Who drives?

DerekP11

As a matter of interest, I was wondering what members of this forum drive to work or drive for a living. It would help if you stated your region and your reason for having to drive. (bad public transport/profession etc.)

godtabh

normally bus to the office. If I am on site then drive and it could be any where in the country.

I'm an egineer so they tell me!

Ham'nd'egger

I have two jobs, I drive a taxi and I also work in the entertainment business so I need a car for shifting gear, out of reach venues, distances and obscure hours etc.

Rabies

I drive all over the place. Live in Tipperary, but most of my work is out of the county. Drive to Dublin anything up to 7 days a week.
Depending on what event or site I'm working at I could be based in Dublin for a number of days or England. Either way I drive.

Victor

I don't drive. I get the bus most days and will get maybe 4 taxis per week.

mikedragon32

Live in Greystones, work in Dublin (Merrion Sq.). Wife works in Ely Place.

We drive in together and as I previously stated on a similar thread, it takes us approx 45 mins to get in by car as we start work at 8, which is 5 mins less than the train takes from Greystones to Pearse, and 20 mins less than the combined park & ride.

Add to that the fact that we rarely go straight home due to training/courses/family etc. there's no point in using the train.

murphaph

Live in Clonsilla, work in Lucan (not the village), no PT worth speaking about, car sits in the drive as traffic is so bad-motorbikes all the way! Traffic barely makes any difference to my journey on two wheels. Don't know why more peeps aren't making the switch. Of course when metroWest comes along I'll hop on that :rolleyes:

mike65

Drive to work (16 km commute) and drive for a living in the southern third of country (delivery/merchandising).

Mike.

Seth Brundle

Drive from Leixlip to work in Stillorgan

Hobart

I drive from home (Dunboyne)to either:

Nass Road
Harcourt Street
4 Courts.

every week day.

highdef

When working an early shift during weekdays, I get train and tram from Baldoyle to Inchicore. Total commute of about 1 hour.
Late shift (non rush hour), I drive. Time to commute - 45 mins to work, 30 mins home, weekdays. Weekends - 25 - 30 mins each way.
No choice but to drive when working Sundays. Although start time is late (10:00), public transport still wont get me to work on time!!!!

Wishbone Ash

I drive to work for my main job. Public transport not really practical as I would have to get two buses or bus/train/bus and I can make the 16km journey in 20 minutes by car.

On a part time basis, I also drive buses, trucks, vans and tractors (usually within the Greater Dublin area).

aliveandkicking

I get the Luas red line to and from work every weekday in the rush hour(s).

corktina

i drive for a living covering all counties south of a line from Galway to Wexford (roughly) Live in north co cork....

drive for pleasure at other times (but sometimes I use the wifes Avensis.... :-)

cyclopath2001

I drive a bicycle to work in Dublin.

It's 3x quicker than car, very reliable, eco-friendly, socially responsible, really cheap, great fun and keeps me fit.

And, it comes with air-conditioning at no extra charge.

Propellerhead

Train from Hazelhatch to Heuston, then Red Line Tram to Jervis, most of the time.

Only problem arises when I have to work late - usually then drive to the Mad Cow and tram in from there. Having to wait an hour for a train after 6.35pm isn't what I want to do if I've had a long day.

daymobrew

cyclopath2001 wrote:

It's 3x quicker than car, very reliable, eco-friendly, socially responsible, really cheap, great fun and keeps me fit.

And, it comes with air-conditioning at no extra charge.

Like cyclopath2001 I drive a bicycle to work. 9 miles each way. Carpenterstown (D15) to East Point (~Clontarf). My A/C heater isn't working at the moment.
About once a week I take the train from Coolmine to Broombridge or Drumcondra and jog the remaining 3.5 or 1.5 miles to the office.

Saruman

I live in westmeath now so i obviously have to drive.. but even in Dublin i had no choice.. to get from Palmerstown to Clonshaugh when i was with gateway or later swords would have been a 2 hour each way commute by bus. No chance....

Anyway now i do drive for a living going to customers and installing servers and stuff so i have a company van as well as my own car.

Lennoxschips

i cycle to college. but then this is holland, it's flat

i did drive to ikea today though to get a new chair

bazzer

I drive buses for a living. Ironically, like most of my colleagues, I have to drive to work because there are no suitable early morning bus services! :cool:

OTK

I live in Dublin and I drive everywhere. I like trains but I don't live on a train line. The only time I take the bus is when I have a day's work in the city centre where I have to pay for parking and drive in two rush hours. I choose car because other public transport is too slow in comparison for most of my journeys and unpleasant at night with rowdy drunks. Also the car is parked 20 feet from my front door so is always the most attractive option. The costs are not high enough to dissuade me.

markf909

I live 15 mins away from my place of work so I walk absolutely everywhere.
I get buses and trains when I need but as they are usually for leisure purposes, I can tolerate (just) the appaling services.

