Dublin city centre to Leixlip commute

nag

im going to be starting work in the leixlip area in april but im going to be living in dublin. the way i see it, ive got two options to get to work: drive or get the dart to connolly and the train to leixlip

so, i suppose first of all, how long would it take to drive from say, the grand canal dock dart station to leixlip at about 7 or 7:15 in the morning? im assuming that the traffic wouldnt really be an issue at that hour of the morning or would it?

if i were to go via rail, i could get the dart to connolly (again from grand canal dock) and then get the longford train to leixlip. the problem is, going by the iarnrod eireann timetables, i could get the dart at 6:50 which would get into to connolly at 6:56 and then connect with the longford train which would leave at 7:05. my question is, would i have enough time between trains to make the connection? im thinking that its probably not seen as how its an irish service and if its like any other transport service in this country, its not very efficient (correct me if im wrong). anyway, if i were to get the previous dart it would mean getting into connolly at 06:22, meaning a > 30 min wait for the longford train

any insight would be much appreciated

MarkoP11

On the rail front you should be fine, you have 9 minutes even allowing for a 5 minute delay (very rare at that hour) you still would make it. I've used the early morning trains to get into the city to get a bus to Airport or Heuston never had it let me down

Only advice is to be in the last coach of the DART as that leaves you closest to the subway to cross over to the main station that could save you 30 seconds when you are in a hurry

It should be platform 4 or 3

You could walk to Connolly, its only 10 minutes from Pearse via the new Docklands bridge, depending where you are about 20 minutes on foot from Grand Canal Dock

On the roads front the quays can be crazy at 7am with trucks from the port you might want to do a test run, your options if coming down Pearse Street are rather limited

murphaph

The car might be ok heading out for a 7am start but assuming you finish at 3pm, it could be a PITA cutting through traffic to get home.
Try the train a few times and see how you get on. It'd be nice and empty at that time, certainly the outbound train to Leixlip will be empty, so you'll even get a seat all the way. Same coming home-you'll be going against the flow so a seat will be available.

dr zoidberg

It wouldn't be the Longford train you'd be getting first of all it's the Commuter which terminates at Maynooth. Traffic in the city centre on the quays is bad but it should be alright on the N4 outbound at that time, but still the train journey at 33/35 mins would most likely be quicker. Nine minutes is more than enough time to change just as long as you know where you're going, the Maynooth-bound commuter trains usually depart from platform 7.

murphaph

It also depends whereabouts you work in leixlip! If it's on the main street or HP you're sh!t out of luck with the train, it's too far to walk in the rain anyway.

Intel is fine (especially Fab24) , get off at Louisa Bridge and it's a short walk.

dr zoidberg

Well yeah for some people it would be too far but the walk from Confey station (which is a little closer) to the main street is 15 mins and from Louisa Bridge to Intel it's anywhere from 10-20 mins (it's a big campus, in fact the town council wants to construct a new station and P&R specifically for Intel). HP has no public transport options really, the 67 bus to Celbridge would probably be closer than any of the Leixlip services but it's not really near enough so a car would have to be used.

Idleater

dr zoidberg wrote:

HP has no public transport options really, the 67 bus to Celbridge would probably be closer than any of the Leixlip services but it's not really near enough so a car would have to be used.

Apart from the 66b which goes to the front door...

nag

cool, tnx for the info guys

(itll be Louisa Bridge btw)

so, just to clarify, the dart is quite reliable (time-wise)?

dr zoidberg

nereid wrote:

Apart from the 66b which goes to the front door...

Haha ok I never used that bus in my life so please excuse my ignorance.

The trains are fairly reliable alright.

MarkoP11

nag wrote:

so, just to clarify, the dart is quite reliable (time-wise)?

At that hour of the day its rock solid, punctuality is actually quite good its mainly after 9am where it can go astray

Victor

You could drive out along the Grand Canal, but I suspect traffic can be variable.