By Grainne Coyne
A proposed increase in fees for car parking on Dublin City University (DCU) campus faced criticism recently due to the lack of communication with car park administration.
The changes will see an increase in parking charges and an adjustment to how students and staff will pay their charges in the Multi-storey, Crèche and Invent car parks in the future.
Dr. Theo Lynn, Director of Industry Engagement with DCU Business School said, “Even if the economic justification for such an upward review of charges was warranted, I absolutely agree that there should be some transparent consultation process with all stakeholders affected.” He continued, “DCU is a community and dialogue is to be encouraged at and between all levels.”
The new changes were revealed to staff by the Union Section Committee via an internal e-mail. The e-mail stated that the Section Committee were strongly in support of “the retention of the existing payment and ticketing arrangements for Car Park 1 [the multi-storey car park].”
It also said “any changes to these arrangements should be the subject of discussion and consultation with staff and students” as is in line with the consultation procedure under the DCU policy and procedure.
Dr. Lynn said, “I think any upward changes to the costs of university-wide services should be considered carefully in the current economic climate not just from a staff and student perspective but also from a wider stakeholder perspective e.g. visitors to the campus.”
Aishling Scally, a Masters Journalism student said, “I was really impressed with the car parking system when I first arrived in DCU but with these new increased charges and the hassle of going to pay station every day, I think it’s unfair especially to students who don’t have much cash.”
The Section Committee said “It will be monitoring this issue and will work to ensure that it is resolved in a manner that addresses the concerns raised so far.”
The current system in place for the multi-storey parking is the ‘6 use ticket’ system which is available to students and staff on production of their ID cards. The ‘6 use tickets’ are valid for 90 days and allow the user to enter and exit the car park up to six days within the valid dates.
The Crèche and Invert car parks are currently free for students and staff when scanning their ID cards at the entrance of the car parks.
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