_Kaiser_

I used to have to get buses between Coolock and Blanch.. 90 mins - 2 hrs each way at best and 5/6 buses a day I can do the same journey in 13 mins by car off-peak.

Now I commute by car between Dublin and Meath every day. Takes 40 minutes door to door. I've done it by bus incidentially. Approximately an hour because of the routing it takes and first I've to get to the N3 for 8AM (because you need to be early as you can't rely on the bus to show up at the same time every day) which involves either walking 20 minutes, or trying to get down on the 39 which can take longer at that hour.

Public transport doesn't work in this city/country and that unfortunately is the reality of the situation. I lived in Holland in the 80s and the Dutch knew how it should be done.. proper integration, reliable and frequent services that go where the people want to go, not where the company thinks they want to go (referring to the obsession with O'Connell Street here) and timetables for that stop (not the terminus at the other end).

Until that sort of thing is implemented here (and I wouldn't hold my breath), it will only be used by those who either live on a main/frequent route, or those who have no other option.

Victor

OTK wrote:

and unpleasant at night with rowdy drunks.

Eh, no!

ongarite

I travel between Blanchardstown and Leixlip and Clondalkin every work day and have use my car. I'm paid a wage suppliment to have my own car as it's required for my job.
I would get the train from Clonsilla into city centre for shopping, etc as the bus takes twice as long but the Nite-Link service is excellent though as long as I don't fall asleep:(

Macy

I live in rural Wicklow and drive in everyday to the south side of the city centre (just outside the canal). My work hours are 8-4, so traffic still isn't bad enough for me to consider the other options. There is one private bus to and from Dublin, but this wouldn't suit my work times. Park and Ride just aren't practical for the dart. Journey times for the hours don't compare favourably, especially in the evenings.

If there was a park and ride bus, which went a direct route without stopping from Cabinteely in until the canal I would consider it though. Kinda like the proposed Cherrywood Luas Stop, but imo this could be done in a very short time frame with buses with a quicker journey time. Preferred option would be eworking and/or more flexible hours, but these seem to be totally ignored as part of wider commuting debate in this country. I know of at least 20 journeys just in my work place of people I know that could be taken off the road most days with eworking.

daymobrew

Macy wrote:

Preferred option would be eworking and/or more flexible hours, but these seem to be totally ignored as part of wider commuting debate in this country. I know of at least 20 journeys just in my work place of people I know that could be taken off the road most days with eworking.

Well said! I work at home once a week, out of convenience more than anything else (though I cycle to work). Two of my colleagues ework full time - one is in New Zealand and the other in Toronto! For a year I eworked in Dublin for my Californian employer (over dial-up!!).

The Swordsman

Drive from Swords to Ballsbridge on my own every day. Park the car outside the job for eight hours and then drive back to Swords.

When we had only one car, I used to use Dublin Bus, but got so fed up with spending between three and four hours a day travelling the 15 miles to and from work that I bought a second car.

Now I can leave home/work when I like and more importantly, I can spend an extra hour a day at home.

I plan to sell the second car the day the Metro comes to town.

_Kaiser_

daymobrew wrote:

Well said! I work at home once a week, out of convenience more than anything else (though I cycle to work). Two of my colleagues ework full time - one is in New Zealand and the other in Toronto! For a year I eworked in Dublin for my Californian employer (over dial-up!!).

Unfortunately most companies assume that e-working to the Irish mean "doss day at home". Sad thing is that in a lot of cases, they're probably right.

Cerdito

Kaiser2000 wrote:

Unfortunately most companies assume that e-working to the Irish mean "doss day at home". Sad thing is that in a lot of cases, they're probably right.

A couple of people in my place have recently been made redundant, a common link between them is that they work from home.

As a colleague said to me: "The moral of the story is, don't work from home. You and your work are not as visible as when you're in the office"

GerardKeating

Drive 17 miles from Galway City to the wilds of Conemara.

The first bus from Galway towards Carraroe would get me about 40 minutes late, and take 3 times the jpurney time.

gurramok

Cerdito wrote:

A couple of people in my place have recently been made redundant, a common link between them is that they work from home.

As a colleague said to me: "The moral of the story is, don't work from home. You and your work are not as visible as when you're in the office"

Sounds true.
About 11 people including myself in office where i work could ework no problem but boss insists working from home is a no-no as it 'affects productivity' and we are preferred to be seen!
We all drive to work so 11 extra cars on the road needlessly

I drive myself 3 miles through narrow backroads from edge of Finglas to edge of Blanchardstown, used to cycle it but nearly got killed a few times hence car.
Bus service dont suit my times as i work different day shifts and its appalling. I'd never arrive to work on time, the bus uses the same road space as car plus its quite a walk to the bus stop hence tripling journey time.

