MTU's Cork campus to introduce pay parking for staff and students
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Pay parking is set to be introduced at Munster Technological University’s (MTU) main Cork City campus later this year, ending an era of free on-site parking for staff and students.
The move was confirmed following the launch of MTU's free park-and-ride service to its Bishopstown site on Monday.
The income generated from the pay parking regime will help fund the new service, MTU Vice President Paul Gallagher said.
Pay parking on campus has been under consideration for some time, but Mr Gallagher said last year’s cyber attack on MTU, which significantly disrupted its operations and services to its 18,000 students for some time, delayed the project somewhat.
Mr Gallagher said that after that delay, work to configure the various car parks for pay parking is set to get underway.
“That will happen between now and the summer and the focus is on the next academic year,” he said.
His comments came as the first park-and-ride buses began operating between Curraheen Park greyhound stadium and the Bishopstown campus on Monday.
A similar service was trialled in 2018 but later dropped. But this time, MTU says it plans to sustain the service across this semester, assess it, and make whatever changes may be necessary to have the service up and running again for the new academic year, in September.
The free service, operated by Jerry O’Brien coach hire, runs Monday to Friday between the greyhound stadium and the Bishopstown campus, via Melbourn Road and stopping on Rossa Avenue.
Buses run every 15 minutes between 8am and 10am, every 30-minutes on the hour, between 10am and 4pm, and every 15 minutes again between 4pm and 6pm.
MTU has use of 100 car park spaces at the greyhound track, but can access more if required.
Mr Gallagher said the university is also engaged with Bus Eireann and the National Transport Authority about improving bus services and dedicated public transport infrastructure in the area.