commuting to Dublin City Centre - madness??

ciaran_h

Hi

Do any of you commute to Dublin regularly? We are looking at a move to Kilkenny (just outside the city) and am trying to sus out whethere there is a doable commute route (train / luas...car / luas....bus??) that would not drive you insane in the long run.

I have some flexibility in terms of possibly 1 day per week work from home and maybe some flexibility on hours.....

Should we just forget it? Would the comute eventually drive you crazy? Appreciate any insights.

Cabaal

Everything is doable but the question is...for how long,

I commuted to cork for a number of weeks last year, 2hours each way, not very fun driving 4hours each day and traffic coming out of Cork was bloody awful if I even left 5min later in the evenings.

ciaran_h

thanks for the (quick!) response....i think long term my job is plonked in the middle of dublin, and my industry is not very buoyant (engineering / construction) so I need to factor in a long term 4 hrs (?) per day commute for 4 days per week at least

Cabaal

Well luckily you'll make pretty decent time to as far as Bewleys at Newlands Cross due to the motorway...after that traffic would only get worse and worse.

Question is what time would you need to be in Dublin cc and what time would you be leaving?

Also even if your ok doing say 4hours driving a day have you factored in petrol cost versus say train costs, given its Dublin cc perhaps going via train would be better/cheaper?

ciaran_h

Start times could be pretty flexible together with some working on the train usually start at 8.30 til 5 but I think i could swing something there.... I think it's either be train (with some remote working on it) or drive to Redcow and luas from there asI've no parking in the city centre....are there no express buses from KK to Dublin? Kavanagh still go through all the towns and villages along the way?

Fair point regarding costs of fuel versus train but those trains are ludicrously slow though...

road_high

ciaran_h wrote: »

Start times could be pretty flexible together with some working on the train usually start at 8.30 til 5 but I think i could swing something there.... I think it's either be train (with some remote working on it) or drive to Redcow and luas from there asI've no parking in the city centre....are there no express buses from KK to Dublin? Kavanagh still go through all the towns and villages along the way?

Fair point regarding costs of fuel versus train but those trains are ludicrously slow though...

Think the train is about an hour and half (very best case though) without delays etc.
Yes, Kavannaghs still go via Athy and on through Kilcullen and Naas. Crazy, defo think there must be some demand for an early morn direct bus like places like Dundalk would have. BE run a very early morn bus to the Airport but that's no good to you really. Think the commute would be difficult every day unless you could work from home a day or two a week or something like that.

Sky King

Im up and down to dublin a fair bit due to work, there's no WAY i would commute it daily. You'd want to have a VERY good reason for taking that on....

You're lookin at 20 hours a week on top of the 40 that you're working (= an unpaid increase of 50% in your time spent doing work related stuff), not to mention a decrease of about 50% in your leisure time / time for shopping / tidying / cooking dinner / cutting the grass etc etc...

Plus about €600 a month on fuel (seven grand a year) , additional wear and tear on the vehicle (an additional 25,000 miles + annually)

Then you have the early mornings, the dublin traffic, the chirpy radio presenters that make you want to put your boot through your head unit... you'd be bat**** crazy to take that on voluntarily if you ask me!!

MagicMarker

I live IN Dublin and can barely handle the commute into town.

You're mad.

mikemac1

Motorbike maybe. Lower fuel costs and you can filter traffic.

Car, forget about it

Captain Havoc

I know two people who take the train every morning and cycle to work from there.

Victor

Why Kilkenny? Is Dublin-Kilkenny possible?

Note that Kilkenny has two morning trains that get in by 10am, Carlow and Thurles four each and Portlaoise eight.

It sounds like madness. One day a week, fair enough, four, no. What will you do in the middle of winter?

