Long Commutes - worth it?

dashboard_hula

Hi All,

Some job opportunities recently came up in Cork/Dublin recently, which for various reasons I wasn't able to consider. One of the biggies was the long, loooong commute very day. Cork is an hour and 50 minutes away, Dublin apparently is an hour and a half from Waterford on the new motorway. That sounds just about doable, but I'd have a few worries:

If driving, you'd need to have a good, solid, diesel car, right? That'd be pretty expensive in terms of tax, fuel, insurance, maintenance etc, but it's an investment, fair enough.
Do people ever get bored off their brains spending 3 hours a day in a car? Does it wear or strain you out?
The big thing is - what if there's an emergency at work or you have to step in fast - I'm only up the road at the moment, but it's a bit hard to respond to a request to cover in an emergency if you're 2 odd hours away...

I'd just like peoples opinions as there I can't get anything other than "That's mental" out of people. And while I know long commutes are the norm in the US etc, the idea of crossing literally half the country every day for work freaks me out - but if anyone here is doing it, I'd really love to hear about how you're managing.

Any comments welcome

Stark

Commuting from Cork to Dublin every day is a great idea. Go for it.

flyingsnail

Stark wrote: »

Commuting from Cork to Dublin every day is a great idea. Go for it.

Is he not talking about commuting from Waterford to Cork or Dublin?

dashboard_hula

flyingsnail wrote: »

Is he not talking about commuting from Waterford to Cork or Dublin?

Yeah, I am

helimachoptor

Can you not move up closer to Dublin or closer to Cork?

dashboard_hula

Not at the moment no, I might, if I absolutely had to, consider living in Dublin/Cork during the week and coming back down @ weekends, but that would be my very, very last resort.

Not

The money had better be very very good. God knows where the price of fuel is going to go in the future. You'll be spending several hundred euros on diesel every month and in and out of the filling station every 2 or 3 days depending on the size of the fuel tank, and servicing every few months. And you'll wear out a brand new car in little over three years unless you're happy to keep relying on it up to and over the 200k miles (yes convert to kms for modern cars) mark.

Edit : Don't forget the cost of tolls, both present and future.

seamus

I've heard a lot of people say that they love commuting by train. They go very slightly off-peak and they can use the 1, 2 hours whatever to get stuff done - read a book, work on their laptop, etc.

Gloomtastic!

Before the Port Tunnel, it used to take my wife an hour to drive from Killester to East Point Business Park, a distance of less than 2km!! So sometimes it's not just distance but sheer weight of traffic that holds you up.

I know someone who does such a commute and they don't leave home until 10am to start work at 11:30 and leave at 7pm to miss the heavy traffic. That makes it bearable for her. Could you do something similar?

loyatemu

seamus wrote: »

I've heard a lot of people say that they love commuting by train. They go very slightly off-peak and they can use the 1, 2 hours whatever to get stuff done - read a book, work on their laptop, etc.

you'd be spending 5 hours a day on the train + whatever amount of time to get to the station at either end, and I wouldn't be too confident relying on a 8 times a day intercity service (if one was cancelled it would be a long wait until the next.


It's too far to commute IMO.

Not

Another thing to consider is the possibility of driver fatigue, particularily after a long days work. I find motorways can be a lot more sleep inducing than twisty rural roads.

angel01

It takes me over 2.5 hours to get home from work usually (around 1 hour and 40 in the morning!) and I don't even leave Dublin :( I have to use buses and trams, it does take it out of you but I can't afford to move house and I am can't leave my job so I have to put up with it.

It means I am up early really (around 5.40am) and don't get home till at least 6.45pm or so.. It really is tiring.

Cool Mo D

Cork is doable, and if you're working on the outskirts of Dublin, off the N7, that is too, given current tolls and petrol costs.

Doable is a long way off pleasant though. But given a choice of a 2 hour commute each way, and no job, I'd be commuting. But I'd look for any better option to avoid it.

Not

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

I know someone who does such a commute and they don't leave home until 10am to start work at 11:30 and leave at 7pm to miss the heavy traffic. That makes it bearable for her. Could you do something similar?

Before the M50 improvements I did that, to commute at rush hour was taking a further hour or two out of my life per day. But the later hours f€ck up chances of a social life during the week.

Not

Cool Mo D wrote: »

Cork is doable, and if you're working on the outskirts of Dublin, off the N7, that is too, given current tolls and petrol costs.