Stark

Currently driving to work. I used to cycle/walk when I worked in a different place and it was great, was addicted to cycling. Where I live/work now though, I'd be killed cycling (I take the backroads from Finglas to Blanchardstown as well) and it's way too far to walk. Public transport is a no-no as I have to travel in a radial direction through the city and most buses only go to/from the city centre.

Did public transport for 4 years in college (bus éireann, Cork), would never ever choose that over car if I had the car. Waiting time of up to 90 mins for a bus that was supposed to be every 15 mins (bus delayed due to traffic my arse) did nothing for the cause of getting people out of their cars. Despite its reputation, Dublin Bus is actually a lot more reliable on most routes. (Though there are dodgy routes).

kizzyr

Live in Clonsilla and work in Tallaght. I drive to work all of the time as the public transport to get from here to there is too much work i.e. train from Coolmine to Connolly and the LUAS from there to Tallaght. It would take an absolute age and as I start work at 7.30am I'm not too keen on getting up any earlier than I already am (6.30am to deal with the M50).
My boyfriend works in the city centre and takes the train into Grand Canal Dock and while its way over crowded, finds it handy enough. I think that if I too worked in town I'd use the train over my car.

DerekP11

Appreciate all of this. Please keep it coming, if you havent already contributed.

Thanks.

fletch

Live and work in Dublin. Used to use public transport but could take anywhere from 3.5hrs to 5hrs a day travelling, it just wasn't viable.

Macy

Cerdito wrote:

A couple of people in my place have recently been made redundant, a common link between them is that they work from home.

As a colleague said to me: "The moral of the story is, don't work from home. You and your work are not as visible as when you're in the office"

But that's as much about changing attitudes as getting people to use Public Transport options. If managers think that people aren't working at home then that's bad management rather than necessarily a bad or unproductive way of working.

mathie

mikedragon32 wrote:

Live in Greystones, work in Dublin (Merrion Sq.). Wife works in Ely Place.

We drive in together and as I previously stated on a similar thread, it takes us approx 45 mins to get in by car as we start work at 8, which is 5 mins less than the train takes from Greystones to Pearse, and 20 mins less than the combined park & ride.

Add to that the fact that we rarely go straight home due to training/courses/family etc. there's no point in using the train.

I live in Bray and work in Ballsbridge.
It takes me an hour to get in if I leave at 7am.
What route are you taking?!

El Stuntman

I DART from Raheny to Lansdowne every day

door to door in 30 mins, couldn't do that in a car (unless it had wings)

Calina

Live 3.5km from work (north county Dublin) and I drive, mostly. My options are drive, walk, take the bus. I don't cycle because I loathe it as an activity. I do, on occasion walk it if the weather is nice but it's not a pleasant walk as the footpath is narrow and in the past, trucks have thundered down the lane along side the footpath at speeds well beyond the speed limit. A buslane is being implemented there at the moment so that will probably be alleviated. The other problem is it's a very lonely road and certainly at this time of year I would absolutely not feel secure about walk along it on my own.

It takes me max 7 minutes to drive to work in the morning and about 5 to get back (because of a one way system I meet three fewer sets of traffic lights on the way home).

I have, on a few occasions taken the bus while the car is off the road for some reason. Assuming I don't actually have to wait for a bus at the bus stop, between walking to the bus stop and walking from the stop at the end, the journey takes around 20 minutes. In truth, by the time the bus reaches my stop, it is usually full so I have to wait for the next bus or walk to a bus stop a little further away but which is served by more routes. Buses there are usually pretty full as well, however, and depending on which bus stop I aim for, it's 5 or 10 minutes from my door plus time at the far end. The last time I got the bus to work, I think it took circa 45 minutes and if I had known in advance it would take that long I'd have walked and been at work faster. Given that it only takes me 7 minutes to drive to work and I meet no gridlock (ie I don't contribute to AA Roadwatch reports in any way) on the way, from a life/quality point of view, it's a no-brainer. I choose to drive.

The one thing I would note is that I chose to live relatively near work and make decisions accordingly. The chief one is that for the time being I rent rather than buy. To some extent, I feel a lot of people in Ireland don't make that call, but they buy first and worry about the practicalities later. I've seen this in a lot of "How do you get from X to Y" threads on another forum as in "I've bought a house in X, but I work in Y, so does anyone know what the best way to get from X to Y is?", whereas I look at it "where do I work, how far from there max, do I want to live?" In my whole working life, I have never been more than 20 minutes away from work. I lived in Brussels for 2 years and was just 10 minutes by bus from work (35 minute walk).

