With @LimerickCouncil Covid-19 mobility plan due to be released in the coming days & many local groups endorsing the #weneedspace campaign I want to look at one of the most common issues I hear talked about in Limerick - Parking. It's a long thread but please stay with me
2/ 'There's no parking in Limerick' - how many times have I heard that? There are 5,500 multi-storey / off-street spaces within 1km of the city centre. 2,000 are within 300m of Brown Thomas. So there's no shortage of off-street parking, must be on-street that's the problem
3/ From http://Limerick.ie  there are 3,500 on-street parking spaces in Limerick. They are all priced at a generous €1/hour. The problem must be that they are full all the time. So let's have a look at what revenue parking brings in to Limerick Council. In 2019 it was €1.7M
4/ €1.7M sounds a lot - how does that break down? First we need to exclude resident parking permits which are €6.85 for the year (Not bad for a full year but you live there so yeah, I get it). From the 2018 annual report, Limerick Council issued 985 resident permits that year.
5/ Resident spaces can be used by anyone but for my analysis lets assume they are all in use all the time. So that leaves only 2515 spaces to generate the €1.7M. Now I follow football so I know that's €32,000 a week.
6/ All spaces are free on Sundays and most are free on Saturday so to avoid confusion I'm just going to calculate based on Mon-Fri. That's €6,400 per day for 2,515 spaces or €2.54 per space per day. Wait, what? I thought they were all full all the time?
7/ Explain this to me again - each space is only in use for 2.5 hours each day? That doesn't seem to add up. I can't ever get a space and yet for 5.5 hours of each day, every space in the city is free? (And €2.54 per day seems very inefficient use of public property)
8/ Ok, so we have plenty of off street parking and the on-street spaces are free most of the time - how is it possible that people get frustrated that they can't find parking? It's not their imagination - it must be something else - but what?
9/ Let me talk about dry cleaning for a minute. You want it in a hurry you pay more, if you're happy to wait a couple of days it's much cheaper. Could it be the same for parking? Is the flat rate €1/hour actually making it more difficult to find a space?
10/ I think it is. Imagine if all turnaround times in the dry cleaners cost the same? Sure we'd all say we want it quickly and guess what? - we'd all be waiting. Going back to parking - what if I could park further out & pay less? That could free up spaces in the city centre
11/ Pay less? That won't work. The other problem in the background here is the revenue itself. No Local Authority can afford to give up any or all of €1.7M & their resistance to adding more car-free space for cafes, parklets, cycles lanes etc begins to make sense
12/ What if there was a solution that maintained revenue, freed up spaces in the city centre and reduced prices for those prepared to walk a little further? I'm all ears myself at this stage!
13/ I propose Zone 1-2-3-FREE
Zone 1 - 250 spaces in the heart of the city. That's roughly 3 blocks each side of Brown Thomas. Increase parking to €3/hr. A steep increase but still just marginally more expensive than off-street & only for 10% of the spaces. Applies Mon-Sun
14/ Zone 2 - 400 spaces - roughly another 4 blocks out. Increase the hourly rate to €2. Pretty good value for a spot less than 10 minutes walk from the city centre. Applies Mon-Sat
Zone 3 - 1000 spaces - most of the rest - these continue at €1 per hour and are free at weekends
15/ Zone FREE - 500 spaces at the outer edges given over to free parking 7 days a week
16/ How does the revenue compare?
Zone 1 fully occupied 4 hours per day for 7 days would generate €1.1M per year.
Zone 2 occupied for 2 hours per day is €500k.
Zone 3 also used for 1 hour per day is €260k.

Total €1.86M.
16a/
(If any of the Limerick Council Finance team are reading, Zone 1 going to 6 hours, Zone 2 to 4 hours and Zone 3 to 2 hours would bring in €3M. Ka-ching!)
17/ So that's the proposal? You want me to pay more than I do already?
For a premium space less than 3 mins walk from the city centre - yes.
Don't forget, Zone 1 being occupied 50% of the time means it is free the other 50%. You'll get a space where you want but you'll pay more
18/ The current system leaves everyone unhappy and only raises €2.54 per space per day. My proposal raises the same overall revenue per year but increases available spaces, reduces circling traffic, makes public transport more efficient & reduces noise & air pollution
19/ And for those counting - yes, I left out 365 spaces in my Zone 1-2-3-FREE model. They are for the cafes, parklets and cycles lanes we couldn't afford up to now.

Thank you for reading this far, if you agree & want to support please like, RT or add a comment
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