Early morning 38 bus

andrew163

Hi all,

Does anybody know how long the first 38 bus (the one that leaves Hawkins Street at 0620 - not the 38A) takes to get to Blanchardstown Village, or to Damastown Industrial Estate?

Would there be any chance it'd make it to the industrial estate by 6.45? The journey times on the timetable seem to indicate that it wouldn't (not by a long shot), but there'd be hardly any traffic at that time of day and some of the route it takes is similar to the 39, which flies along when the roads are empty.

Thanks alot,
-Andrew

Mimikyu

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Mimikyu

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daymobrew

andrew163 wrote:

Would there be any chance it'd make it to the industrial estate by 6.45?

Where are you coming from? Could you cycle or car pool?

andrew163

I don't know anyone else living around here that works there so car pooling wouldnt be an option. I'm looking into cycling though.

Thanks for the replies

jjohnson1984

There is a standard 38 that leaves Hawkins street just before six, normally arrives at most stops about 5 minutes before the 6.00A does, it's not timetabled, but it does happen, but thats Phisborough Garage for you, nice fleet, very rarely run to timetable on a weekday.

The 38/A very rarely operates to timetable, and on some occasions just does the whole route out of service, you can tell it's supposed to be doing the 38, as it arrives about the time the 38 normally does, which then doesn't turn up.

Stark

jjohnson1984 wrote:

The 38/A very rarely operates to timetable, and on some occasions just does the whole route out of service, you can tell it's supposed to be doing the 38, as it arrives about the time the 38 normally does, which then doesn't turn up.

Yup, that's happened to me loads of times. I know people getting on at many points throughout the route and they all reported the same thing. It seems that buses are tracked these days so the drivers still have to do the routes, but they're too lazy to pick up passengers :mad:

andrew163 wrote:

I don't know anyone else living around here that works there so car pooling wouldnt be an option. I'm looking into cycling though.

If the 38/38A doesn't work out, you could possibly bring your bike on the 39 and cycle the rest of the way. I don't think bus drivers have a problem with you bringing the bicycle on the bus when it's quiet.

gazzer

You could also get the 6.10 train from Connolly that would get you to Castleknock station for 6.25... its litterally a 3 minute walk to Blanch village from there

Stark

Actually yeah, the train would be your best bet. Bring your bike on the train and you should be able to cycle from Coolmine/Clonsilla (whichever is closer) in about 20 mins.

Ste.phen

Is it possible to bring bikes on the trains?

Sorry to dig out this thread, but i'm looking at various commuting options to Damastown, train + cycle would be ideal as the distance from coolmine looks to be only about

Essentially my options are:
38[a] bus from town
Train then bus
Train then cycle (with bike left at station or broguht with me)
Move out there, to clonee or similar

(To get there for 8.20am or so)

Anyone working out there that can comment on the viability of various ideas?

Stark

The 38A probably wouldn't be too bad at that time of the morning.

I'd imagine bringing a bicycle on the train would be no problem at all if the train was quiet. However, the train gets unbelievably packed at some times in the morning so it's something you'd need to check. Certainly train then cycle would be a far better option than train then bus.

Don't leave your bike at the station unless you're feeling charitable towards the scumbags in the area.

Igy wrote:

Move out there, to clonee or similar

Ugh, it's deadsville out there. Somewhere like Ashtown would be a good compromise though.

Stark

The 7:20 38A would definitely get you in for 8:20 I reckon.

The only problem is most of the buses at that time of the morning go through Ballycoolin and that adds a serious amount of time to the bus journey. The Snugborough Road extension is a major traffic bottleneck at rush hour.

Ste.phen

I'm definitely going to have to move somewhere;

I'm currently in Beaumont, so a trip to town and then out to Damastown is the least favourable option.

Ashtown looks decent enough, but I'm worried buses would already be full by that point, and I'd rather live closer to the City Centre if possible.

I don't really mind losing a bike now and then to be honest, provided it isn't a weekly occurance ;-)

January

Just move to Clonee or Mulhuddart, you could walk to work then...
It would be a weekly occurance if you left it in Coolmine Station, buying a new bike that is.
On the way out to Blanchardstown, the traffic isn't too bad in the mornings as most people are going into town I know certainly at 7am in the morning, the buses are flying down that way (I see them on my way INTO town). If you got the 6.00am 38A you certainly will make it to Damastown for 7.15am

Stark

Igy wrote:

I don't really mind losing a bike now and then to be honest, provided it isn't a weekly occurance ;-)

If you leave a bike tied outside a DART or Arrow station for long periods of time, especially overnight, then it could well be a daily occurrence.

Igy wrote:

Ashtown looks decent enough, but I'm worried buses would already be full by that point, and I'd rather live closer to the City Centre if possible.

You'll have no trouble with the buses being full.


Phibsboro or Cabra would be your next best option if you wanted to live closer to the City Centre.