Prospects of Athlone Park and Ride facilities remain distant
The introduction of 'park and ride' facilities in Athlone is unlikely to become a reality any time soon, after the January meeting of the local municipal district was told it was deemed to be “unfeasible on the grounds of value for money” as far back as 2023.
'Park and ride' is the name given to a system for reducing urban traffic congestion, whereby drivers leave their cars in car parks on the outskirts of a large urban area and travel into the centre via public transport.
On foot of a motion from Cllr John Dolan, the issue came up for debate at this week's meeting of Athlone Moate Municipal District when he requested that “potential sites” for a 'park and ride' service for Athlone town be examined.
“All I'm trying to do is open a conversation around the concept of 'park and ride' to see if we can get it going in Athlone because we need to plan for the future here,” explained Cllr Dolan.
The motion received strong support from newly co-opted Cllr John Gibbons. “Park and ride has long been proposed,” said Cllr Gibbons, “but it needs to be a good, timely and reliable service and I strongly support Cllr Dolan's motion.” Support also came from Athlone Mayor, Cllr Frankie Keena, who said he could see “great merit” in the motion.
The written response from the council executive appeared to pour cold water on the idea of introducing 'park and ride' facilities, and outlined how potential locations for the scheme to get underway in Athlone had been investigated as part of the Area Based Transport Assessment (ABTA) for the town in 2023.
That assessment concluded that the implementation of the facility was “deemed unfeasible on the grounds of value for money” when a number of elements were acknowledged, including; (a) journey time comparison with available public transport (b) service frequency of available public transport and (c) potential demand for such a service.
However, the council response added that the ABTA did recommend that the utilisation of existing parking facilities in the general locations “be explored as 'park and ride' sites for local town bus services.”
Director of Services Jackie Finney acknowledged that 'park and ride' is “just one of a suite of measures” designed to get people out of their cars and onto public transport, and she added that if it were to be introduced in Athlone at some stage in the future, the council would more than likely examine the possibility of using existing parking facilities on the outskirts of the town.