39 Bus Route

Pat Dunne

I was reading another forum today where someone claimed, that they were able to drive to Belfast from Blanchardstown quicker than it usually takes for them to commute on the the morning rush hour 39 bus service from Blanchardstown to Dublin city centre.

Truly amazing!

Could we do a survey on commute times on how people get to work say for anywhere along the 39 route to the City centre?

Zaph

Funnily enough, I was going into town last night and even when it's quiet like it was I assume it'll take an hour or so. I got in from Hartstown to Dame Street in 30 minutes. I think the driver must have been finishing up or something because all he was short of doing was taking corners on two wheels.

Nevyn

The shortest time into town getting the bus from the shopping centre was for me 40 mins.
The longest time into town getting the bus from the shopping centre was for me 1 hour and 40 mins.

Malteaser!

IT used to take me between 30-40 minutes to get into town from the Navan Road each morning. I haven't gotten it in nearly a year though!

DvB

Got the 39 from the terminus at Ongar one day & it took me over 2 hours to get to the stop at the Central Bank on Dame Street, at least an hour of it was spent getting in & out of the Blanchardstown SC alone. Over Christmas though i managed the same journey in just under 40 minutes.

Normally i just stroll around & get the train though if theres one due within an houror so, the bus is a joke in relation to getting somewhere for a specific time.

bugler

I had the misfortune of getting the 39 into town from Ongar for a couple of years. The killer part of it was the absurdly roundabout route it took getting to and through the shopping centre. I would have thought this improved with the new set up at the S.C, but thankfully I haven't had to use it in some time now.

I did get it out to the Navan road from town recently enough one night. It was painful. Just a lot of people, a lot of stops. Swore I'd stay away from it for evermore.

TinaSparkle

I got a 39A from clonsilla at 7.43am and got off on Dame Street at 8.30 this morning - wasnt too bad - traffic was really bad cos a truck was blocking a lane just before the turn on to the M50.
Normally get the train though - more dependable.

Gaspode

Bloody 'ell, I'm glad I can walk to work!

Arcadian

I used to get the 39A from Hartstown to Parliament Street and it always took just under 40 minutes. The same journey on the 39 requires a packed lunch, the record being 1 hour and 55 minutes:eek:

Pat Dunne

Thanks folk for the imput. I would be very interested to hear from anyone who uses the 39 service next week 7th/11th Jan. So as to get an idea as to how long journey times are taking, during morning and evening rush hours, now that the Christmas period is over.

Nevyn

There are so few 39A buses as well, a handful in the morning going into town and a handful in the evening coming from town.

This evening I got the 39 from the law society and it took 45 mins from there but it did not go into the centre the driver was radioed from the contoler and told to skip it as there were 3 buses 'caugth' in there.

Q_Ball

The killer is the journey through the S.C and then through roselawn to the blanchardstown centre. Generally the bus lane does well from there to stoneybatter. haven't used it since they opened a bus lane on the quays so i dont know what its like now.

Anyone else think they should have a seperate service to facilitate the roselawn commuters? It would cut a chunk of the journey for the people who get on before the S.C.

Tusky

I used to have to commute to town to get to school and now have to do the same to get to college. The 39 bus is the bane of my life. I get it from Hartstown to Dame Street in mornings, evenings and some afternoons and then back from town in the evenings. I have been doing so for the last 8 years or so.

In the mornings the average time spent on the bus is usually between 1h10m & 1h20m. On really awful occasions it has taken up to 2 hours. Keep in mind im only getting the bus from hartstown, couldn't imagine having to get it from Ongar!) I swear I could drive to town in reverse faster. In evenings, when there is little traffic it STILL takes an absolute minimum of 50-55m to get home from Dame street.

My main problems with this are -

1) I can drive to town from my house in about 25 minutes, why does the bus take soooo long ?

2) The greater Blanchardstown area is so big and populated, why does the 39 bare the brunt of commuting into city center ? There needs to be more routes.

3) The route the 39 takes is MIND BOGGLING. Is it the only route that goes back along the way it has already come ? It drives into the shopping center (often in traffic) takes a left and goes around the round about, coming back the way it has come before, picks up some people and drives back out of the shopping center (in more traffic) and then to Blanchardstown village. It often takes 30m to get from my house to leaving the shopping center.

4) It services far too many areas. Its really unfair to expect commuters to have to go through & service Ongar, Clonsilla, Hartstown, Huntstown, Whitestown, the shopping center, blanchardstown village, Navan road, ,Pheonix park, Stony Batter & then back into more traffic on the quays.

The route needs to change and they need to add more bus routes in general to go along with it...but I doubt its going to happen in my lifetime. Ive been waiting 8 years thus far! (Didnt realize this post was so long)

ParkRunner

Ive upped and left Blanchardstown, it's not worth the hassle trying to get into town from there. I was facing a 25 minute walk to the train station followed by a sardine in a tin can experience for about another 25 minutes or a 15 minute walk to the bus stop followed by a sometimes 2 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes wait for a bus and then a sometimes 40 minutes sometimes 2 hour trip into town.
And yes the price has gone up :eek:

jdivision

I used to live on Clonsilla Road and it'd take 80minutes to the quays, that was after me walking down towards the village because you'd walk past about four buses if you did that and after the village it wasn't so bad.