NAAS, 20 September 2002: The pay parking scheme in Naas has been a ‘huge success’, with revenues of E9,000 a week accruing to the town’s coffers since the system was inaugurated.
Occupancy rates for the parking areas range from 25 percent to 90 percent during pay parking hours, with an average for the town as a whole of 66 per cent, Naas town engineer John McGowan told councillors at the September meeting of Naas Town Council.
And the number of fines issued for non-compliance peaked at 1,100 in the month of May and has now settled down to around 850 per month. The councillors heard that the set-up costs for the system were recouped in the first four months of operation.
The revenue is being used to fund road surfacing and other road- and parking-related needs in Naas for the moment, and the engineer noted that road surfacing to the value of E100,000 has been carried out, some of it in advance of the introduction of the system in the expectation that there would be cash flow to pay for it
“That surfacing would not have been done without the revenue from the pay parking,” John McGowan said.
The news was welcomed by councillors, and during the discussion a number of suggestions were made in relation to the ‘teething’ problems for some estates which were being used for parking by people ‘too mean to put money in a meter’, as well as ideas for an annual ticket which would permit a driver to to use the system without needing change all the time.
There was also criticisms of delivery trucks which failed to use the loading bays. Answering a query, town officials confirmed that truck drivers WERE being fined for illegal parking.
Cllr Seamie Moore suggested that the council develop a warehouse system on the outskirts of the town so that large trucks could offload their merchandise and have them delivered by smaller commercial vehicles to their destinations in the town.
