Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk with Aviva Insurance.
Now from congestion and potholes, traffic to roadworks, there's a lot to be frustrated with on Irish roads. But would a universal parking app like the one being rolled out in the UK lessen the pain of at least parking for everyone? Well, Newstalk's Sarah Madden reports. You've finally made it to town. Beating out traffic and road rage, you reach your destination.
But the last hurdle is the worst one for many. That modern torture device known as parking. Because all the different apps, it's really frustrating. Everywhere you go, it's different.
Chapter 2: What frustrations do Irish drivers face on the roads?
A polka, you know, there's different types of apps for different areas.
lack of clear instructions say can you park here when can you park here how do you pay with some councils if you pay on at the machine it's one price if you use their app it's a higher price because it's I presume it's been contracted out doesn't seem quite right very disjointed I think there should be a sort of general tariff for whatever entity you're going into so if it's a shopping centre potentially all the shopping centres should be the same so you kind of know what you have to do
So if it's three quid here, it should be three quid everywhere. And is it per hour or is it for a three hour stay? I'm not actually a driver, funnily enough, so I walk everywhere.
And are you avoiding driving as a result of the infrastructure?
Yes, most certainly so.
Driving and parking is a bit crazy. Like, I avoid driving into town because of the parking expenses and, like, how expensive it is to be. Like, you know, you go to all these car parks and it's like, I don't know, like, I remember recently I paid, like, ā¬9 or something for an hour and I'm just like, you know what, you're better off coming in, public transport, you know, save the environment.
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Chapter 3: How could a universal parking app improve parking in Ireland?
I use the apps. If you don't use the apps, you'll never really have change on you and some of the machines do require change. And, you know, outside of Dublin... A lot of the machines are very old and run down.
Yeah, the apps are quite useful, yeah. I think I have in the past downloaded at least two from different areas of the city, but they're now defunct. So yeah, I just give it to my wife to pay the parking. She's the app. Maybe I just deleted them so I didn't have to pay it. Oh, 100%. I say the amount of legging it from parking spaces is massive. Let's do a graph of that.
I don't think I've ever paid for parking anywhere. Really? Ever. I'm probably unique.
How have you gotten away with that?
I don't know, yeah.
I never pay for parking. Parking rules are the guidance of wise men and the embarrassed fools. Some people will follow the rules, other people just stop and park and walk off. It's Ireland. It's what we do.
Oh my God, it's very frustrating. I obviously drive a lot with work and I travel a lot with work. I travel a lot generally around Ireland and I find it so deeply frustrating that every county, every city council seems to require a different app. Fionnuala Jones is a broadcaster, podcaster and self-confessed parking app hater.
I'm someone, because I'm travelling so much and going with work, often I'm late or rushing. So to get somewhere and park up and kind of be ready to go and then to have to realise I can't even go to a machine, we'll say, or something because they don't take card or whatever else.
To be met with the barrier of, OK, now I have to wait, download this app off my data, sign up, give my email, give my full name, give my first child probably to avail of this parking space.
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Chapter 4: What challenges do different parking apps present to users?
It seems so nonsensical to me that we have... 85 different apps on your phone. The most recent example for me is I travel into Oxford to see a friend and I needed an app for that. You know, and say I didn't go back to Oxford for ages. That app then just sits on my phone, like wasting away on a screen that we don't, that I never see again.
Some of them are a lot more old fashioned, just even in terms of aesthetics and like drop down menus and how to use them. They're not incredibly user friendly. There's an element of human error as well. Like if you put in the wrong license number, like you have to add a different car then. And you know, if you change your cars, you're having to deal with all that as well.
Having all of these different apps, systems, code colors, you know, like trying to remember that is so confusing. I found myself stuck with that before in, I think I was parking out in Swords for something. And you know, sometimes the sign, you're going in and I remember going into a shop and asking like, what parking zone is this so I can pay on the app? And the people in the shop didn't know.
And I'm not really blaming them either. Like, why would they know when we've enough to be worrying about as it is? without trying to remember is it DL, is it DR, is it Burgundy, this section that I'm parking in. Sorry, I'm getting very wound up about this now. As well as existing in their multiples, Ireland's parking apps are reportedly unreliable.
