Balbriggan to City Centre

ninimac

Hi there

Myself and my partner are considering buying a house in flemington Lane, Balbriggan. We both work in Dublin City - he is based in Marlborough St and myself in Baggot St.

Can anyone advice us on commuting times to/from city from this area by car. What about train and bus - would these be viable options?

Thanks for your help

MarkoP11

Don't know about car but the train is the generally the faster way to go in the rush hour. Know a few people who have gone the train route from Balbriggan.

There are trains every 15-20 minutes in the morning and evening rush hours. Its 45 minutes to Tara Street. Some services continue to Bray which makes Baggot Street easy enough to get to via Lansdowne Rd or Grand Canal Dock but it is a walk

The bus (33) is a bit of joke takes ages (DB quote 110 minutes) and it only goes as far as Abbey Street not good for Baggot Street and many services don't even start in Balbriggan. There is the route 101 from Bus Eireann which takes closer to an hour

Balbriggan for some strange reason has the lowest rail fares going, an annual ticket is €790 before tax relief (and that includes the whole inner suburban area), compare that to parking charges alone

Last train back is 22:20 from Pearse or 23:20 out of Connolly

No denying its very very busy

Bluetonic

ninimac wrote:

Hi there

Myself and my partner are considering buying a house in flemington Lane, Balbriggan. We both work in Dublin City - he is based in Marlborough St and myself in Baggot St.

Can anyone advice us on commuting times to/from city from this area by car.

You can do Balbriggan to the Liffey in under 1 hour if you leave Balbriggan at 7am. From April to September this can be done in around 30 to 40 minutes. Crossing the Liffey in a car in the city centre is madness and can double your time.

There is no denying you can't beat the comfort of your own car.

With regards to the train, with the new timetable, the train is taking 45 minutes to get to Connoly from Balbriggan from my experience of the few times I've used it.

There's the Nitelink (Fri and Sat)and Niterider (Thur, Fri and Sat) services if your out late too in town.

KOR1

If speed is the most important thing, the car is easily the best.

I regularly go from Cardy Rock to Bolton Street in 28 minutes off peak. It is never more than an hour and 10 minutes at peak times.

The train can be very relaxed, but takes longer when you add in time too and from stations.

I think we should enjoy the fast times on the M1 while traffic is still light. I expect over the next ten years, it is only going to get slower and slower.

Rockee

Get a train. Pure and Simple, Im from Rush and its a nightmare on the bus at anytime to Rush, let alone Balbriggan.

Victor

Train is the best.

MarkoP11 wrote:

Some services continue to Bray which makes Baggot Street easy enough to get to via Lansdowne Rd or Grand Canal Dock but it is a walk

Depends on what end of Baggot Street. Pearse is much better for the city end. Lansdowne Road won't make a whole lot of saving on Grand Canal Dock because of the extra 2 minute of train time. Its only if its further down on Pembroke Road does Lansdowne Road make sense.

Parking on-street will cost you €4,000-€5,000 a year in the city centre. Parking zones (new) (1.3mb)

Litcagral

Victor wrote:

Train is the best.Depends on what end of Baggot Street. Pearse is much better for the city end. Lansdowne Road won't make a whole lot of saving on Grand Canal Dock because of the extra 2 minute of train time. Its only if its further down on Pembroke Road does Lansdowne Road make sense.

Parking on-street will cost you €4,000 a year in the city centre.

Balbriggan is served by Intercity so if one were to go to further than Pearse Station it would involve transferring to DART. Not all trains go to Pearse - some terminate in Connolly.

At least you would be getting on in Balbriggan. The train is usually packed when it gets to Rush/Lusk and Donabate.

Yes the 33 is slow but it's even worse on Sunday as it has (or used to anyway) to service Donabate and Portrane. You could also consider Bus Eireann services from Dundalk/Drogheda.

By road you would usually have a straight run as far as Port Tunnel Works - difficult to give times from then on.

John R

Litcagral wrote:

Balbriggan is served by Intercity so if one were to go to further than Pearse Station it would involve transferring to DART. Not all trains go to Pearse - some terminate in Connolly.

There are no Intercity trains serving Balbriggan. Many of the peak trains run through to/from Bray.

Litcagral wrote:

Yes the 33 is slow but it's even worse on Sunday as it has (or used to anyway) to service Donabate and Portrane. You could also consider Bus Eireann services from Dundalk/Drogheda.

Only one early morning 33 service goes via Portrane.

From Balbriggan Bus Eireann is the only reasonable option for going to the city, they are more frequent and far more direct.

Litcagral

John R wrote:

There are no Intercity trains serving Balbriggan. Many of the peak trains run through to/from Bray.


Only one early morning 33 service goes via Portrane.

From Balbriggan Bus Eireann is the only reasonable option for going to the city, they are more frequent and far more direct.

When I used to get the train it was a mainline Dundalk/Drogheda train (I incorrectly used the term 'Intercity' to distinguish from DART) - the DART only goes to Malahide. To get to Bray one would have to transfer to the DART.


Re 33 Bus - as I said on the post I was referring to Sundays.

John R

Litcagral wrote:

When I used to get the train it was a mainline Dundalk/Drogheda train (I incorrectly used the term 'Intercity' to distinguish from DART) - the DART only goes to Malahide. To get to Bray one would have to transfer to the DART.

The 06.47, 07.10, 07.33, 07.53 and 08.12 departures from Balbriggan all go direct to Bray

Litcagral wrote:

Re 33 Bus - as I said on the post I was referring to Sundays.

No 33s on sundays go via Portrane

Litcagral

John R wrote:

The 06.47, 07.10, 07.33, 07.53 and 08.12 departures from Balbriggan all go direct to Bray




No 33s on sundays go via Portrane

Apologies - must have changed recently. Re 33 - do some buses go via Portrane outbound on a Sunday? (they used to)

John R

Litcagral wrote:

Apologies - must have changed recently. Re 33 - do some buses go via Portrane outbound on a Sunday? (they used to)

None do according to the timetable. Mind you the 07.20 M-F from the city does go via Portrane and it's not marked so it is possible that there is one on Sundays also.

Victor

http://www.dublinbus.ie/your_journey/viewer.asp?route=33

The 04:50 ex-Balbriigan is the only one marked as via Donabate.

Bluetonic

Victor wrote:

Parking on-street will cost you €4,000-€5,000 a year in the city centre. Parking zones (new) (1.3mb)

But you can hire a parking spot in the city centre for an average of 150 euro a month.

ninimac

I have free parking so thats not a problem. I guess I'll try driving and if its taking too long I can always start getting the train to Pearse.

Thanks everyone for your advice:)