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Parking fee suspended at Sixmilebridge Railway Station


Iarnród Éireann has agreed to suspend car-parking charges at Sixmilebridge railway station in an effort to boost passenger numbers on the rail service.

A daily parking fee of €2 has been in place since the railway stop, which is part of the Western Rail Corridor project, was re-opened in late March 2010 and is aimed at encouraging greater use of the service which operates ten times daily, Monday to Saturday, and eight times on Sundays.
Local councillor PJ Ryan has been outspoken in his criticism of the introduction of parking charges and has consistently argued that no charges should have been introduced until such time as the service was up and running.
“From the very beginning, I opposed the introduction of the parking charges. I believe there should have been no fee until such time as there was a good volume of people passing through the station and the rail service was well and truly re-established.
“A new venture needs everything to entice people to use it, not to deter them with parking charges and the threat of clamping. It wasn’t the way to showcase the station, particularly in the early days. You need to bring people in rather than keeping them away,” he told The Clare Champion.
Councillor Ryan recalled a recent incident where an elderly woman from Cratloe returned from the funeral of her brother in Galway to find her car clamped.
“This woman was delayed by over an hour and a half getting back to the station in Sixmilebridge. It was late at night when she returned to find her car clamped. She couldn’t get anybody out to release the clamp and it was a very stressful experience for her,” he said.
“Suspension of the parking charges has to be welcomed. It’s a positive move, a move for the better and the word had to be broadcast,” he added.
Councillor Martin Conway, Chair of Clare County Council’s Planning, Land Use and Transportation SPC stated, “The Western Rail Corridor is a project that has been put in place by Government to increase connectivity along the west coast and to provide commuters with direct access to their places of work.
“The move to suspend this parking fee will act as an additional incentive for people to take advantage of this excellent public transport system and represents a further effort to ensure that the massive infrastructural investment by the taxpayer is put to its optimum use,” added Councillor Conway.
Sixmilebridge Railway Station originally opened on January 17, 1859, and closed on June 17, 1963.  It was re-opened in 2010 under the Transport 21 programme.

 

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