The Dublin Community Blog

Ah parking. Everyone in Dublin has their clamping horror stories. Mine is when our car was clamped outside our house even though we were fully paid disc holders. To add insult to injury no-one answered the phone when we rang to have the car unclamped. Steam. Ears. You can imagine. Three months later I got my fine back. This happened over 5 years ago. I’m not bitter.

Parking is usually not something I worry about being a committed city cyclist. However, of late, I have had occasion to drive instead of cycle especially as I’m carrying a precious cargo. I had planned this post to be aimed at expectant fathers in the Dublin region but I discovered that Brandon beat me to it in a post in June. Seriously he’s right: Dads-to-be get your ParkingTag on! (Me I’m planning to cycle to the Coombe when the time comes.)

However since then I’ve actually started using ParkingTag.ie so I thought I would share my experience. After a few initial hiccups where their site continuously refused to take my payment details and therefore refused registration I finally managed to register after giving up but returning at a future date. I’m nothing if not persistent!

Firstly I really like the site and their understanding of how people use their cars. Like many families living in a city we only have one car so either of us could be out and about in it. Therefore it would make no sense if we could only register one mobile to the account. This means that either me or Himself can pay for parking from our own phones. Similarly if we ever own two cars (hah!) we could register both plates to the one account.

This last fact is very clever for business accounts in particular. You could register all those in the company to the one account with their mobiles, keeping trips to the meter to a minimum. It also allows you to download an Excel of parking costs from the “Recent Transactions” section which would allow the company to track payments made outside of work hours (if the boss was very pernickety!)

However it was when I was viewing this that I noticed a few figures that I didn’t expect and that were unexplained. I was charged 20c for every reminder SMS to tell me that I had 10mins left on my parking even though this service is not optional. I found this detail at the very bottom of their FAQ. Personally I would prefer to stick a reminder in my phone that doesn’t cost me a cent. The other fee was a 50c service fee which I suppose is fair enough – it’s a very handy service but surely a public service like Dublin City Council should factor these costs in to their arrangement with Payzone but that’s just scabby ol me and the taxes I’m already paying…!

When registering one has to give payment details for a credit or debit card and a regular top-up amount is debited from your card. However as an infrequent user the minimum top-up amount of €20 is a little high for me and I fear that there will be a surfeit of my cash languishing in the ParkingTag bank account over time.

The other bugbear I have (and I’m sorry to moan but I would prefer you not to panic when parking as I did) was that I followed the instructions carefully to activate my ParkingTag only to have my first few attempts rejected! Not a happy experience when you’re rushing for an appointment and I did the unthinkable and left my car unpaid for!

However, good news for those for those of you who prefer free parking*. Dublin City Council announced a free parking scheme in the run-up to Christmas to encourage shoppers to the city centre.

Under the scheme, on-street parking spaces will be free from 2pm every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday until December 27th.

Oho it’s a far cry from Operation Freeflow and my poor mammy spent three hours getting out of the College of Surgeons’ Car Park one Christmas Eve!

*I was also hoping to find a Google Maps Mash-Up of Free Parking in Dublin City but could only find this.

Yours truly had her car towed last Saturday. Visiting friends, I had parked partially in front of their neighbours gate. So, neighbour decides to phone a towing company, as advised by the Gardai, before knocking next door. Needless to say I was rather shocked when I walked out after two hours and discovered it gone!

Helpful Garda gives me the name and number of the towing company. Heres the bit that really, really, really bugs me. On phoning, I’m told they close at 1.30pm on a Saturday. This was 1pm. I was in Cabra. My car was on the back of a tow truck making its way to Donabate. This journey involves negotiating the M50 roadworks on a busy Saturday lunchtime and the M1.

Thankfully, I was lucky enough to get a lift from my friend and the nice(!) towing company people waited for me to arrive at about 1.45pm. My car was still on the truck when I arrived, 10 minutes after the driver!

How can a towing company be allowed get away with taking your car and then shutting up shop? Yes, some might say I deserve to be inconvenienced for inconveniencing my friends neighbour, however, am I not entitled to have the option of retrieving my car?

€181.50 poorer, thats one experience I’d rather not repeat!

SO the sun is out, the kids are off school, neighbours are playing their music VERY BLOODY LOUDLY (ahem) and there’s a hint of ‘something’ in the air. Yes, mid-summer sale season is upon us again! (Work with me here.)