Arrival times at D'Olier Street:
0734 Bus Éireann route X4
0835 JJ Kavanagh Clonmel - Dublin Airport via Dublin City
0838 Train + bus
1020 Train + bus

http://www.journeyplanner.transportforireland.ie/

road_high

What do you think yourself OP? Assume you have driven the motorway between KK and Dublin several times as you appear to be looking at Kilkenny. Have you family here?
The hour drive can seem fine on a Sunday morning but the Naas road, dual carriageway and Naas bypass are all a nightmare on any given Friday and bank hol. And on a wet "normal" day the littlest thing can hold up the flow of traffic. It's actually a bit of nightmare at times as far as the M9 junction.

ciaran_h

Thanks for replies. Reason for kk is a nice site we have with planning so could build house for same price as a bog standard 3 bed semi......tho I'd spend more time in the car/bus/ train than in same lovely house!....if we had proper trains I think it'd work but that ain't happening

ciaran_h

ciaran_h wrote: »

Thanks for replies. Reason for kk is a nice site we have with planning so could build house for same price as a bog standard 3 bed semi......tho I'd spend more time in the car/bus/ train than in same lovely house!....if we had proper trains I think it'd work but that ain't happening

plus family connections too i should have said....anyone know anyone who actually does this commute?

Captain Havoc

ciaran_h wrote: »

plus family connections too i should have said....anyone know anyone who actually does this commute?

A couple of lads on my soccer team do but they're based in Tallaght and at the Red Cow. One of them lives in Paulstown which would be a really good place to commute from as it's thirty seconds from the motorway and 15-20 mins from Carlow and Kilkenny.

screamer

I live in North Kilkenny, and commute and have commuted to City West in my car for the last 8 years. TBH, when I get to my exit, the traffic up to Newlands cross is manic, so no way I would be able for the city centre at all. By train, you'd be leaving at about 6.30 to get there on time.......... bus perhaps, but then you're very stuck to their schedule. Perhaps you could drive up and get the luas? Either way, no option is particularly good. Would I reccomend it? No.

mosesgun

I live near Borris Co. Carlow. So pretty close to Kilkenny. I commute (drive)daily to Dublin but only as far as Baldonnell. It takes me 20 minutes just to get to the motoraway at Powerstown, then it's another 40 minutes or so to Baldonnell. If you are close to the motorway in Kilkenny it will probably be an hour to Newlands Cross, on a good day. The time from there to City centre completely depends on time of year, weather etc. Driving would be a nightmare every day. In short, I would not consider it if I had to drive to the city centre every day or even 4 days per week. If you could get it down to 3 days a week and 2 days at home, then I'd consider it. You could mix it up then between car and train. A friend takes the train from Bagenalstown 3 days a week and finds it just about manageable.

Annabananna

Hey my husband commutes from paulstown 5 days a week to the IFSC he lucky that his job start time can be 8 to 4 8.30 to 4.30 or 9 to 5.

He gets the train from carlow usually 6.35am one and he at his desk around 8.05 if he gets the 7.10 he at his desk 8.50am. He gets the 535pm train home and in Paulstown at 7pm. His train ticket is 240 a month though tax saver scheme.

He doing it now for four years now and happily does it for the country life and the fact like you we have a site to build on and around my family he is from a large city and says he never move to city again.

So yes it is possible and can be done if he got a meeting late he drives to red cow in a hour gets luas in as otherwise traffic in is mad

ciaran_h

Thanks all. Food for thought

femur61

Fuel cost alone would put me off. What would your daily commute cost in a car €30?? x4=€120/wk.

road_high

femur61 wrote: »

Fuel cost alone would put me off. What would your daily commute cost in a car €30?? x4=€120/wk.

Yes, hugely expensive. You'd want to be in a very well paid job with lots of flexi re working from home/travel to make it work. Think being tied to an office in Dublin city centre 5 days a week but living in Kilkenny would be difficult to say the least. Also, Heuston is in a crap location and should have been built right in the city. Damn Victorians

se conman

One of the short commutes I often do is Ttown to O'Connell St. 1 3/4 hours up (arrive a 8.00) 2 1/4 hours home (leaving 5.00-5.30) Not too bad a drive if you have to do it.

