Train commuters,what you going to do? (Merged with Commuter Hell thread)

Beasty

ragg wrote: »

I think i'd love the cycle, would only take maybe 20 minutes longer.

The only issue is that i would hate it once I hit traffic in town

Depends where you are coming from and going to - I start at Milverton just outside Skerries, and the ride to Blakes Cross is very pleasant. The road is then very ropey, but there is at least a hard shoulder when you hit the dual carriagreway. I then cut across to the Malahide Road and down to just before Clare Hall (where I work) - again this bit is not too bad, and I only come across 5 sets of lights on the whole journey.

The whole journey takes me 40-45 minutes, compared to 25 minutes in the car (assuming no traffic, it could be longer than the bike journey if the traffic is very bad)

Khannie

Beasty wrote: »

You'll have the wind behind you this evening (it was a headwind this morning, which makes a big difference)

Yup....I got home in 1 hour 20 minutes. Flew past hundreds of cars on Dorset street and all the way to the M1 (at which point I cut off and went through Santry). Felt Brilliant. Definitely would have been longer in the car at that hour of the day.

ragg wrote: »

I think i'd love the cycle, would only take maybe 20 minutes longer.

The only issue is that i would hate it once I hit traffic in town

Actually, I expected town to be a nightmare but it was totally grand. I've never cycled in the city before. Slightly more hectic on the way home (I was late going in) but still grand.

Rashers72

A normal 50 minute train journey, took me > 2 hours due to a combination of factors:
Bus journey was an extra 10 mins onto last week. I was on a 33X that Left Skerries 7am.
As I missed a southbound DART, I faced what I thought was a 17 minute wait at Tara St.
However, there was a signal failure at Howth Junction around 08.15am. And as you would expect, when the services did arrive, they were packed.
Once the displays switched from 'Delay' to next service 25 minutes, I rang Connolly information desk, who advised (and confirmed same with station manager) that Dublin Bus would not accept rail tickets.
Bad day all round! :mad:

Hauk

Khannie wrote: »

Yup....I got home in 1 hour 20 minutes. Flew past hundreds of cars on Dorset street and all the way to the M1 (at which point I cut off and went through Santry). Felt Brilliant. Definitely would have been longer in the car at that hour of the day.

Actually, I expected town to be a nightmare but it was totally grand. I've never cycled in the city before. Slightly more hectic on the way home (I was late going in) but still grand.

That's fuppin brilliant

That's the same as/quicker than the bus, and you're getting fit too!

shaungil

Good work on the cycling as you get fitter and more confident on the bike you'll get much faster.

I'm trying 3 days a week at the moment from Skerries but my missus isn't too keen on this continuing as it gets darker especially if I'm on my own. Going home think going straight at blakes cross and then right at the garage into Luck might be safer cos there's a hard shoulder , even thought the surface is pretty brutal.

Meeting tomorrow evening in Harps at 8.30 re whole issue of trains. Will post seperately

shaungil

A Public Meeting will be held to lobby for direct coach alternatives throughout the day from Skerries to City Centre for duration of the rail disruption.

Wed. 9th Sept. 8.30 pm in Skerries Harps GAA Clubhouse, Dublin Road.

As we are sure you are now aware, with the collapse of part of the viaduct between Donabate and Malahide in August, the train service between these points has been suspended. Early estimates from Irish Rail suggest it will take a minimum of 3 months to repair.
In the meantime, Irish Rail have put in place alternative travel arrangements for commuters living north of Donabate. However, Skerries commuters feel we have been given a raw deal with these arrangements as no direct service runs from Skerries to City Centre (unlike Balbriggan, Drogheda and Dundalk).
From speaking to many commuters, it seems the alternatives mean most people are spending an extra 30-60 minutes longer commuting every morning and evening due to the rail disruption.
If you want to have your say and have a much improved alternative service for Skerries please come along this Wednesday 9th Sept. to Skerries Harps GAA Club at 8.30 p.m. We can hear the issues people are facing and can then present them to our local representatives and Irish Rail as we seek changes for Skerries commuters.
All commuters welcome to attend to share views.
Many thanks
Skerries Train Users Group

Beasty

shaungil wrote: »

Good work on the cycling as you get fitter and more confident on the bike you'll get much faster.

I'm trying 3 days a week at the moment from Skerries but my missus isn't too keen on this continuing as it gets darker especially if I'm on my own. Going home think going straight at blakes cross and then right at the garage into Luck might be safer cos there's a hard shoulder , even thought the surface is pretty brutal.

I did 2-3 days a week the whole of last winter without problems (didn't crash until the middle of summer!). There are very few large vehicles on the road between Skerries and Lusk (because of the bridge at Skerries), which is the longest stretch without street lights. You just need to make sure you can be seen. High viz gear is fine (I don't bother with it too much myself), but you must have good lights - you need to see the road (and in particular potholes) in front, and be seen from distance behind

Bluetonic

shaungil wrote: »

Skerries Train Users Group

Who are?

shaungil

Bluetonic wrote: »

Who are?