Most of the shops are frantically selling off their itsy-bitsy bikinis and summer stock, and getting ready for autumn, or fall for all of our visitors from across the pond, so now is the time to strike.

Of course, much of the stuff on offer is either a size 6 or a 24, or in a lovely shade of orange, but if you can bear rummaging through mountains of clothes, there’s bound to be a gem or two in there.

Last week I had occassion to visit the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in Clondalkin in the west of the city with my sister and baby niece and found it a good alternative to shopping in the city centre, particularly with a baby on board.

First off, there is ample parking and it’s free for visitors of the centre (though I don’t recall if there’s a time limit, so maybe check that out when  you get there) which is a welcome change from paying huge prices to park in town. Just as an aside, most people who go to Liffey V tend to park either at the front entrance, or at the cinema entrance, but here’s my little tip, the Mark’s and Spencer entrance (Purple car park) usually has loads of free spaces, just follow the signs.

Liffey Valley is all on one level, except for the food court and one or two shops upstairs, meaning it’s buggy and wheelchair friendly (there’s a lift to the food court) and very easy to get around.

We started out at the far end of the centre, Marks and Spencer (where there’s a secret ATM in the men’s department), and had coffee in the Cafe Revive there which is very tasty and clean, with a plethora of staff on hand to man the till and clear tables; mothers and children are made to feel very welcome.

From there we mosied on down the centre, passing well known shops such as River Island and Principals until we got to the main concourse, which has the escalators to the food hall. Here is where you’ll find the Customer Service Desk, juice bar and where most charity stalls etc (say if someone was selling pins or buttons for cancer, this is where they would be) are set up, meaning everything is contained in this one area, not scattered about the rest of the centre. You can also hire fun car shaped buggies to transport your little ones around, costing just a few euro. (They don’t let adults get in them though, no matter how much you beg, harumph.)

The food court features the usual fast food outlets such as McDonald’s and Burger King but there is also a Bagel Bar, Cafe Kyelmore and baked potato shop, if you happen to be watching your waistline. I wasn’t, so gorged myself on lard. Mmmmm, lard.

We then hit Sasha, A-Wear and various sports shops until we got to a big Dunne’s Stores about three quarters of the way down the centre. There are large ladies and gents loos too in this area, along with pay phones and disabled toilets, as well as baby changing facilities. Any time I’ve visited, the loos been clean and tidy with plenty of paper and soap.

After this it was the home stretch to Eason’s, Boots and the cinema (Vue) where there is also an Eddie Rockets, Pizza Hut and steak house. So if you fancied doing a little shopping, having a meal and then hitting the flicks, this would be the place to do it. Be warned though, all three restaurants beside the cinema are usually very busy so be prepared to queue at peak times.

The cinema itself is large with a good number of screens and offers the usual movie fare, such as popcorn and nachos. Prices are similar to the city centre, though if you’re a large family it might be worth looking into a yearly pass or membership if it’s available.

While shopping in the city centre has its charm and offers a wide variety of shops along with tourist attractions, Liffey Valley is a great alternative on days when you can’t face the hassle of parking, you have the kids with you or you just fancy some retail therapy and the movies without traipsing about for miles, or indeed if you’re a tourist looking to get out of the city for a bit. Dotted throughout the centre are carts and stalls offering everything from new mobile phone covers, to sweets, to gorgeous jewellrey, so you could easily while away a couple of hours. On the day I was there last week, many of the shops were having sales and my little niece got a gorgeous brand-name coat for just 11 euro in Ladybird. Bargain!

To find out more about Liffey Valley including opening hours and directions, bus routes to and from the city centre and special offers vist www.liffeyvalley.ie

One of the few good things about Dublin Airport, is the Quickpark facility next door to it. Or, so was the case until about a month ago. Quickpark is a huge car park next door to the Airport, where, for EUR 5 a day, you can park your car long term, and avail of a free, 5 minute bus transfer to and from the Arrivals level at the Airport.

What’s even better is, that you book the space via their website, and they send you an individual access code via SMS text message direct to your mobile. As a result of number plate verification, they know if you overstay your predicted period, and can automatically deduct the difference.