I'd like to say that public transport in Dublin sucks, but I don't think that's strictly true. I think that public transport planning in Dublin leaves a lot to be desired and I don't see much improving lately. I don't see that as being the fault of people at the coal face of public transport, the bus drivers, for example. But route planning could be reassessed in a lot of ways, I think, plus location of bus stops could be reassessed (there are far too many of them in some parts of the city and certainly where I live, they aren't really intelligently positioned).

Slice

I cycle Kilmainham to Charlemont and Luas the rest of the way - 50 minutes in total usually.

Sometimes on very bad weather, when lazy, and on occasions where my bike has been vandalised I bus to Harcourt for Luas with total journey times about 45-60mins depending. The homeward journey is generally longer at 1hr 15mins or more so often I would walk instead of bus. On these days I would say that the 19 bus has contributed to my staying out drinking in town on a "school night" when I can't be bothered to walk simply because the 19 is the biggest nightmare to deal with during evening rush hour. Workday hangovers are almost as bad, but not quite.

Cooee

Live: Malahide
Work: Dun Laoghaire

Commute: 16 miles thru town - 29 miles by M50

I go by scooter - takes about 50 mins door to door (despite the 52 sets of traffic lights and 1 toll bridge :-( - I have never driven by car but I would guess it would take well in excess of 1.5 hours!

I tried the DART - takes about 1 hour 15 minutes door to door, but reduced flexibility - with the scooter I can just go whenever I want. With DART I have to work around the timetable!

markpb

I cycle 6km from Coolock to Clontarf Road, takes about 15 minutes each way. My bike was stolen recently so now I get a bus (27b or 17A to a Malahide Road bus) and it takes an hour

sandyg

Drive from house to Drogheda (20 mins). Bus to O'Connell street (1 hour) 20 mins walk to office or bus (10 mins).

mikemac

Drumcondra to IFSC
Generally around 4 minutes on my scooter. 50cc of raw power.:)

Personally, I think more people who have to commute around a city should give scooter and motorbikes a chance. Obviously they're not suitable for a lot of people but there is no faster way around a city.
I also think it's safer than cycling.

saobh_ie

My commute is typically 10 to 20 minutes by car pool during the school season (or between 8 and 10 minutes at all other times), on rare occasions I'll drive all by my tod. Depending on whose driving/passengers in the car I then have to walk a further three or ten minutes to actually get to work and the reverse at quitting time.

By motorcycle my commute is six minutes of fun all year round, with a one minute walk at the work end and a couple of minutes to gear up/down.

I'll get a bus if I'm intoxicated =D, typically ten minute walk to the bus stop, no more than a ten minute wait if I've timed it right, forty minutes of sweating and farting and then fifteen minutes of walking. The reverse is, wait ten to fifty minutes for a bus, get on if lucky, forty more minutes of sweating but this time other people are doing the farting, then a ten minute walk home by which time I need a shower and have to drink a crate of heineken.

It's also very possibly, more cost effective for me to drive.

Oh, All of this is in North County Dublin.

MicraBoy

I cycle Cabra to Clonskeagh. About 30 mins. Alternatively I'll take the No. 10 from Phibsboro to Donnybrook which involves a 10 min walk either end.

Gave up driving earlier this year as it was taking longer and longer, and was not good for my mental health.

mickoneill30

I live in Swords and bus it into Stephens Green. Takes about an hour and 10 mins - 1.5 hours these days. During the summer I was able to do it in 45 mins but the traffic has gotten disasterous at Santry since the begining of September. I couldn't beat that in a car these days. Not that I'd have much chance anyway. No parking in work.

mickoneill30

Going home I generally get the bus at Leeson St at 5:40 -> 45 and I'm back in Swords by 6:30 - 6:45.

Both of these are the 41X.

cyclopath2001

micmclo wrote:

DPersonally, I think more people who have to commute around a city should give scooter and motorbikes a chance. Obviously they're not suitable for a lot of people but there is no faster way around a city.

I think in the future, children will look back in wonder at how much valuable road space was wasted by people in cars. It's just absurd & the sad thing is that car drivers see nothing wrong with it. They don't realise they are the problem.

There's loads of room for on the roads if only we used it efficiently.

DerekP11

All seems Dublin based.

Anyone from other cities or provincial towns?

For example, in Naas Co. Kildare, it can take 20 mins to drive 1km to work and people still do it and pay the all day parking fee! The walk would be 20 mins or less and allow for a stress relieving "jar without the car" after work. The local bus service was abandoned due to lack of use.

Keep Dublin stories coming, but other areas would be helpful.