Dublin parking increase sought

Dublin- Dublin City Council officials want to increase parking charges in high demand areas by 20c an hour.
They say the fee increase is necessary to reduce traffic congestion before enabling works for the Luas and Metro start in May next year. A report due to be presented to the council's Transport Committee meeting on Thursday says the increase is twice the rate of inflation but is necessary to reduce traffic congestion in the city.

It notes that the number of private vehicles travelling into the city centre has begun to increase in recent years after a long period of reductions. The report says that there is currently occupancy rates of over 90% for on street parking bays in the city centre's Yellow Zone.
Executive Manager Tim O'Sullivan says that motorists 'cruising' for parking spaces increases congestion. He proposes raising the cost of parking in yellow zone areas by 20c to €2.90 an hour.
With the red zones going up by 20c to €2.40 an hour and the green areas by 10c to €1.60.
The orange and blue zones would not be changed. The report says that the last increase was in August 2007 and applied only to the yellow and red zones.