Commuting from Kilkenny to Dublin

sk8board

Hi all,

Am thinking of moving back home to KK, and I see that there is now a new morning train service to Dublin.

Its about 1h45m - 2hrs journey

Anyone doing it? or any thoughts?

some pro's:
- might be able to work from home 2 days a week
- work on the train in the morn, and then get the 4.30 train back home.

cons:
well, they are pretty obvious i guess

brettmirl

You are very dependant on the trains running on time...do you have to be in work by a certain time?

You should have a slightly lower cost of living in KK but would the train ticket costs eat up the savings?

sk8board

no, I'm not dependant on being in work at any specified time. On the 6.50 train, I'd be in work at 9. I work beside O Connell bridge.
but you're right, when the trains are on time, its an excellent service. When they don't, you are up the creek without a paddle.

In short, it would be a 3-hour each way commute (door2door), but only 3 days a week, and only working 9-4. thats 16-18 hours commuting per week, and 3 hours less working (made up working on thr train in the mornings).
I also travel a lot, about twice per month, both long and short haul, so its not exactly a 3hr commute every single day thing; infact, over the year, it would be about 2 days per week or less.

On the cost of living, you'd be surprised! for some insane reason that I never quite figurd out, KK is very expensive. Of all the places outside of Dublin, KK is the one place with VERY expensive property levels (I live in a 3 bed in nth dublin near the airport. A 3 bed in KK is more expensive, or at best the same price)

eventually I would have to change to work in waterford, or work from home full-time. You wouldn't/couldn't keep doing that commute every week.

Victor

I think its a mad commute.

Am I correct in guessing you work for the HSA and house prices have been increased by the influx?

sk8board

ha! god no. Private sector. we're easy enough to spot, we'll be the ones working while everyone else is on strike

as a matter of interest, which parts of our public sector are moving to KK?

How many have the HSA decentralised?

You may be right, its a mad communte; but there are benefits too. As as I said at the top, you might be sur[prised how many are already doing it, 5 days a week.
KK is now a commuter town for dublin, whatever way you slice it.

daymobrew

sk8board wrote:

You may be right, its a mad communte; but there are benefits too.

Can you please list the benfits. I'm always curious.

tommycahir

Hey sk8board

I know where u coming from with the comuting being nut's but would you consider driving up and down.. I commute from Carlow on a daioly basis to Blanchardstown. it usually takes me about 55 minutes to get from Carlow Town to Blanch in the morning( start in Blanch @ 7 am) and then approx 1:30 to get home. just athought in case you have a car already.

joe_elway

I live in Kildare and have commuted to city centre by train. It's tough. Morning is not so bad because trains going into Heston run fairly on time. Coming home in the evening is a nightmare and takes MUCH longer.

It all starts when trying to get from city cente to Heuston. The LUAS is full from abbey street onwards and is more crowded than a Japanese subway. It's getting downright dangerous now. You eventually get to Heuston (usually after a 10 minute mysterious halt no where near a traffic light).

You get in for your train which usually has a mile long queue. It's 90% certain that it will be at least 10 minutes late to leave. If you are lucky, you get a seat or even somewhere decent to stand so you can lean your back against something.

You've brought a book to read but wait... you can't see it because none of the lights in the carriage work!

The the train stops a few hundred yards after leaving the station. Maybe for 15 minutes. You see it's a bottleneck there with every train hitting the west and southwest, all at once. Once you get going the train may run along at 30MPH until you get to Sallins/Naas.

Your journey home takes 1 hour longer than the one in and you wonder then why you didn't drive ... you could have had a seat and probably gotten home at the same time.

But don't worry ... your Fianna FAIL representatives are looking out for your interests and they won't FAIL you because they've never FAILed before.

sk8board

mmmmm, see this is the feedback I was looking for Joe thats enough to scare the best of us, as KK is about another 50min further than Kildare.

Which train is that in teh evening? the one about 4.30? or 6.0? (not 100% on the times, but theres only 2 of them!)

joe_elway

sk8board wrote:

mmmmm, see this is the feedback I was looking for Joe thats enough to scare the best of us, as KK is about another 50min further than Kildare.

Which train is that in teh evening? the one about 4.30? or 6.0? (not 100% on the times, but theres only 2 of them!)

There's a bunch of them stopping in Kildare. Haven't been on it since March so don't remember which times or final destinations. I was usually getting down there between 16:30 and 18:00 and the experience never changed.

If you are truly serious about it, try it on a wet, typical weekday at the normal times. You'll soon see if you can put up with it or not. Just commuting to Kildare by train in the evening had me home at between 19:00 and 20:00. It's much quicker and less stresful to drive, even with the manic traffic.

sk8board

joe_elway wrote:

There's a bunch of them stopping in Kildare. Haven't been on it since March so don't remember which times or final destinations. I was usually getting down there between 16:30 and 18:00 and the experience never changed.

If you are truly serious about it, try it on a wet, typical weekday at the normal times. You'll soon see if you can put up with it or not.

Agreed. I've already decided to do it for a month first

joe_elway wrote:

Just commuting to Kildare by train in the evening had me home at between 19:00 and 20:00. It's much quicker and less stresful to drive, even with the manic traffic.