No idea will find out tom night I guess.

Gillo

The name is pretty self evident I'd have thought, and yes you might say people with too much time, but hey at least they are putting that time to good use.

Hauk

I might just head down to this for the craic.

EVGR

dcr22B wrote: »

That's where I get my bus from and if you get a bus at that time(I normally go out at about 7.30am), you'll easily be in the city centre before 7.45am

If you get a bus from there at 7.30, what time are you in town?
Is the bus packed or do you get a seat?

Thanks for any info...

dcr22B

EVGR wrote: »

If you get a bus from there at 7.30, what time are you in town?
Is the bus packed or do you get a seat?

Thanks for any info...

Roughly 8.15am, sometimes you get a seat sometimes you don't. Luck of the draw as they say.

Khannie

Hauk wrote: »

That's the same as/quicker than the bus, and you're getting fit too!

Does the bus take that long at rush hour? I work up by the Guinness brewery so I cut out a long walk too. I haven't gotten the bus yet tbh and may not go back to using the train if this cycling malarky works out.

I was fairly tired at the end of the day (slept like a baby for 9 hours), but I had no ill effects the next day and reckon I could cut my total commute time down to 2hours 30 minutes for the round trip as I got fitter. Also, cycling that far means you can more or less eat whatever you want for the day.

Might head along to this meeting tonight. Not sure.

thereturn

Hi there! How are people commuting from Laytown? The Irish Rail website seems to suggest getting the train to Drogheda and getting the bus from there. Is it better to do this or to go to Balbriggan and get a bus from there? Also I notice the carpark in laytown is quite empty, are people driving to Balbriggan/Drogheda rather than train? I've been off work since the bridge collapse and am back next week, so I'm trying to plan the best route! I'd really appreciate any suggestions/advice.
Thanks a million!

Unshelved

Traffic particularly bad this morning. Caught a but at 6.45am from Skerries and didn't get into work (south inner city) until 8.30. Very very slow from Donabate roundabout onto M1 until just after the Airport roundabout. Not helped by the bus driver going up Buckingham St from Amiens St (WHY?? - does anyone get out between Buckingham St and the South Side - really stupid route).

Hope some of the suggestions at last night's meeting get consideration by Dublin Bus. They included
- non-stop buses from Skerries
- less stops along the way - one stop per town
- using the Airport roundabout instead of the Donabate roundabout to get onto the M1
- a consistent route from the Port Tunnel to the City Centre (some of the routes can add up to 20 minutes to the journey).

Could have been worse - at least we weren't on the 33X stuck at the exit barrier at the Port Tunnel. The driver of the car in front of it seemed to have run out of change and had to get out of his car and rummage in the car book for some cash. I'd have done a whip around!

Dr Galen

traffic has been horrendous along the M1 and down into Whitehall/Drumcondra all week. Certainly seems worse this week than before.

There has been a huge push for all of those who commuted by train to ge sorted by other means, but maybe someone should look at providing alternative routes for those of us who drove and have to do so for our jobs. I don't obviously mean buiding new roads I'm talking about getting people out of that bottleneck in Drumcondra. There are other routes into and across the city that I think people just don't know about

Bluetonic

Mystik Monkey wrote: »

maybe someone should look at providing alternative routes for those of us who drove and have to do so for our jobs. I don't obviously mean buiding new roads I'm talking about getting people out of that bottleneck in Drumcondra. There are other routes into and across the city that I think people just don't know about

Would it be too much to ask people to do a little research of their own? There are plenty of alternative routes but your hardly going to get people shouting about them from the rooftops as this has an obvious effect.

Dr Galen

i'd agree with you to a point Bluetonic. I'm not making a request specifically for me, tbh I can avoid the bottlenecks by taking alt routes without much issue.

unfortunately though, many people though, simply don't know (like you and I) that to get from A to B, there can be mulitple routes. They'll stick to what they know, even if thats not actually the best route. If we could shift even small percentage of cars out of that area around Whitehall etc, you'd notice the difference.

Bluetonic

Mystik Monkey wrote: »

unfortunately though, many people though, simply don't know (like you and I) that to get from A to B, there can be mulitple routes. They'll stick to what they know, even if thats not actually the best route. If we could shift even small percentage of cars out of that area around Whitehall etc, you'd notice the difference.

I suppose the only thing is there are only a finite number of routes so you can only spread it out so much. Also a few of those routes are through residential roads so if heavy traffic starts appearing on these then the residents will demand even more 'no right turn' and traffic calming measures which will perhaps deem this routes no go areas.

Micamaca

Hi there,

I was planning to venture into town today on the bus for the first time since this catastrophe happened.