Unfortunately however, for the past two months or so, their website has been out of action, with a pretty un-helpful “Please arrive at the car park to see if we have availability on your way to the airport” message posted there, and not a whole lot more info. Not exactly designed to instill confidence, and the thought of having to swing by to see if they had a space prior to tackling the madness that is Dublin Airport check-in (more on that another time) is just not an option.

As I’m taking a few flights over the next few weeks, I’ve been keeping an eye on their website fairly regularly, and recently, the following has appeared there:

SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.

The booking system is being upgraded at the moment & should be released within two weeks.

If you wish to use the car park up to and including mid May it is open 24 hours per day.

MONDAY
SPACES WOULD BE AVAILABLE call to the car park, take a ticket & pay on your exit.

TUESDAY
SPACES WOULD BE AVAILABLE call to the car park, take a ticket & pay on your exit.

WEDNESDAY – SUNDAY
On the day call into the car park & it will be open depending on availability.

Well, at least we now know that they’re not going bust (which had been rumoured for quite a while), but, it’s still far from ideal, and I for one know that I won’t even be attempting to park my car there for a flight this coming weekend. Fingers crossed they get it sorted, because, when it works, it really is a very good service.

Irish people, especially people living in and around Dublin spend quite a lot of their time talking about traffic, the length of their commute, and how poor public transport can be (when they’re not talking about the weather that is!). Damien Mulley has been writing about a Cisco employee in the US who commutes for an average of 7 hours every day to and from work, and is interested to find out about Ireland’s longest average commute, which I’m sure is going to come from someone living down the country and working in Dublin every day. I know I personally spend just under three hours commuting every day to and from Temple Bar, let us know what your commute is either here or on Damien’s site.

Dublin City Council are currently in negotiations with outdoor advertising giants, JC Decaux to banish large scale advertising hoardings around the city to the past.

In what appears to be a very clever move by the council, they are offering JC Decaux the contract to provide advertising around the city in return for up to EUR 90 million worth of “public realm enhancements”. These enhancements would contain the like of the long discussed public bicycle rental scheme. The scheme is due to start with 500 bikes and 25 bike stations around the city.

The contract will see no more of the large 18m square billboards erected through city council controlled space, as well as a reduction of 50% of current large ads, in favour of smaller adverts, similar in size to those currently found on bus shelters throughout the city.

While other advertising companies have large billboards on private properties which do not come under the council’s jurisdiction, the council hopes that the newer advertising formats will make billboard advertising obsolete and that An Bord Pleanála will look less favourably on granting planning permission for these hoardings.

Seriously though. This morning had a wonderful breakfast in the Elephant And Castle in Temple Bar as I do about once a month (their California Sunrise breakfast is to die for, literally! Hash browns, french toast with syrup, bacon and poached eggs with coffee and juice) and sloped out with my wife and little guy who’s on Easter holidays back to the car in the Temple Bar car park. Cost for less than one hour’s parking in the city?

€3

I kid you not. I know that it’s always had a reputation as being the dearest car park in Dublin but (and correct me gentle reader if I’m wrong) but this is the first time I’ve seen anywhere in town breach €3… Our country cousins laugh at us – I’ve been in Galway, Cork, Limerick and Waterfordd and parked my car for 2 hours for that.

Not that I’m the world’s greatest fan of the Dundrum Centre but cost of parking there? €2 for 3 hours… And they wonder why they can’t keep people in the city to shop?

R

I have recently had the pleasure of acquiring/usurping a window seat in the office in which I work. While a window seat is not a sign of authority or status within the company they are jealously guarded by those in procession of them and getting a free one is a feat similar to getting an Aer Lingus worker to cheer for privatization. Still following the recent departure of the previous occupant I staked my claim and moved my stuff before the vultures got sight of it and started circling.

The view from my new desk may at first glance not seem too appealing as I look down onto a small carpark but it does provide an unusual amount of comedy. You see while the carpark is small and awkwardly shaped a surprising percentage of drivers can’t actually steer or park. This can provide minutes of mirt for the people working in my building.

I’m not just talking about learner drivers. Learner drivers actually make an effort to park in a space and between the lines. No, I’m talking about the full license holder who haven’t parked correctly since the driving test. The ones who believe just being in carpark is good enough and just stop. Or the ones who park down the line, afraid of contact with other cars and willing to take away someone else’s parking spaces to protect their 03 reg. Mercedes.