Rathdrum, good or bad?

trelemenele

Hi

I'm thinking about buying a house in new developments in Rathdrum.
I found one post saying it might be rough, is that true?
I will have kid going to UCD in next 2-3 years. Is it easy enough to get out of there to Dublin for student? Thanks

2011

trelemenele wrote: »

I will have kid going to UCD in next 2-3 years. Is it easy enough to get out of there to Dublin for student? Thanks

No. It’s a very long no way, even driving would be very slow.

dogmatix

I don't think rathdrum is rough - you used to hear a lot of gossip about rathnew being a bit dodgy but that was a good while ago. Could be you are mixing the two names.

As for transport - not great. The train is not very frequent and takes about 2.5 hours door to door (according to the route planner). As for driving - you could get into UCD in an hour by car, if you leave before 6am - after that time the N11 becomes increasingly gridlocked. After 6am, I would be forgetting the N11 and travel via the mountains (laragh-roundwood-enniskerry-kilternan-dundrum etc...).

trelemenele

Thanks for answers. Google says driving from Rathdrum to Tallagaht (working there) takes about an hour. Is it close to real travel time?

theunforgiven

Not a chance, Google search M11 traffic.

The place is a bottle neck/crawling every morning.
You'd be lucky to get to Bray in an hour most mornings.

2011

trelemenele wrote: »

Thanks for answers. Google says driving from Rathdrum to Tallagaht (working there) takes about an hour. Is it close to real travel time?

I am working in Tallaght today at it took me just over 1 hour to get here from Kilcoole this morning. I left Kilcoole at 6:50am

dogmatix

Correct - you really want to be actually on the N11 no later then 06:15 to avoid gridlock with 06:00 being best. Same thing coming home - from 16:00 on it gets very heavy all the way to Bray - fairly free moving after that.

loyatemu

For UCD: get the commuter train from Rathdrum at 0715, change to a Dart in Bray or Dun Laoghaire and you'll be in Sydney parade for 0836. You could leave an old bike at Sydney Parade and cycle to and from the campus, it's only about 10 mins on a bike.

Be aware though there are only 5 trains a day to/from Rathdrum, so your student will spend a lot of time hanging around and the last train leaves town at 18:35. It's not a very practical commute for Tallaght and UCD unless you have a car and enjoy traffic jams.

Working class heroes

trelemenele wrote: »

Hi

I'm thinking about buying a house in new developments in Rathdrum.
I found one post saying it might be rough, is that true?
I will have kid going to UCD in next 2-3 years. Is it easy enough to get out of there to Dublin for student? Thanks

Hi,

Which development are you looking at?

Used to be a bit rough alright but has improved greatly over the last decade or so. The town centre was left in a heap when the recession hit but work has now recommenced.

If you are driving you need to be leaving Rathdrum no later than 0600hrs otherwise, as stated above, you will most likely hit the traffic. For UCD the best bet from Rathdrum is the train to Bray/Greystones then a Dart to Booterstown followed by a walk/cycle to the college, all in all about a 95 minute commute.
Another option would be the 133 bus from Rathnew which brings you straight to the college. You would need to make your way to Rathnew by car but its something to think about.

trelemenele

After all I decided to give up on Rathdrum, looks good, new house prices are affordable enough but commuting would be a nightmare. Weather + Wicklow would probably add more to it.
Found that Mullingar towards Maynooth area might be better solution.