Commute Time Please - South Dublin (Knocklyon/Firhouse) to East Point Business Park?

Quoi?

I'm looking at a possible new job in East Point Business Park, but am living in Knocklyon.

Does anyone do a similar journey (i.e. from Knocklyon, Firhouse, Ballycullen, Templogue, Rathfarnham, etc.)?

I'm not sure yet what the hours would be but I'm guessing either 8-4:30 (ish) or 9-5:30 - I think the earlier start is more likely but I'm not sure.

I've tried town leaving at 7:45am and door to door for the interview it was 8:45am when I walked into the office - so I guess through town you could say ~1hour, maybe less if leaving at 7am - theres just so many traffic lights. M50 then M1 is an option but A. its all-round-the-world to get there, and B. I wonder if you'd hit traffic once you reach the M1 and start heading back towards town?

I'm not really in a position to try different routes/again though as I'm currently in another job.

seamus

So you're definitely driving? Traffic will eventually crucify you unless you leave before 7am. Through town, between 90 minutes and 2 hours depending on the weather/traffic. You'd do it in 45 minutes during the summer. A good day on the motorway, you'd make it in 45 minutes. Your sticking points on that journey are getting on & off the M1, and the roadworks on the M50 at the moment.

Other options:
Bus: If you get on at the Templeogue Road, you can expect 45 mins to get to Eden Quay and 30 minutes to walk to East Point.
Motorbike: 35 minutes, regardless of traffic
Cycling: 45 minutes, regardless of traffic

Quoi?

seamus wrote: »

So you're definitely driving?

Other options:
Bus: If you get on at the Templeogue Road, you can expect 45 mins to get to Eden Quay and 30 minutes to walk to East Point.
Motorbike: 35 minutes, regardless of traffic
Cycling: 45 minutes, regardless of traffic

Yeah, I like the flexibility that driving gives me.
30mins walk - not a fan of that, not with our un-predictable weather.
Motorbike - again weather would put me off.
Cycling - weather again .

So yeah, driving is pretty much a given.

So was I luck last week in making it there in an hour leaving at 7:45? That was Knocklyon-Templegue-Rathmines-Dame St-O'Connel Bridge-Connolly-Fairview-East Point.

Cuddlesworth

You could do it in under 30min on a motorbike. Decent gear keeps me dry and I do up to 80 kilometres a day.

Quoi?

This had crossed my mind but there are a couple of other considerations:
1. I'm not sure I'd be confident on a bike - though I guess a moped can't be that dangerous - except to my ego... And it would be very cheap to run.
2. I almost always go straight from work to the gym or something else in the evening which requires a gym bag - not the most practical on a bike.

That being said, the 30minutes thing is attractive - though when you count in the extra time to throw on all the gear, & get it off again, thats going to add ~15minutes.


I guess if I thought I could manage it in 1hour each way, I could live with that. I've spoiled myself until now working quite local/avoiding city center - commute times in current & previous jobs have been max of 35mins(winter) and as little as 15-20mins (summer).

I view commute time as part of my working day - and I'd rather be sitting at my desk getting extra work done unpaid than sitting in traffic - its wasted time.

seamus

Quoi? wrote: »

So was I luck last week in making it there in an hour leaving at 7:45? That was Knocklyon-Templegue-Rathmines-Dame St-O'Connel Bridge-Connolly-Fairview-East Point.

Considering that you can no longer get to the quays via Dame Street during rush hours, I think you were very lucky!
October so far has been bright and warmish, which has lead to traffic being a good deal lighter in the last 2/3 weeks. If you could have seen the traffic on that route today and yesterday, you'd be afraid. As the days get darker and colder, the number of people driving steadily increases. Traffic peaks around January/February (excluding the chrimbo rush of course).
To get to East Point, you'd have to cross the quays at wood quay. In heavy/typical traffic volumes, you're talking 30 minutes from Knocklyon to Leonard's Corner, another 30 minutes to the quays and another 30 minutes to East Point.
Leaving early does drop these times signficantly though. If you were up for leaving the house before 7am, you'd do the entire journey in 30 minutes some days.

Quoi? wrote: »

1. I'm not sure I'd be confident on a bike - though I guess a moped can't be that dangerous - except to my ego... And it would be very cheap to run.

You can get (and it's advisable) training courses for motorcycling, even on a moped. These will teach basic skills and bike-specific skills for traffic.

2. I almost always go straight from work to the gym or something else in the evening which requires a gym bag - not the most practical on a bike.

Surprisingly practical actually, I did this for ages. If you get a proper gym bag with a shoulder strap, then you can put the shoulder strap around you and rest the bag on the back of the bike, meaning that you're not dealing with that weight for the whole trip.