Driving to the luas at the madcow round about would be an option, esp when the new road opens in a few years.
Whats it like on a weekday since the Johnstown and Kill traffic lights were removed?
On a sunday night its great; 3 lanes all the way. My worry is that the problem has now been moved into town as far as Newlands cross.

Slice

Get a second-hand bicycle and make the journey from Heuston to town on your bike; shouldn't take any more than ten minutes

AndrewMc

sk8board wrote:

Hi all,

Am thinking of moving back home to KK, and I see that there is now a new morning train service to Dublin.

Its about 1h45m - 2hrs journey

Please remember that you have to get from Heuston to your place of work, too. Even if that's somewhere nearby like St. Stephen's Green, that's another half an hour, each way, maybe more.

sk8board wrote:

Anyone doing it? or any thoughts?

From Athy, about 3 days per week. The train to Dublin in the morning is usually okay, although occasionally you'll hit a week where they just can't get it together, and it's late several times in a few days.

It's also going to be expensive from Kilkenny - an annual commuter ticket is €2870! Will your employer handle the taxsaver deal?

sk8board wrote:

some pro's:
- might be able to work from home 2 days a week
- work on the train in the morn, and then get the 4.30 train back home.

cons:
well, they are pretty obvious i guess

The train home is a completely different issue. The 16:25 (it used to be 16:30, but they realised I was able to just about make that, and moved it so I couldn't :rolleyes:) is generally packed solid. If you're planning to arrive at 16:20, plan to get no work done, at least until Athy where enough seats should free up for you to sit down. On really busy days, like Fridays and public holidays, the train has sometimes been closed as "full" up to ten minutes before departure. The 18:25 is also regularly packed (although not quite as extreme), and you'll frequently need to be on it about 20 minutes early to be sure of a seat. Again, after Athy there should be no problem finding a seat.

If you need to be in Dublin a bit early, or plan on staying a bit late, you could drive as far as Carlow and you have the extra 06:30 Carlow -> Heuston and 19:45 Heuston -> Carlow options.

Personally, though, I couldn't hack it.

road_high

Some people drive to the train stations in Athy and Portlaoise (under an hour from Heuston) from parts of KK to commute to Dublin, which is an other option...

westtip

Find a B&B or small hotel near the city centre or even in the Burbs with a good Luas/Dart link and cut a deal with them to stay over 2 nights a week, or you might find a colleague who would be prepared to rent you a room for 2 nights a week as opposed to having to rent a place all week, sometimes people don't want a full time lodger in their house but they will entertain someone on a Monday - Thursday night basis, you cut a better deal than the cost of a room in shared house, they get a bit of extra cash without losing all their privacy, and their spare room is freed up for weekend visitors etc.

See if you can get your employer to make a contribution to yoru expenses (eg the cost of what you spent less the cost of what you would have spent on two extra commutes) Come up the morning you need to work (it was three days a week wasn't it), bring your laptop, do your extra work in the hotel b&B, get yourself into a routine of doing something with your nights which is productive. Go home in a much more relaxed state of mind on the third day you have had to work in Dublin - With a lot more work done on your laptop and take the other two days at home much easier.

sk8board

westtip wrote:

Find a B&B or small hotel near the city centre or even in the Burbs with a good Luas/Dart link and cut a deal with them to stay over 2 nights a week, or you might find a colleague who would be prepared to rent you a room for 2 nights a week as opposed to having to rent a place all week, sometimes people don't want a full time lodger in their house but they will entertain someone on a Monday - Thursday night basis, you cut a better deal than the cost of a room in shared house, they get a bit of extra cash without losing all their privacy, and their spare room is freed up for weekend visitors etc.

See if you can get your employer to make a contribution to yoru expenses (eg the cost of what you spent less the cost of what you would have spent on two extra commutes) Come up the morning you need to work (it was three days a week wasn't it), bring your laptop, do your extra work in the hotel b&B, get yourself into a routine of doing something with your nights which is productive. Go home in a much more relaxed state of mind on the third day you have had to work in Dublin - With a lot more work done on your laptop and take the other two days at home much easier.

The BnB thing was something I only thought of last week, when we had some colleagues over from other countries, and there were no htl rooms because of the Ryder cup. so we found some real good BnB's.

No doubt it'll all work itself out in the end, but everything here are all options. Of course, that said, they are all depending on me still working for the same company, or that that company is still in existance!
If you lose ur job for any reason, then you are 'stuck' in KK, and may need to relocate back up again all over again (I know someone who had to do this after moving to Galway for 3 years!)

Bards

drntmk wrote: »

You should check out dublincommute.ie. They match commuters for car-pooling or park-and-ride. Also provide school run options.

Zombie thread resurection and about 4 years too late

IrishMeanTime

I am just wondering whether anyone is doing this commute by car now that the new motorway is open and linking up to the ring road in Kilkenny.

I am considering a move to back to Kilkenny next year and from what I can gather even with the motorway I am looking at a 2-2 1/2 hour commute each way to get to work in ballsbridge.

Is anyone out there doing anything similar ?

It there a time that you need to hit newlands cross in order to sail around the M50 hassle free ?

I am guessing you save about an hour on the journey in the summer time when the schools are out too ?

Cheers

loyatemu

whatever about doing it by train, driving that distance every day sounds like a recipe for insanity, never mind the escalating cost of petrol/diesel and the massive wear and tear on your car.