Doable is a long way off pleasant though. But given a choice of a 2 hour commute each way, and no job, I'd be commuting. But I'd look for any better option to avoid it.

Definitely I'd prefer to spend two hours in a car commuting than to spend two hours in dole queue, even if I was spending most of my salary just getting there.

VW 1

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Before the Port Tunnel, it used to take my wife an hour to drive from Killester to East Point Business Park, a distance of less than 2km!! So sometimes it's not just distance but sheer weight of traffic that holds you up.

But that can be walked in 20mins or cycled in under 10, why drive?!

gugleguy

I take 2 buses from soutside dublin (d6w) to northside (d15)
Takes me about hour + half in morning, 2 hours in evening.

Aard

Tbh, it really depends where exactly in Dublin it is. If you have to go inside the M50, I would advise against it. Even if it was in Tallaght I would still think that it really better be worth the money.


Do your homework on it -- literally write down every cost (both time and money) you're going to incur versus how much you're going to earn. Work out if it would be cheaper to rent a small apartment than to buy a new car, tax it, insure it, fuel it, maintain it. If you have family, would it upset you/them if you were in a different city for half the day.


There's a lot to take into account. Don't rush into it.

Stark

Drove from Cork to Dublin after work this evening. Only took about 2 hours and was fairly stress free with the motorway but still feeling a bit shattered after it. 40 mins each way would be my upper limit for a driving commute.

amacachi

REALLY think about moving down even if just for the weekdays. I commute Dundalk to Dublin and if I had an extra 20 quid a week income I wouldn't be commuting even if I had to survive on beans and toast.

xper

dashboard_hula wrote: »

The big thing is - what if there's an emergency at work or you have to step in fast - I'm only up the road at the moment, but it's a bit hard to respond to a request to cover in an emergency if you're 2 odd hours away...

Just on this point, if call-ins are a critical part of the job, and not just a rare keep-the-boss-happy occurrence, then it may be in the contract that you must reside within a certain distance from the place.

In any case, look at the possibility of a room rent in a house for four nights a week (rents are low these days) and a late Monday arrival/early Friday departure. This may actually give you more quality time at home, bearing in mind that, with a commute that long, even if you're young, you'll be a wreck - you may be home during the week but you'll not be doing much more than eating and sleeping and weekends will be all about recovering. That can put a serious strain on personal/family relationships (presuming that's a factor here).

dashboard_hula

Thanks a million for all your replies everyone - I do appreciate it, and you've given me some food for thought

Casey_81

The winter is the worst time to start a long commute like that - driver fatigue will be a big factor.. If at all possible try and stay in a mates house/hotel one night a week (pref wed) and that'll make it easier..

If you can get flexi-time that'll shave time and stress off the commute.. and make it a bit more bearable.

angel01

If there was an emergency in work, I wouldn't be able to help as I live too far away, they know that and take that into account

bigbrotherfan

It's worth remembering that commuting at this time of the year is a verty different proposition to winter time. Also, much depends on which part of the city you will be working in. If it's the opposite side from where you're coming, then that could be the hardest, most expensive, most time-consuming and most frustrating part of your journey. Lots to consider there.

daenerysstormborn3

Hi OP, I speak from personal experience as I commute daily from Waterford to Dublin and I find it absolutely no bother whatsoever.

The delays with IE are few and far between and would generally be small delays (5/10 minutes) and because of the length of the journey they nearly always manage to catch themselves up. The journey is comfortable (if you're getting on at the first stop, morning train tends to fill up around athy/carlow). I'm up at 5 every morning, cycle to the station, on train for about 2 hours, 2 minutes, train home at 6.35, into station at 8.55 and home by 9. Some people might find those journey times unbearable but for me it was pretty simple. My bf is in college in Waterford and I work in Dublin, it became too difficult for us to be apart so much so we made the decision for me to move down.

I am planning to start driving up and down before Christmas, that's about 1 hour 20 minutes or so, my bf has done Waterford-Dublin in less time than that though, with traffic.

Obviously my personal circumstances are unusual and had a lot to do with my decision and I wouldn't be commuting like this if I had the choice (no jobs in Waterford) and I have to be honest I would say my happiness in my relationship probably has a lot to do with how well I'm dealing with the commuting.

For me, I don't need more than 4-5 hours sleep a night, never have needed more than that. If you're someone who is going to get grumpy over lack of sleep and start taking it out on family/let it effect your work I would definitely say the commute is not for you. However, if you're going to drive the journey should be no bother.

