Call for parking price drop

Date Published: 10-Apr-2009

BUSINESS leaders in Galway have approached both the City Council and the operators of private car parks with a view towards reducing parking costs as part of a special incentive to attract shoppers back into the heart of the city.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been inspired by the success of a special promotion in Limerick, reducing parking charges to just 10 cents per hour on Saturdays, which was introduced last week to lure Shannonside shoppers back into the city centre.

The Limerick initiative, called ‘Buy Up the City’, was brought in to woo back customers who had begun to forsake the city centre in favour of out-of-town shopping centres.

Calls for the introduction of a similar scheme for Galway were heard at the Board meeting of the Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, when it was agreed that both the local authority and private car park owners should be approached by retailers.

“We decided…