Commuting Blessington to Dublin City centre

Muahahaha

I might be moving to Blessington soon but would need to commute to Dublin city daily. Im a bit worried about how long it might take as the N81 is single carraigeway until Tallaght. Once inside the M50 the route is a single road then all the way in. Is anyone doing this route and would you have pointers on what time you must leave Blessington to get to Dublin city by X time? And how long the journey back to Blessington tends to take?

Also is there a private Blessington-Dublin bus service? Or is Bus Eireann an option?

exaisle

Muahahaha wrote: »

I might be moving to Blessington soon but would need to commute to Dublin city daily. Im a bit worried about how long it might take as the N81 is single carraigeway until Tallaght. Once inside the M50 the route is a single road then all the way in. Is anyone doing this route and would you have pointers on what time you must leave Blessington to get to Dublin city by X time? And how long the journey back to Blessington tends to take?

Also is there a private Blessington-Dublin bus service? Or is Bus Eireann an option?

It really depends on when you leave....if you leave any time between 7.30 and 8.30, it'll take an hour or so, less during school holidays.

Bus options are the 65 which is the Dublin Bus, stopping all the way...

There's also the 132 Bus Eireann which leaves Blessington at around 7.30 am and arrives at Connolly Station at 8.35am... I'm not sure how busy this bus is though...as it comes from Rosslare (I think)

Muahahaha

Thanks for the info exaisle,very helpful. An hour isnt too bad I suppose. Can I ask how it is in the evenings, does the return journey tend to take 10 or 20 minutes longer? Also does anyone know if the N81 is due an upgrade at any point in the future?

exaisle

Muahahaha wrote: »

Thanks for the info exaisle,very helpful. An hour isnt too bad I suppose. Can I ask how it is in the evenings, does the return journey tend to take 10 or 20 minutes longer? Also does anyone know if the N81 is due an upgrade at any point in the future?

The N81 is due an upgrade to dual carriageway...have a look here:

http://www.kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/NationalRoadsOffice/N81RIS/
wwi
The route has been selected....mind you, nobody knows when funding will be made available.Your guess is as good as mine...That won't make an awful lot of difference to journey times to the city centre because you'll just get to Tallaght/Citywest quicker and be in a jam from there on...but it might help journey times home....There tends to be a bit of a tailback into Blessington in the evenings...from around 5pm onwards. Not sure about journey time from the city though.

Non-rush hour times to city centre is about 30 mins to Houston Station by car via N81-N82-N7-M50-N4 or to Christchurch via N81 all the way in. If you can work an hour earlier or later than the standard 9-5 you'd probably shave an hour off your commute...

What I will say though is that the journey time will seem shorter when you've done the trip a few hundred times.... :-)

dogmatix

I used to live out past Blessington and I would always avoid the N81 if possible, preferring the Bohernabreena road. I do remember the N81 being very busy from the old Blue Gardenia (heading towards Blessington) from 5pm onwards.

My rule was try to start work as early as possible and leave early. And avoid the stretch from the M50 to the N82 junction during any sort of bad weather event (espcially snow) as that stretch would become a parking lot.

The advantages are that Blessington is a nice town, with good outdoor amenities and a great bookshop.

Muahahaha

Thanks for the info, very helpful

WestWicklow1

Don't forget to consider the extra cost of windscreen washer fluid and the extra car washing that you will have to do

Now that all the uncovered sand trucks are back (since the recession ended) the N81 is either a mud bath or a dust bowl.

Muahahaha

Yeah I noticed there is a fair amount of construction traffic on the n81. Anyone know about how many quarries are between Blessington and Tallaght?

Stephen15

What about driving to the Red Cow and getting the Luas the rest of the way.

Hugh Jampton

exaisle wrote: »

It really depends on when you leave....if you leave any time between 7.30 and 8.30, it'll take an hour or so, less during school holidays.

Bus options are the 65 which is the Dublin Bus, stopping all the way...

There's also the 132 Bus Eireann which leaves Blessington at around 7.30 am and arrives at Connolly Station at 8.35am... I'm not sure how busy this bus is though...as it comes from Rosslare (I think)

An hour and five minutes from Blessington to Connolly between 7.30am and 8.35am? Is that realistic?

SimonLynch

Best option for northside city centre is right at Brittas through Ballinascorney and Bohernabreena, turn right in Old Bawn, get on the M50 near Knocklyon and work your way in. Southside is a total ballache, no good way in. Going in via Saggart and N7 is very heavy nowadays, canal is a car park, best option might be use Luas park and ride from Sandyford.

Stephen15

SimonLynch wrote: »

Best option for northside city centre is right at Brittas through Ballinascorney and Bohernabreena, turn right in Old Bawn, get on the M50 near Knocklyon and work your way in. Southside is a total ballache, no good way in. Going in via Saggart and N7 is very heavy nowadays, canal is a car park, best option might be use Luas park and ride from Sandyford.

Why treck it all the way over to Sandyford when you can park and ride at either the Red Cow or Cheevertown on the red line.

Muahahaha

Stephen15 wrote: »

What about driving to the Red Cow and getting the Luas the rest of the way.

Yeah I think I will give the park and ride thing a go from either Cheeverstown or Red Cow for a week to see how it compares to driving all the way. Though I am not sure if it will work out as the Red line Luas has a lot of junctions to cross and can be pretty slow. Add the time to park up and get to the platform and it might not be worth it, hard to tell without giving it a go though.