BrianD3

Considering that both cars and roads have gotten a lot better in recent years, I think that commute is doable once you are not getting stuck in traffic when you reach Dublin. In terms of car costs they may not be as much as you think. For instance, if you were to get a Renault Fluence 1.5 DCi it would:

cost around 16-18k to buy new
need a service every 18k miles
do 60 mpg
cost ~100 quid to tax
have a 5 year unlimited mileage warranty
have cruise control as standard

Ham'nd'egger

BrianD3 wrote: »

Considering that both cars and roads have gotten a lot better in recent years, I think that commute is doable once you are not getting stuck in traffic when you reach Dublin. In terms of car costs they may not be as much as you think. For instance, if you were to get a Renault Fluence 1.5 DCi it would:

cost around 16-18k to buy new
need a service every 18k miles
do 60 mpg
cost ~100 quid to tax
have a 5 year unlimited mileage warranty
have cruise control as standard

That assumes that you have the capital to splash out on a car in the first place

kdouglas

my commute at present is about 30 mins +/- 3 mins, I wouldn't really consider spending any longer than that in a car twice a day.

NedNew2

I can't imagine a 150km each way daily drive to Dublin (not counting urban Dublin) would be too sustainable in the long term but in terms of time and expense.

I've done a 100km each way commute before and it slowly but surely grinds you down. In the end I was lucky enough to find another job.

Working out the estimated cost of driving, it would be 150km x 2 = 300 km.

The average diesel car would consume maybe 6 litres per 100km.

So that would be 18 litres per day at €1.25... €23 per day... ouch.

Chris_5339762

I walk 30 minutes to work everyday and back. It also takes 30 minutes to drive there due to traffic.

The idea of commuting from Waterford etc every day seems absolutely barmy to me. 2 hours each way? Thats 4 hours per day you spend travelling. Insanity! 1/6th of your life getting to and from work.

Halve_ZOL

gugleguy wrote: »

I take 2 buses from soutside dublin (d6w) to northside (d15)
Takes me about hour + half in morning, 2 hours in evening.

Same hours for me. From northside to northside; D15 to D17.....3 and a half hours every day down the drain....

Stark

At least you have time to read or snooze on the bus. In the car, it's hours spent staring intently at the traffic.

KC61

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

I walk 30 minutes to work everyday and back. It also takes 30 minutes to drive there due to traffic.

The idea of commuting from Waterford etc every day seems absolutely barmy to me. 2 hours each way? Thats 4 hours per day you spend travelling. Insanity! 1/6th of your life getting to and from work.

Some people may not have the luxury of a choice in these times given there are over 400,000 people without a job.

I commute 1.5 hours most days each way to/from work within Dublin and tbh I accept it as part of the territory - I am lucky to have a job.

angel01

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

I walk 30 minutes to work everyday and back. It also takes 30 minutes to drive there due to traffic.

The idea of commuting from Waterford etc every day seems absolutely barmy to me. 2 hours each way? Thats 4 hours per day you spend travelling. Insanity! 1/6th of your life getting to and from work.

If it hasn't occured to you, it is a recession. Yes, I hate spending so much time travelling, I go from Dublin 15 to Dublin 18, Not ideal and it makes my day really long but I have a job and I will travel for as long as it takes to get there.

A lot of people do not have the choice.

Polar101

NedNew2 wrote: »

So that would be 18 litres per day at €1.25... €23 per day... ouch.

That's €690 a month, or €8280 a year. Not something I'd even consider paying for getting to work, really.

Stark

You'd rent a room somewhere with money left over for that.

loyatemu

Polar101 wrote: »

That's €690 a month, or €8280 a year. Not something I'd even consider paying for getting to work, really.

thats not even counting the savage maintenance and depreciation the journey would inflict on your car.

Not

Polar101 wrote: »

That's €690 a month, or €8280 a year. Not something I'd even consider paying for getting to work, really.

€690 per month ? How did you work that out

baz30

No definitely not!

I would only consider this if its the absolute last option. To work close to home even with much less money is far more rewarding. If this is an option then i would urge you to take it.

veryangryman

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

I walk 30 minutes to work everyday and back. It also takes 30 minutes to drive there due to traffic.

The idea of commuting from Waterford etc every day seems absolutely barmy to me. 2 hours each way? Thats 4 hours per day you spend travelling. Insanity! 1/6th of your life getting to and from work.

