Limerick has Best Value City Parking! Posted on February 3rd, 2010

A recent study by Limerick Chamber has found that parking in multi-storey car parks in Limerick City is much better value than both Cork and Galway.

Órlaith McMahon, Policy and Research Officer with Limerick Chamber stated, “Parking seems to always come up as the number one issue when we discuss the City Centre. For this reason the Chamber decided to conduct a survey to see how parking in Limerick compares with the other major urban centres in the country.” 

“We found that the average cost for the first hour to park in a multi-storey car park in Limerick City is 34 per cent less than parking in Cork City and 23 per cent less than the cost of parking in Galway City.”

The findings are based on data complied on the 26^th of January on a random sample of seven city centre car parks in each city. 

The average cost per first hour to park in a multi-storey car park in:

• Limerick City is €1.76
• In Cork it costs €2.36
• and in Galway the average price for the first hour is €2.17.

The most expensive hourly rate:

• in both Limerick and Galway was €2.80 for the first hour;
• in Cork it was €3.20.

The cheapest hourly rate was:

• €1.50 per hour which is offered in numerous city centre car parks in Limerick and one in Cork.
• In Galway the best value hourly rate was €2.

“The reality is that it is on average 60 cent less per hour to park in Limerick than Cork and 41 cent less per first hour to park in Limerick than Galway” commented Ms. McMahon.

The Chamber also found that on-street parking in Limerick is considerably easier and cheaper in comparison with Cork and Galway. Both Limerick and Cork operate a parking disc system which costs €2. This can cover up to one, two or three hours on-street parking depending on the zone. However Cork City Council has clampers operating in addition to parking wardens and the availability of spaces within the core in Cork is much more limited than in Limerick. In Galway, where a pay and display system in is operation, two hours on-street parking costs €5.20. It can therefore be up to two and a half times more expensive to park on the street in Galway than to park on the street in Limerick.

“There is a perception in Limerick that parking is a problem.  Of course you can’t drive in to Limerick and park wherever you like or outside where you want to shop but you can’t do that in any City in the world.  This study proves that in comparison to both Galway and Cork, Limerick is substantially better value. With almost 6,000 off-street spaces and 4,000 on-street spaces (1,000 of which are in the central core) currently in the City availability should not be an issue either.” concluded Ms. Mc Mahon.  

Some retailers are introducing innovative promotions to encourage shoppers into the city and ensure that parking isn’t a problem. Liam Dwan, general manager Brown Thomas explains the current promotion that is on offer in Brown Thomas “every Brown Thomas loyalty card holder can avail of four hours free parking in Thomas Street car park if they spend more than €100 in store on any one day.”

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