How do you cope with commuting

I walk to my office in less than 5 min

I can go home for lunch if I want

Do I win?

rosmoke wrote: »

I'm actually passioned about cycling that's the thing. I used to cycle 5 days a week for 9 hours a day in work (~80km a day) on mtb, was completely wrecked the 1st couple of weeks, after that I was only tired. Was doing long 150km tracks with friends on a mountain bike, not road bike. Even doing downhill on the weekends in the mountains with a full frame.

It's hard for me to adjust and say this is ok and normal when I grew up with different weather.

The weather here for cycle commuting is really not that bad. It does not rain in the morning as much as people would suspect. I rarely need the rain gear on the bike - but I always have it with me. Based in Dublin.

I'm doing 12km each way at the moment and as much as I'd love a motorbike or electric bike, I do enjoy the cycle. Tried the bus, tried driving - both terrible options IMO - I'd rather walk or run, anything other than the bus or traffic. And that's not even mentioning the price of the bus or using a car every day.

Bus, including 15 min walk to / from bus stop, and waiting for bus takes 2 hours each way. 4 hours a day!! That doesn't include missing a bus if it's full. On the bike takes me 35 mins each way. Stick on a podcast and I'm there before I know it. Add 10 mins to change when I get to work. So 1 hour and 20 mins a day door to door commuting and my exercise is done.

I have a purpose built commuter so it's light and fast and easy to maintain. If you were commuting on an MTB, if I'm reading that right rosmoke, then no surprise you'd be tired.

The rain / wind is not the issue for me - it's the lack of respect towards cyclists. But I'm finding that I can get past a lot of that by ignoring the bad behaviour and just getting on with my life. That's not always an option, but if it is, these days I'll take it.

30 min walk max to and from work most days! Drive one day a week and can taken longer than the walk depending on how crap traffic is!
Can bus it in about 20 mins if it's lashing!

I used to work in Ballymount, horrendous 15km drive, just traffic at all angles! Previous to that it was a 2 hour daily commute on a Luas out to Citywest, going against the crowds most of the time so wasn't too bad but finishing at 6.30pm odd weeks you could be waiting a wait for a Luas home.

Audiobooks and Podcasts.

Don't think I could listen to an Irish radio station for a prolonged period before purposely driving head first into an oncoming HGV.

I changed jobs recently and cut a 10 minute commute down to 5 minutes. I was asked to consider another job 40 minutes away for €10k more and I turned it down. I just couldn't see myself wasting close to 7 hours a week commuting.

Plus I'm able to come home every day at lunchtime

steamsey wrote: »

Completely agree. I'm not a fan of buses. The only way to make buses really work is to make them basically trains on wheels - no driver to talk to, no change, tag on at the stop. They did it in Bogota a long time ago now and it worked - they didn't have the money for a subway so this was the next best option. Our current system is a outdated - how hard would it be to cancel all interaction with the driver and just go tag on only? Would move things along much quicker. I believe they'll go this route, but I'll still be avoiding the bus.

That’s busconnects that’s currently in planning. Local politicians are trying to sink it in exchange for votes.

road_high wrote: »

Dublin really lacks a rapid form of transportation throughout the city (stating the obvious here). A lot of other cities have mass transport like Undergrounds that move a lot of people around very quickly as they don't compete with road traffic.

That’s Metrolink that’s in planning.
We are miles behind other countries but the NTA are trying to address it but the political will is too weak as we don’t make these things election issues.

Sure have around 7 kids and have herself bring them to the local Garda station...

30km each way. By car. Takes about 30 mins when no schools. Could be anything up to an hour during term time. Council put a set of traffic lights in a village a few years ago that cause havoc. Makes no sense. Actually thinking of moving closer to work.

OP, what line of work are you in? Could you possibly remote work a few days a week, or look for another role closer to home or at least offering work from home days?

Tbh 1hr 30 mins is tough and not really worth it long term.

I'm luck enough that I have just a 20 min drive to and from work and I'm in the door home by 5pm sharp each day. I realise that I'm lucky and for any other roles I would probably have to commute into the city or further afield. I wouldn't mind necessarily but I would need the ability to work from home 2/3 days a week to make it worth while. I would struggle to consider anything that didn't offer it. Of course, on the days I work from home it's 10 seconds from bed to the laptop in the other room

Get an e-bike if you're not up for the wind, hills etc after a tough day. Plus because you're not putting as much effort in you never really need a shower etc when you arrive into work. No matter where you live the traffic is nuts everywhere in Dublin these days. So unless you want to spend stupid money on a (probably) much smaller house closer to the city, it's a great investment. I live in rathfarnham and my commute is a lot quicker (35 mins each way to docklands) now on the bike. I left at 7:40am and drove this morning (I had to for different reasons today) - took me 1 hour 20 mins. And it left me in a very bad humour Will be back on the bike tomorrow and smugly passing out all the traffic again...(PS i know you mentioned it already but...honestly it almost never rains in Dublin - at least not heavily).

I start my day at seven. Half an hour drive in so I can't complain.

But I'm switching to the bike when my cycle-to-work is approved. It's going to be fairly daunting, the last bike I owned came with stabilisers.

20km each way. BRING IT ON!!