He gets weekends/days off/holidays so your probably more like saying 1/10th

But yes that isnt fun and i wouldnt swap places. The only plus is that he has the car. Imagine training/busing all those miles

amacachi

Not wrote: »

€690 per month ? How did you work that out

I'm assuming they multiplied by 30.

loyatemu

amacachi wrote: »

I'm assuming they multiplied by 30.

thats obviously a mistake - more realistic is 230 days per year (= 260 weekdays minus 30 days leave and public holidays) works out at over €5000 a year in petrol alone.

Ham'nd'egger

loyatemu wrote: »

thats obviously a mistake - more realistic is 230 days per year (= 260 weekdays minus 30 days leave and public holidays) works out at over €5000 a year in petrol alone.

Thinking aloud here as somebody who earns his crust driving but some of the additional things to take into account as well when driving extra miles include....

• If you are doing long miles, you need a car with a bit of size so this may mean investing in a new car. Say what you will but a Micra, Civic, Accent etc are not meant to do long long daily trips and their smaller engines go pop in time as well as making a diesel option in that line as handy.
• Washing your car. Doing long country driving will cover your windows and lights with bugs so you need to keep them clean all the time. Sadly a wipe and water just doesn't cut it so you will need to wash them off properly at least once a week.
• Extra tyre wear; a decent set of rubbers will give you about 20,000 KM tops and that's if you turn them mid life.
• Servicing a car isn't the big cost per se, it's when parts begin wearing out and the extra time and cost in replacing and fitting them that it pinches. Also, when you do get your car serviced you will lose a day of work dropping and collecting it unless you have somebody to do that for you or know a weekend mechanic. You will need to allow 3-4 decent services a year and a realistic decent service will cost you €200+ minimum before you allow for any required parts and labour. I am aware that people will say that such a place do a €99+ service but they won't be as thorough as you need for high milage.
• On fuel, while a diesel will save you loads over petrol but the speed that you drive at has more bearing on fuel consumption than anything. If you are a speed freak then you will use a lot more fuel than you think and it will show up when you are topping up.
• Oh, yeah; your chances of speed tickets increase the more you drive

Lastly, sitting in the car for an extra 4 hours a day is not good if you suffer from joint problems or vascular issues.

amacachi

loyatemu wrote: »

thats obviously a mistake - more realistic is 230 days per year (= 260 weekdays minus 30 days leave and public holidays) works out at over €5000 a year in petrol alone.

I didn't say it was an accurate way to do it. :pac:

BrianD3

Hamndegger wrote: »

[*]If you are doing long miles, you need a car with a bit of size so this may mean investing in a new car. Say what you will but a Micra, Civic, Accent etc are not meant to do long long daily trips and their smaller engines go pop in time as well as making a diesel option in that line as handy.

Larger cars are generally better for comfort and refinement but the idea that the engine in a smaller car will "pop" if subjected to high mileage is a myth. If anything the OP's car will get an easy life doing motorway miles and spending most of its life fully warmed up. I'd expect the engine to last pretty much indefinitely, as in several hundred thousand kms. Also as stated earlier, some new cars are now available with 5 year unlimited mileage warranties so if something does fail in that period, someone else is paying.

Extra tyre wear; a decent set of rubbers will give you about 20,000 KM tops and that's if you turn them mid life

Hasn't been my experience, 20k kms is only 12k miles. I generally get 3 times that from a set of mid range tyres.

Servicing a car isn't the big cost per se, it's when parts begin wearing out and the extra time and cost in replacing and fitting them that it pinches. Also, when you do get your car serviced you will lose a day of work dropping and collecting it unless you have somebody to do that for you or know a weekend mechanic. You will need to allow 3-4 decent services a year and a realistic decent service will cost you €200+ minimum before you allow for any required parts and labour. I am aware that people will say that such a place do a €99+ service but they won't be as thorough as you need for high milage.

On fuel, while a diesel will save you loads over petrol but the speed that you drive at has more bearing on fuel consumption than anything. If you are a speed freak then you will use a lot more fuel than you think and it will show up when you are topping up.

