Park-and-ride the best value in city parking
The traffic division of Cork city council contacted Mr Levy with a view to discussing the article and supplying him with true facts about the highly successful Black Ash park-and-ride.
Mr Levy declined the offer. Is there any editorial policy on checking facts any more in your newspaper?
On what facts did Mr Levy base his erroneous article, and whose opinion was he representing?
May we be allowed supply the real facts?
Prior to the Christmas rush, a daily average of 450 commuters felt that €5 per day at Black Ash was good value. On the week ending Saturday, December 18, the facility was used by an average of 800 vehicles per day, which rose to almost 1,400 vehicles on that Saturday.
Is the absence of traffic queues on the South Mall this year a mere coincidence? Commuters are paying a minimum of €20 per day for parking in multi-stories at the moment, so €5 per day is indeed the best value parking in Cork city.
If Mr Levy had done some more research, he would soon realise that park-and-ride is not a waste of resources.
This service is operated by Bus Éireann under contract to Cork city council. The luxurious buses were provided to Cork city council specification and livery, and for this contract only - this is one area where Mr Levy got it right.
The operation of the park-and-ride service comes within the remit of Cork city council and is not connected with normal Bus Éireann services.
Mr Levy should contact Bus Éireann in relation to the latter.
David Morey
Senior Executive Engineer
Traffic Division
Cork City Council
: I stand by what I said. Department of Transport figures state that the intensive service of double deck buses used for Cork’s park-and-ride can move 700 passengers an hour.
That’s quite an overkill for serving a car park that averages only 450 commuters daily. Mr Morey rightly states that the service is not integrated with Bus Éireann’s services, a fact that runs counter to the aims of the Cork area strategic plan.