That being said, the 30minutes thing is attractive - though when you count in the extra time to throw on all the gear, & get it off again, thats going to add ~15minutes.

It's five minutes really because the gear goes on over your normal clothes but you're right, there is more preparation, particularly in the morning.

Quoi?

seamus wrote: »

Leaving early does drop these times signficantly though. If you were up for leaving the house before 7am, you'd do the entire journey in 30 minutes some days.

THanks for the detailed and practical advice.

In relation to the above quote - by "before 7" do you mean getting out the door by 6:30am, or if I were leaving bang on 7am you reckon it could be that quick (30mins total)?

And yes, I had crossed onto Westmoreland street before I remembered/saw the signs - I was blessed not to be caught!

seandel

You were absolutely blessed to make it to the interview on time! East Point is a pain to get to, I used to work there. It's close enough to town to be difficult for traffic but not close enough to town to be convenient for bus/train. The drive should be ok during the summer but as others have said leave early during the winter. After a few weeks in the job make polite enquiries about flexi-time. I worked 8-4 most of the time and just about avoided the worst of the traffic.

Oh yeah, and if you're leaving around 5-6pm it can take half an hour to get out East Point (at least it could 2 years ago)

Quoi?

@seandel - Where were you travelling from? & when was that?
When you say avoided the worst of it, what sort of travel times are we talking?

Live Drive

M50-n32-Malahide Rd is your best bet in both directions. Malahide Rd is usually much better than Swords Rd.

Quoi?

Did you commute that route from South Side?
If so could you give me some times?
i.e. when you would leave/arrive in Morning/afternoon?
Oh, & roughly where you're living too please.

Live Drive

Quoi? wrote: »

Did you commute that route from South Side?
If so could you give me some times?
i.e. when you would leave/arrive in Morning/afternoon?
Oh, & roughly where you're living too please.

No, Live Drive is a traffic radio show on 103.2 Dublin City FM. We watch traffic on the cameras and get texts from listeners so we get to know the traffic patterns fairly well. On a normal day in the morning you'll hit a few spots of traffic on the M50 northbound (between Blanch and Finglas usually), there might be a slight queue for M1/M50 r/b but it's usually empty, the n32 wil be empty and then Malahide Rd to Fairview usually moves well.

In the evening the only place along the route there is usually traffic is on the n32 and even that's not been too bad for ages.

In terms of journey times I'd say you'll fluctuate from 50 minutes on a very good day to 90 minutes on a very bad day with the journey time usually somewhere around the hour mark. Your morning commute will probably take a little longer than your evening journey.

trellheim

If you didn't mind a good walk in the mornings, 74 bus to GCD,then Dart ?

Quoi?

Live Drive wrote: »

On a normal day in the morning you'll hit a few spots of traffic on the M50 northbound (between Blanch and Finglas usually), there might be a slight queue for M1/M50 r/b but it's usually empty, the n32 wil be empty and then Malahide Rd to Fairview usually moves well.

In the evening the only place along the route there is usually traffic is on the n32 and even that's not been too bad for ages.

In terms of journey times I'd say you'll fluctuate from 50 minutes on a very good day to 90 minutes on a very bad day with the journey time usually somewhere around the hour mark. Your morning commute will probably take a little longer than your evening journey.

Thanks for the detailed info.
Would you be able to tell me what time that refers to though? I would assume theres a significant difference between 7-8 and 8-9am? And again 4:30-5:30 and 5:30-6:30pm

Quoi?

Was successful in being offered the job & have accepted it... so I'll post my commuting experiences once I'm into it in the new year.

However, I suspect a move somewhere closer will be in order or I'll get fed up of the commute before I can even tackle the job properly.

Quoi?

For anyone else who might be looking for this info - i've had the following experiences this week:

Leaving approx 7:20/7:25am.

M50-Swords Rd/M1-Collins Ave, Malahide Road, Clontarf-EastPoint: 40mins.

M50 south -Leopardstown-N11-booterstown ave, rock road, coast road, EastLink - 47mins

M50 south -Leopardstown-N11-Newtownpark ave, rock road, coast road, EastLink - 43mins

Rathfarnham-Orwell park road, milltown, sandford road, ranelagh, ballsbrige, shelbourne road, bath ave, east link -37mins (lucky with most lights, &this was friday).

Those are all Morning times... evening - only went directly home on friday - got out of car park about 4:35pm and went same route as last one above - approx 50mins.

So overall better than I expected, but id say it helps a lot that I'm travelling between 7 and 8am, and I am not looking forward to leaving there around 5pm if going all the way home.

Its also quite expensive in terms of tolls...