Agree about the speed but in terms of servicing costs - service intervals on modern cars are generally long. Eg the car I mendtioned earlier needs a minor service (oil + oil filter + pollen filter) every 30k kms and an intermediate one (same as minor except add an air filter and a fuel filter) every 60k kms. Timing belt is every 160k kms

In terms of replacing components I'd expect that a car doing motorway driving would need fewer of them than a car doing much less driving on poorer roads. Exhaust, battery, brakes, suspension, clutch could all last way longer than the average car. The car could go 200k kms or more before it needs any attention to any of the above. Again this is based on personal experience.

Polar101

loyatemu wrote: »

thats obviously a mistake - more realistic is 230 days per year (= 260 weekdays minus 30 days leave and public holidays) works out at over €5000 a year in petrol alone.

Yeah, I suppose no-one would be doing it 7 days a week. Thought it looked way too high when I posted it.

I worked as a rep for a year, leaving Kerry, Waterford, Limerick etc and heading home to Cork at 5 pm is not nice, neither is getting up very early for a 90 min / 2 hour spin. Three hours a day commuting is sheer lunacy I reckon, you'll be wrecked, have no time for exercise etc and your family life may well suffer. You'll have no mind to do anything any evening or at the weekend either.

Ham'nd'egger

BrianD3 wrote: »

Larger cars are generally better for comfort and refinement but the idea that the engine in a smaller car will "pop" if subjected to high mileage is a myth. If anything the OP's car will get an easy life doing motorway miles and spending most of its life fully warmed up. I'd expect the engine to last pretty much indefinitely, as in several hundred thousand kms. Also as stated earlier, some new cars are now available with 5 year unlimited mileage warranties so if something does fail in that period, someone else is paying.

Brian, it's not that smaller engines are not incapable of lasting a long life. It's just that being smaller and lighter they are generally more prone to stress and wear and tear more than a larger engine as they are being worked harder in the long term and they are more likely to not last as long. It isn't an exact science as much of it depends on how and what driving a car is exposed to but generally, a large car has a longer lifespan compared to a small one and mechanical life is one reason why this is the case.

BrianD3 wrote: »

Hasn't been my experience, 20k kms is only 12k miles. I generally get 3 times that from a set of mid range tyres.

It can change from tyre to tyre and where you are driving but yes you can get longer than 20,000 KM; I prefer to keep them fresher but that's me. But 60,000 KM is IMO excessive sounding.

BrianD3 wrote: »

Agree about the speed but in terms of servicing costs - service intervals on modern cars are generally long. Eg the car I mendtioned earlier needs a minor service (oil + oil filter + pollen filter) every 30k kms and an intermediate one (same as minor except add an air filter and a fuel filter) every 60k kms. Timing belt is every 160k kms

Now here we are going to differ If you are doing about 100 miles to and 100 from work, that's 200 miles a day which is 320KM. That's 1,600 KM a week or 6,000KM+ a month so almost 80,000KM every year!!! Timing belts (and the other belts linked to it that drive pumps and alternators) need to be changed between 80-120,000 KM depending on the car model; almost all marquees also state a time span of a belt regardless of mileage as the rubbers erode naturally after time. No matter the condition of car, it must be done to avoid terminal damage to your car. A friend's belt went two years on a car bought from a VW dealership; it blew 14 of 16 valves in his engine and he learnt the hard way

BrianD3 wrote: »

In terms of replacing components I'd expect that a car doing motorway driving would need fewer of them than a car doing much less driving on poorer roads. Exhaust, battery, brakes, suspension, clutch could all last way longer than the average car. The car could go 200k kms or more before it needs any attention to any of the above. Again this is based on personal experience.

True on many fronts but there are different stresses that a car deals with when driving at speed (such as engine cooling systems, tension on chassis and bodywork, suspension and shocks, engine vibrations etc) and these must be checked regularly. Some cars can and have gone hundreds of thousands of miles without a fault but this isn't a constant and you still need a regular once over, more often than 60,000KM

I should add that even with warranties, you still pay for your servicing and a warranty means you are often tied to a dealership for same.

xper

angel01 wrote: »

If there was an emergency in work, I wouldn't be able to help as I live too far away, they know that and take that into account

If there was an emergency in work, I wouldn't be able to help as I live too far away, they know that and take that into account :):)

Firehen

Utter madness, if you ask me.

Leave the car in Waterford and rent a cheapish room close to the job in Dublin/Cork. At least that way, you'll be able to live a relatively normal life during the week and not be completly exhausted on weekends.

I can't understand people spending so much money to get to work, which we all do solely to earn money. Kind of defeats the purpose, if you ask me.