Park and Ride should be considered for Kilkenny Arts Festival, says Noonan

With visitor numbers increasing year on year for Kilkenny Arts Festival creating challenges for traffic management, Green Party Councillor Malcolm Noonan has proposed that Kilkenny County Council would give consideration to using a 'park and ride' or 'park and stride' system around the city.

His proposal entails the use of existing car parks on the periphery of the city - such as James Park, Cillin Hill, Smithsland  -coupled with temporary car parks at weekends such as those at the IDA Business Park, schools and GAA grounds, and a free shuttle bus operating late into the evening.

"What I’m proposing is nothing new; many other big tourist destinations are doing it out of necessity, as they have, like Kilkenny, reached a peak in terms of traffic with all the challenges that poses. Increased traffic, causes congestion, impacting on shops, air pollution which impacts disproportionately on younger and older people and of course danger posed to pedestrians and cyclists," says Cllr Noonan.

The Green Party councillor said that the answer did not lie in 'wasting land on the brewery site' for car parking, which he says will exacerbate the problem, rather use existing car parks more wisely.

"A park and ride system with a shuttle bus service, with the support of our soon to be expanded service and a town bike share scheme could be a novel way of ferrying visitors into the city during busy periods or on big match days at Nowlan Park, reducing congestion and freeing up the town centre for people to enjoy," he said.

"It would require careful planning and agreement from the owners of other car parks but I believe it is eminently doable."

Cllr Noonan said that communication is key to the success of such an initiative and could be tagged with a ‘greening’ of the Arts Festival, as has  been happening with many global festivals where organisers attempt to reduce the carbon footprint or environmental impact of events.

"At weekends in particular, James Green, all schools, County Hall and James Park car parks are empty," he said.

"Nowlan Park car park is empty when there are no matches, all of these are within walking distance of the town centre. Coaches could drop off their passengers at the cathedral or castle, wait at an assigned coach park outside the city and come back in to collect. It works well in many other tourist centres."

Cllr Noonan said that while the Arts Festival was a huge success and a partially-pedestrianised High Street was family friendly and well attended, we now need to collectively address the dual challenge of growing the festival and the demand that growth places on infrastructure.

"Park and Ride, town bike share schemes, an expanded city bus service; these all have a role to play in reducing congestion in the town centre and now we must work with local traders and business to actively reduce car dependency in the town centre while keeping it vibrant and safe for all to enjoy," said Cllr Noonan.