Athlone rail station car-parking charges set to come into effect

Car parking charges set to be introduced at Athlone Train Station have been criticised by local commuters who say the fees are counter-productive in encouraging commuters to avail of public transport. Parking will be on a pay and display basis, with parking rates set at €2 per day and €8 per week. The charges are expected to come into force on Monday. Irish Rail state that these are the lowest charges of any paid public transport park and ride facilities but local commuters have voiced their concern at yet another expense in their weekly budget. Local Fine Gael Senator Nicky McFadden regularly uses the train services when travelling to the Seanad. While she is full of praise for the management of Athlone Train Station, she believes that Iarnród Éireann"s new system will do little to encourage the public to use public transport. 'It"s a national question but the Minister (for Transport Noel Dempsey) should be encouraging people to use public transport and this is not the way to go about it. It"s yet another tax and charge on people. The public are obviously not happy with it and I do question the judgment in introducing something like this,' she says. With the price of petrol and diesel having escalated in the past year and with the economy currently suffering a downturn, Senator McFadden also pointed out that this was a key time to reopen the Mullingar-Athlone line. 'I would certainly like to see the reopening of the line. We have the ability to reopen it and from a lot of perspectives - from an economic to an environmental - it would make a lot of sense,' she added. Local commuter Vincent Molloy says that he has been commuting to and from Dublin for the past eight years. 'It"s an extra expense and if you look at it it"s around €400 extra per year - it all adds up,' he says. Mr Molloy also pointed out that railway ticket charges have increased 15% recently, increasing the cost on commuters. 'The idea should be to encourage people to use public transport not discourage them. I"ve heard Irish Rail say that it will help free up spaces but I don"t think it will be of any great benefit to them. It"s just even more expense on people who use public transport,' he adds. Car parking charges have been introduced at the Iarnród Éireann"s car parks across the Greater Dublin and Leinster commuter area from this Autumn. Iarnród Éireann state that they have a major programme of car park expansion, with over 13,000 new spaces planned across their network. This revenue, they claim, will help fund this, as well as fund upkeep; and help meet costs in the current economic environment. A spokesperson for Iarnród Éireann said: 'This nominal charge will allow us to continue the development of our car park facilities. The experience shown in other public transport park and ride facilities is that payment has seen an increase in the catchment area for public transport - those who live within walking distance of stations are leaving the car at home, freeing up spaces for people from a wider area to benefit from the parking facilities,' he said.