shops on the Main Street, when they could park free at the supermarket, or just do their business in the larger centres nearby like Mullingar.


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