Brennan to allow €4 per day parking fee for Luas

The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, is set to approve a €4-per-day parking fee at Luas park-and-ride areas.

This is despite having objected to similar plans by Iarnród Éireann last year because they ran contrary to the Government policy of encouraging people to leave their cars and use public transport.

When Mr Brennan objected to Iarnród Éireann's plans to start charging for car-parking in February of last year at three Dublin train stations, the company dropped the proposal.

At the time, Mr Brennan said he would ask the Rail Procurement Agency, which is responsible for the implementation of Luas, not to charge commuters using Luas park-and-rides.

However, the climbdown by Mr Brennan means the charges of €4 per day and €2 per half day can be introduced by the RPA at four Luas sites containing 2,000 car-parking spaces. The sites are at the Red Cow, Tallaght, Balally and Sandyford/ Stillorgan.

The potential parking revenue for the RPA from the four sites could be as much as €2.9 million annually.

A spokesman for the RPA said while Mr Brennan had not yet signed off on plans to charge for park-and-rides, the agency was confident it would have the Minister's approval before it launched full details of its charges next week.

"We will be employing people at the park-and-rides to ensure that people using the Luas are the ones using the car-park rather than people who simply want a cheap place to park their car," he said.

A spokesman for Mr Brennan confirmed the Minister would sign off on the charges. He said that even if Mr Brennan objected, the RPA could still implement whatever charges it saw fit.

While the Minister had been in favour of free parking at Luas stations, he was satisfied that the mooted parking levies were "as low as the RPA could possibly go".

The spokesman denied that Mr Brennan's approval of the parking charges represented a climbdown on his position in respect of Iarnród Éireann.

"Unlike the CIÉ companies, the Luas won't be getting any subvention from the Government. It will be run as a business and make a profit so there is a bit of a difference," the spokesman said.

"The charges are not going to be a money-making exercise by the RPA. At best, it will break even because they will be employing staff at the sites, providing secure parking with CCTV cameras and also providing maintenance.

"Even with these charges, the cost of parking your car and buying a return ticket on Luas is still much cheaper than driving a car into town and leaving it in a car-park all day."

Meanwhile, Dublin commuters will get a close-up look at Luas carriages tomorrow when two are put on display on Middle Abbey Street in advance of the Sandyford-to-St Stephen's Green line opening at the end of the month. The carriages will be stationary but members of the public will be permitted to climb on board.

A number of RPA staff will also be available to answer any questions from members of the public, particularly on the safety of the new light rail system and how it will operate around other on-street traffic.