So the information on this link is still current.

http://www.dublinbus.ie/News-Centre/Travel-News/Service-Arrangements/

Do we need to buy a rail ticket to use the 33X? Or are they now accepting money?

thanks for replies, mica

Unshelved

They accept cash (but no notes) - exact change preferred. If not, you'll have to get your change from DB Offices on O'Connell St.

dcr22B

Took me 1h20 to drive in my normal Thursday route this morning (Lusk -> IFSC) whereas it only took me 40 minutes last Thursday.

Bluetonic

Wait until all the Universities are back in the next couple of weeks.

dcr22B

Unshelved wrote: »

Hope some of the suggestions at last night's meeting get consideration by Dublin Bus. They included
- non-stop buses from Skerries
- less stops along the way - one stop per town
- using the Airport roundabout instead of the Donabate roundabout to get onto the M1
- a consistent route from the Port Tunnel to the City Centre (some of the routes can add up to 20 minutes to the journey).

What makes Skerries residents so important that you merit non stop buses and as for the one stop per town nonsense, you're lucky in that Skerries you are guaranteed a bus as you are at the starting point. My gut feeling is that there is no way that Dublin Bus will provide non-stop buses from Skerries.

Every single morning, I see full 33X services going past me before I'm finally lucky enough to get on one but you don't see me or other Luskans whinging about it.

Not meant to come across as a rant but it might have been more beneficial to extend a neighbourly hand out to the people of Rush and Lusk so we could together devise a plan that would suit all three areas down to the ground.

Unshelved

What makes Skerries residents so important that you merit non stop buses and as for the one stop per town nonsense, you're lucky in that Skerries you are guaranteed a bus as you are at the starting point. My gut feeling is that there is no way that Dublin Bus will provide non-stop buses from Skerries.

Every single morning, I see full 33X services going past me before I'm finally lucky enough to get on one but you don't see me or other Luskans whinging about it.

Not meant to come across as a rant but it might have been more beneficial to extend a neighbourly hand out to the people of Rush and Lusk so we could together devise a plan that would suit all three areas down to the ground.

Whoa there! Take a deep breath and calm down!

First of all, the 33X is a replacement bus for the train service - the train stops at stations only, so it would speed up the service for the buses to do the same - once at Skerries, Loughshinney, Rush and Lusk.

Secondly, the suggestion was that there were LESS frequent buses from Skerries (say, once every 20 minutes) with 33X's going at the same frequency from Rush - in that way the service would be quicker for EVERYONE!

There's nothing to stop Rush and Lusk people organising their own meeting to get their own points across - why don't they try it? Might be more helpful than "whinging" on a message board.

dcr22B

Unshelved wrote: »

Whoa there! Take a deep breath and calm down!

First of all, the 33X is a replacement bus for the train service - the train stops at stations only, so it would speed up the service for the buses to do the same - once at Skerries, Loughshinney, Rush and Lusk.

Secondly, the suggestion was that there were LESS frequent buses from Skerries (say, once every 20 minutes) with 33X's going at the same frequency from Rush - in that way the service would be quicker for EVERYONE!

There's nothing to stop Rush and Lusk people organising their own meeting to get their own points across - why don't they try it? Might be more helpful than "whinging" on a message board.

Apologies if I came across a bit heavy handed in my initial post, it wasn't my intention.

The one stop per town is unworkable realistically because of the wide spread of residences within the three towns e.g. it would be unreasonable to ask someone from Golden Ridge in Rush to go all the way to the Eurospar to catch a bus and I'm sure that there would be similar circumstances in Rush and Lusk.

My inital suggestion was to have separate 33X services starting from Skerries going non-stop to town, Loughshinny/Rush services and finally Lusk services as you've pointed out in your second paragraph.

Once again this morning, leaving my estate there was a large queue building at my bus stop (opposite Kelly's Garage) and there was a Dublin Bus inspector there so hopefully he was gauging people's opinions (in fairness, he and one of his colleagues in town have been really helpful to commuters and DB have gone well up in my estimation as a result of this).

In any case, if we can believe the stories emanating from Irish Rail, we'll hopefully have the viaduct back in action from November.

squonk

I don't like the one stop per town idea myself and I'm from Skerries. Within Skerries when the trains are running there is a huge buildup of traffic down at the Selskar Road Junction with peple driving to the train station. Throw a very regular bus service into the mix there and it'd actually slow things down. Right now it's good because the bus is doing what it does best, picking up pasengers from varisous points within the town. There is no need for anyone to sit into a car. The only change I would make is that buses should use the bypass in Lusk if they are full. there's no point in going into the town and turning left at Murrays unless there is somebody specifically getting off at that stop and I dont' think I've seen anyone do that so far.

dcr22B

squonk wrote: »

The only change I would make is that buses should use the bypass in Lusk if they are full. there's no point in going into the town and turning left at Murrays unless there is somebody specifically getting off at that stop and I dont' think I've seen anyone do that so far.

Agreed, there's nothing more infuriating for us Luskans than to see a full bus drive past us! :mad:

Hauk

Traffic was at a crawl this morning.