They frequently crash or take a long time to process payments. Some even charge monthly for use. They're also not downloadable on all smartphones.
For those that are not tech savvy or may have Chinese smartphones, which are not able to operate on the app. So this is causing difficulty for both locals and for tourists alike.
Nowhere is the issue of parking felt more keenly than in Galway City, where a legal dispute over a maintenance contract has rendered all of the city's 90 car park and on-street pay and display machines out of order since January 2025. Independent councillor Donal Lyons says the switch to pay by phone and the council's parking app is negatively affecting business.
Elderly people from Moorland and Galway, they're stopping coming into the cities of the year because they do not want to go into high-rise. They don't want to work the app. And if you talk to some of the major businesses in the city, they say that their footfall is down from elderly that would normally shop there in restaurants and in grocery stores.
They have seen a decline in that type of purchaser. And it's all, I feel it's all down to the app. Even my good wife, she will not, she has an old phone, it's not a smartphone, but she will not download, well the phone can take a download of an app.
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Chapter 5: Why do some drivers avoid parking in cities?
You know, or like what color zone is it? It'd be good if it was everywhere, yeah. Yeah, it's very good.
If it's a universal app, everybody's used to it. And there's no, say, trying to figure out what, you know, is it pay zone? Is it, do I need coins? Is it tap or whatever? So if it is a universal system, then that may be more user-friendly and it'll be used, mostly.
Once again, like most things in Ireland, things don't kind of join up together. So I guess of all the county councils, we're doing kind of the same thing. Everybody's confident about taking their car somewhere and they know when they can, where they can and how much that's going to cost them.
If it's a universal app, is it a universal charge? So if you're paying, are you going to pay the same in Tipperary as you pay in Dublin? Is that fair? When it's done widespread like that, rarely does it work out cheaper for the consumer. It usually comes at a cost.
I also think for older people, a lot of the parking machines are out of order all the time now. I know my grandmother, she can't download an app and she finds it really... I think we shouldn't get rid of the machines themselves. I know there's a big push towards that at the moment, but I really think we should keep the machines as well for the older people.
Putting money into parking infrastructure, is that where we should be putting the money? Or do you think public transport, encouraging people to be like you and not have a car, is that what we should be doing?
Definitely public transport. The metro goes under my house in Glasnevin, so no issues with it. Definitely public transport more as opposed to less cars, not more.
Luckily, for the likes of Fionnuala at least, the technology for a universal car parking app actually already exists here in Ireland.
We're effectively running a national parking platform with some other partners at a private enterprise level. And not everybody is on board yet, but it's something we've been aiming to do. And it's our mission to try and get that done.
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Chapter 6: How do outdated parking machines affect users?
We have a lot of shopping centres in Ireland, hospitals, they're all connected. In the public sector then, you've multiple local authorities, you've over 30 local authorities in Ireland, and I'd also count Northern Ireland, another 11 councils, because people travel north and south as well. You need to have a service, ideally, that somebody can do over one or two apps max.
And that's the aim we've been trying to do. So I would say on the local authority side, some of the big cities are very progressive, like Dublin. There are others out there that local authorities that are much smaller, parking is a much smaller issue for them. They may not have the money, the budgets, et cetera, to connect these type of services together.
And I think that's probably where there's a need at a government level, maybe to get everybody aligned on it. I would say that some years ago, around the recession, there was an office set up called the Office of Government Procurement. Some years ago that was set up, and the idea behind that from the government was to help local authorities be more efficient and get value for money.
And they had tried to do that in parking, and they're still working on it. And I think that's probably a step ā it's not quite there yet ā where you could help smaller local authorities offer a service because they are costly. It costs money to actually manage transactions and process and the technology and the apps and everything else. So to allow those smaller councils get on board.
And you need the will. Will is just as important as the price because you need to have the will to actually see the benefits. of a unified mobile app, for example, to allow you to park in the market. And if you have that, it will work because the volumes that are driven from car parking in big cities will help cover some of the costs for the smaller towns to do it as well.
And that's our reporter Sarah Madden on universal parking apps. Let us know your thoughts. Should we have one parking app in Ireland? Why wouldn't we? Our text number is 087 1400 106.
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