Julius Seizure

My dad does this, did it for years. We live about another half an hour from kilkenny, and yeah it's tough. If you can, the train, with a taxsaver is like wayy cheaper, added up the costs and it came out I think 60 per cent cheaper? Not sure. Including parking at the station, or you can park down that road, and that inclueds the IFS to DCC. It depends reallyon expenses, and how much you can cope.

Einhard

I commuted up and down by train for two months this year, and by the end I was exhausted. I would neve rdo it again. Unless you have absolutely excellent reasons for doing it, I think it's madness. Think about it- you'll have up to 20 hours a week less time to spend with your family in your lovely new house; you'll be more tired and cranky when you are with them; and you won't be able to enjoy, or even achieve, the lifestyle that probably prompted you to chose the country in the first place.

DUBintheSTICKS

I used to commute from Paulstown to Dublin for 3 years. It's a handy commute now, 1hr up the motorway and park in citywest and take Luas into town. Its very managable with the motorway now. That said I am glad I don't have to do it anymore.

daenerysstormborn3

OP, from October to December 2010 I commuted from Kilkenny to Dublin. I got the train from Waterford to Dublin 5 days a week, this was my experience.

The train ticket cost me €120 for 4 days and then €35 on a Friday and I cycled to and from the train station at both ends.

I was up at 5am and wasn't home until 9.30pm (earliest).

The train was late at least 4 out of the 5 days of the working week, both arriving in Hueston and arriving back in Waterford (it gets delayed at Carlow in both directions and outside Hueston in the mornings, sometimes also in the evenings). When the train arrives late into Hueston you miss the bus (I used to get the 145 if I wasn't cycling) and the wait for the next one can be 10-15 minutes sometimes.

I was constantly tired and it began to effect my work (I just couldn't concentrate some days because I was so wrecked). My health suffered because my eating habits were terrible. If I managed to get home at 9.30pm (minor miracle) I would have dinner, shower and then bed, no time to prepare food for the following day, aside from throwing fruit or something premade in my bag in the morning. You miss out on so much at home when you're doing those hours, chats at the dinner table and the like.

I was lucky that I was working in a very well paid job when I was doing the commute so I could afford to pay for the train tickets, the convenience food, extra socialising at the weekend to make up for basically not even being able to speak to my friends or family during the week. If your salary is only so-so I would seriously re-think your plan.

Being so far from home if something happens at home, it is really difficult to juggle. Employers tend not to be too understanding when you live a 2.5 hour journey from work.

When the weather was really bad, that was the second year we had really bad snow, the train station and the trains basically shut down. I had to beg to leave work even a half hour early just to try to ensure I would get home before 11pm. I arrived at Hueston regularly to find that the train had left early because (a) the earlier train hadn't gone because the weather was too bad so they sent out a train at a time not on the timetable (b) it was at capacity (despite having a pre-booked ticket), (c) the train was broken down and they had to wait an hour for another train to come in, again not on the timetable. Also, we had to make additional stops when the weather was bad to make up for the lack of other trains running, I got on a train one evening at 6.35 and didn't get home until 11.30pm. With the weather being so bad, sometimes the trains wouldn't be sent down to the station for the following morning or the weather was too bad for them to inspect the tracks until later in the day so I often arrived in the morning to be told that the 6am train wasn't running but the 7.40am train would be.

The only reason I kept it up for those 3 months was because (a) it was a very well paid job so there was that obvious incentive, (b) it was a 3 month contract so I could see an end in sight, it wasn't like I was going to be doing it for an indefinite period and (c) it was either that or no job and at the time I couldn't claim any social welfare so I just perservered.

lazeedaisy

I begun commuting from beyond graignamangh to Dublin 1, 5 days a week, I leave at 5.15 in dublin 1 for 6.50am - leave Dublin about 3.15 home between 5.30 - 6pm.

Its not bad, been doing it from Laois - then moved, was getting the train - but it takes a good hour each way off - if i drive, could not get use to the lousy trains but they have changed as i took one recently but i prefer to divr now to be honest.