20/25 minutes in car. Dublin 15 to Dublin 7. The bus takes 45 minutes and there are no seats. I've fainted on bus & train before when standing -public transport is not suitable for everyone. I'd be interested in cycling for the benefits but there are no showers in my workplace. Some work colleagues cycle but I don't know where they shower? Maybe it's not essential, I don't know. But I would prefer to have the option.

My commute is Walkinstown to city centre.

Running or cycling, about 8k, a lot of it along the canal, either one usually takes about 45 minutes
or sometimes the LUAS, 15 minute walk to the stop, 30 minutes in, so also about 45 minutes

Bus at rush hour - no thanks

angel eyes 2012 wrote: »

20/25 minutes in car. Dublin 15 to Dublin 7. The bus takes 45 minutes and there are no seats. I've fainted on bus & train before when standing -public transport is not suitable for everyone. I'd be interested in cycling for the benefits but there are no showers in my workplace. Some work colleagues cycle but I don't know where they shower? Maybe it's not essential, I don't know. But I would prefer to have the option.

I don't shower after a cycle in. I take it fairly easy cycling in, change my top when I get there, spray on deodorant - no shower required.

If you can borrow a bike, you could try it on a weekend - find a route you'd be happy with, see how long it takes, how hard it is, and if you'd need a shower at the end.

During the winter, when schools and colleges mean heavier traffic, door to door takes me about 2 hours each way. So it's the best part of four hours each day. During the summer I can take an hour off that. I'm hoping to qualify as a solicitor, so hopefully when that day eventually arrives I'll be able to find work closer to home. Right now I just need to keep grinding it out.

In truth though, I don't mind it, at least right now. I don't have kids yet and that seems to be the real killer for people that commute. It must be very difficult. But I'm able to just get on with it. I read a lot, so whatever happens I know I'll always have a couple of hours to myself each day. Anyone that knows me, and knows that I commute, would say that I spend my spare time very well. I don't wish to sound mean-spirited, but the amount of people that tell me they don't know how I commute, when I know that all they do when they get home from work at 17:45 each day is sit in front of the TV for the night. That's my worst nightmare. I'd rather be on the train sitting up straight with a novel in my hand.

Ultimately I'm a slave to the commute, but I've made it work for me as much as possible. For example it's important to be able to whip up a quick meal when I get home, and that has encouraged me to think carefully about what I eat, and also to prepare a substantial packed lunch, because with such a long evening that's my key meal. And after being in the car/Luas for so long each day, I really need to get some air in my lungs and to stretch my legs. Hail, rain or snow and I'll be out running before bed each night. It would be easy to reach for convenience food during the day and feel like I've earned to lie down for the night when I get home, but I've said no, I'm gonna bend this to my will and make it work.

Commuting is a bastard, I'm not saying otherwise. Thankfully my partner commutes as well so we've found a rhythm. That will all change if/when kids arrive but we'll cross that road when we get to it. For the moment though I'm taking the hand that I've been dealt and I'm putting a positive spin on it. Years from now, when it's all behind me, I'll look back and complain about how hard it was, but knowing me, and my personality, if I started saying that now I'd give into it completely, and there's too much on the line in terms of career and future to allow to myself to slip into bouts of negativity.

yosser hughes wrote: »

One of the main issues for you OP is how ridiculously slow the Luas is from City West in to town
I'd be getting a bike or motorbike, changing jobs or moving.

It's not even the whole journey. Inbound it's decent enough up until James' to be honest. After that it starts hitting traffic and it gets really messy.

The days that I'm not cycling the whole journey I usually get a DB from the docklands up to James' and then Luas back to Citywest. It's much quicker than getting on a Luas from the docklands.

180 km round trip, side road then M7, N7 M50 (a 4 county hop) alarm goes off at 4.20am to be in work for 6am, usually a 50-55min trip in morning and return journey starting back at 2.30pm can be 1.5 -2 hours,

December the last few years has been longer and longer, longest was 3 hours two years ago, and there wasn't even a crash or road works, just traffic. hence I needed to find longer short cuts, (back roads without traffic, so far so good)

260km daily round trip here, ~1hr 20mins each way. It's tough, but I'm used to it now after 9 months, it's certainly not something I can do long term, but for now, it's a good, enjoyable job with great experience which makes it easier to travel in for. I can only see myself doing it for 18-24months though, with 2 wee ones at home its a lot of my time to sacrifice. Also, car expenses are huge, but I've just switched to plug-in hybrid which will hopefully help with that.

rosmoke wrote: »

I used to cycle for a living and I loved it, in a different capital. In here I tried and I can't do it, cycling 30km daily in rain and wind it's just depressing for me.

I cycle a 30km round trip every day - takes about 1hr20min in total! In reality it doesn't actually rain very often - surprisingly enough! Nothing would persuade me to spend 3 hours a day commuting when I can comfortably do it in half that time with huge health and financial benefits!

+1 for bikes. My wife cycles into the city centre from the outskirts and halves the commute time vs getting the bus.

Takes care of exercise as well. 2 birds, one stone.

Otherwise, a moped maybe?

Andrewf20 wrote:

Otherwise, a moped maybe?

Electric bikes are getting cheap now and are an excellent option for people who j night struggle making the cycle.

I think half the battle is getting commuters to try cycling. Certainly I used to think it would be impossible in Dublin, but once I tried it, I've never looked back.