Anger as charge for parking at Limerick rail station almost doubles

THERE is anger after the charge for motorists using the car park at Limerick Colbert station has almost doubled.

Motorists catching a train or bus from the station and those working in the city were left furious, and aghast, after seeing the price they pay on the mobile car parking APCOA app at Limerick’s transport hub go from €3.50 per day to €6.50 a day.

Meanwhile, the price drivers are asked to pay at the machine is also €6.50, a €1 rise from the previous rate. Irish Rail has said the rise is due to an “anomaly” previously in place, which saw Limerick Colbert’s parking charges reflecting those of a commuter station.

“This resulted in non-rail customers taking up spaces for very cheap daily city parking,” a spokesperson for the transport firm said.

The new prices are more in line with its other city centre stations, for example Cork Kent and Dublin Heuston – albeit slightly lower here.

However, one motorist believes following the price rise, drivers will park elsewhere. “People are voting with their feet. The station car park was very quiet this morning,” a regular user of the facility said this Monday.

“In these straightened times when people are under financial pressure, it’s not a great thing to do,” another person added.

Clare Fianna Fail TD Cathal Crowe has described the price hike as “outrageous”. “The near doubling of the cost of daily parking took many rail users by surprise last week,” he said.

Mr Crowe says he would often drive from his home to Colbert Station, park there for the day, and use a Dublin Bike at the other end to get from Heuston to Leinster House.

“In the five years that I’ve been using the rail service, I’ve gotten to know many people from Clare and Limerick who use the rail service to commute to and from Dublin and other towns along the route. These are all people who have made a conscious decision to use multi-modal transport and to minimise car use,” he pointed out.

The Fianna Fail TD feels this price hike is “disproportionate” and unfairly targets regular travellers. “If there had been a small hike in price perhaps people would have absorbed it better. However, over the weekend I’ve had texts, calls and emails from many people who are frequent users of the service, and they feel let down by Irish Rail,” he added.

“This comes at a time when we are trying to encourage people to use more sustainable forms of transport and the train is one of the best ways that people can travel on an inter-city basis. Whilst train fares have been reduced in recent years, it is still quite costly for a family to travel by train and now the additional costs associated with car parking can be added to that,” he said.

Mr Crowe also said there are no monthly or annual parking tickets available at Colbert Station.

However, an Irish Rail spokesperson confirmed a €20-per-week parking option is still there for customers to use. A €20m upgrade to the station at Parnell Street, opened last year, saw the car park move to the right hand side of the station, with a brand new bus terminal replacing it at the other side.

Mr Crowe believes this has led to a cut in car parking spots, and sees vehicles parked “haphazardly on footpaths and open areas”. He acknowledges that Irish Rail bosses are concerned that non-rail travellers are using the train station car park.

“I raised this issue directly to Irish Rail management at the Oireachtas transport committee last year and I suggested that the best way to tackle this would be to link the parking with one’s train ticket. I think this would be a much better solution to control use of parking spaces at the station instead of a price hike,” he said.

He said he hopes the State transport provider will use “common sense” and reverse the price hike. “But they also need to re-examine the overall use of this car park and I hope that they will take on my suggestion to having it linked to a train ticket,” he added.

“Price hikes like this set the whole rail network back.”

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Anger as charge for parking at Limerick rail station almost doubles

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