What is the cost-effective way to commute from Newbridge to Dublin

Mimonew

Hello,

I work in D18 and I am thinking to move to Newbridge. My work is hybrid now, so I need to commute 1-2 days weekly. I wonder what is the cost-effective way to commute in this pattern using public transportation?

I looked at taxsaver tickets and my understanding is that they are either weekly, monthly, or annually.

Best,

Maraim

loyatemu

Taxsaver is unlikely to be cost-effective if you're only going in once or twice a week. I know for my journey, I might just about break even at 2 days a week (versus just using the the Leap fare) so I'd need to be going in 3 days a week to make it worthwhile. And that's as a higher rate taxpayer, the benefit of Taxsaver is even less if you're on the standard rate of tax.

You'll have to do your own comparison vs just buying a return for each day you go in.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058266543/what-is-the-cost-effective-way-to-commute-from-newbridge-to-dublin

Whatever about the cost, that sort of journey won't be easy on public transport as it will involve a train to Heuston, and then depending on where in Dublin 18 that you are going to, at least one bus. It will be far longer than it could be done by car.

Public transport is never going to suit every trip, and to be honest I don't think yours would be a candidate.

KillerShamrock

Yeah pretty silly that we aren't in the short hop zone and pay over 3 times as much that people who live in naas pay. There is a train from newbridge to grand canal dock which stops at pearse and you could get to the green line there but involves a walk.

Also on the subject why the f&@k are we skrewed for cost it's BS it's cheaper to get a ticket to naas then a ticket to Dublin from naas, than newbridge to dublin or am I doing it wrong. Also why does the cost change through out the day.

L1011

Back door of Tara is much closer to a Luas stop I would guess.

Extending the short hop zone requires a significant increase in subsidy, that's the basic answer as to why it hasn't been done.

howiya

This was what the Minister for Transport had to say on extending the short-hop zone in the Seanad on 23 February 2023. I wonder what the timeframe "coming weeks" or "very shortly" means since it was a month ago now.

"Senators Doherty and Wall both mentioned the short hop. They are right that there are specific examples. We are looking at that and the Government will very shortly publish detailed proposals which I hope will address some of those concerns. There will always be a difficulty when it gets to the edge of the zone and some places are going to be at the end. However, a large number of towns are currently disadvantaged and the Senators talked about patterns in places like Sallins. That is happening so we need to address it; we are due to do so in the coming weeks and we will be giving the details of that shortly."

howiya

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120381994#Comment_120381994

You are right but on one hand we have government ministers going to COP conferences and telling the world that "Our citizens will become increasingly cynical, weary and hopeless if words are not urgently matched by deeds;" and "The science is clear. Every tonne of carbon warms the world. Every delay makes our task that bit bigger. Let us not waste a second more."

Meanwhile government policy is drive to Sallins for more affordable public transport.

ArmaniJeanss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120390631#Comment_120390631

Isn't the problem though that there is always going to be a 'next stop, next town' situation? If Newbridge gets put within the short-hop zone, then Kildare becomes the station/town for which the exact same arguments would be made. Like I sympathise (I'm lucky enough to be within the short-hop zone) but there has to be a cut-off.

loyatemu

30km seems to be the radius for the SHZ - wasn't it recently expanded to Kilcock, which is 30km out? Kilcoole, Balbriggan, Sallins - all 30km from the CC. Newbridge is 40km. But it shouldn't cost 3 times as much to travel one station outside the zone.

howiya

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120390751#Comment_120390751

Well if there has to be a cut-off perhaps it should be placed somewhere that isn't considered to be a commuter town. It doesn't affect me either. I live in Dublin 9.

It's party policy of FF and FG to extend the short hop zone into Meath, Kildare and further north so it is just a case of the government sitting on their hands and delaying positive measures that may assist with tackling climate change whilst looking for kudos with their "lets not waste a second more" bullshit.

LXFlyer

The NTA have recognised that the level of change between moving from the Short Hop fares matrix to the Intercity fares matrix needs to be more gradual.

The Short Hop Zone does indeed cover travel by rail up to 30km on the four lines extending out from Dublin. Realistically there does have to be a limit on that somewhere.

As others have said, changing the fares will need additional subsidy, but it is complicated as changing the Intercity fares matrix has implications for fares all over the country and thereby the levels of funding required.

Leaving aside the online web fares, Intercity fares are complicated as they are firstly based on the distance between stations and then applying the fare from the appropriate distance band, but also there are different fare scales based on the level of service - fares are higher on the Dublin-Cork line than they are on Dublin-Rosslare line for example.

Plus there are cheaper off-peak Intercity fares available after 09:30 on weekdays and at weekends from stations within a certain distance of Dublin.

cardeol

Here is the recent NTA announcement to include Newbridge as part of a new commuting zone.

"A new Outer Dublin Commuter Zone extending to approximately 50km from Dublin city centre will also be created. It will include towns such as Drogheda, Navan, Trim, Enfield, Clane, Prosperous, Newbridge, Kildare, Greystones and Wicklow. This area was selected based on a review of future public transport network proposals (e.g. the implementation of DART+) along with an analysis of ticket sales information to determine commuter travel demand."

More info in the NTA website.

Noxegon

Kildare resident here. Looking forward to this – at the moment it's considerably cheaper (<50%) to take the car than it is to take the train.

With luck the review will sort that out.

feargantae

I'd love to read a detailed breakdown of how they calculate fares. Is it just distance and service frequency or are certain stations cheaper to encourage use?

For example:

Droichead Nua - Heuston: €8.45

Kildare - Heuston: €9.75

Athy - Heuston: €7.65

Carlow - Heuston: €8.49

Muine Bheag - Heuston: €9.35

Why is Muine Bheag cheaper than Kildare? Why are Carlow and Droichead Nua the same price despite being ~50km apart?

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120680379#Comment_120680379

Intercity rail fares are calculated using distance based fare zones.

But within that there are three tiers of fares, which reflect the level of service:

Top tier: Dublin-Limerick / Cork / Kerry; Dublin-Beflast

Middle tier: Dublin-Galway & Mayo; Dublin-Sligo; Western Rail Corridor

Bottom tier: Dublin-Waterford; Dublin-Rosslare; Dublin-Nenagh Branch; Waterford-Limerick

The fares charged for each zone are cheaper in the middle and bottom tiers, reflecting the poorer service levels, and longer journey times due to them being single track routes.

There are also some cheaper promotional off-peak fares available after 09:30 (or all day at weekends) from the booking office on the Portlaoise to Dublin and Dundalk to Dublin routes.

feargantae

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120680478#Comment_120680478

That's really interesting. I noticed that if you split 1 journey into 2 legs it can be cheaper sometimes.

For example:

Muine Bheag to Galway (via Kildare): €27.49

Muine Bheag to Kildare: €13.75

Kildare to Galway: €7.65

=€21.40 instead of €27.49

Limerick to Cork (via Limerick Jct): €11.59

Limerick to Limerick Jct: €2.59

Limerick Jct to Cork: €7.55

=€10.14 instead of €11.59

Not sure if that's against Iarnród Éireann byelaws but it's interesting anyway!

pad199207

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120390751#Comment_120390751

Indeed there has to be a cut off,

Extend it it to Newbridge? Why not extent it to Portlaoise, Mullingar , Gorey?

Newbridge is a commuter town but it isn’t in the Dublin Suburban Area

Leixlip, Naas, Celbridge, Maynooth and Kilcock are.

Medium Hop Zone would be ideal for those areas further out