Considering Dublin-Newry commute daily - madness?

Penny Dreadful

Hi All,

A job has come up in Newry that I am interested in however I live in Dublin and so would have to commute.
Is this a crazy idea? The job is a good job and although I'd be on a little less money the experience, etc is well worth this slight salary drop.
My husband lives and works in Dublin too and moving up there for both of us isn't really a runner.

bk

Well it would be possible, but you need to think carefully about it.

Driving, well the road to Newry is excellent, relatively little congestion outside of Dublin and easy to drive once outside of Dublin. Depending on where in Dublin you live, you would probably be looking at about 1h 15m to 1h 30m each way. Google maps calculates fuel at €15 each way, plus add tolls and wear and tear to your car to that.

The alternative is to take the Enterprise train from Connolly to Newry. Journey time is 1h 10mins cost €32 return.

The benefit of the train is that you could work, rest or play on it, so it wouldn't be such dead time. If you do take the train I highly recommend getting some sound cancelling or sound isolating (in ear) headphones, it makes regular travel like this much more comfortable.

You could also look into taxsaver tickets * to reduce the cost of the journey.

So the questions you need to ask yourself is, does the benefits of the new job outweigh:

- Reduced Salary
- €30 per day transport cost
- Reduced time to spend with family and friends.

Another question would be, is this something you could just do for a year or so? and then use your new experience to get a similar job in Dublin?

* I'm not sure if you can get taxsaver tickets for the enterprise, anybody else know?

goingnowhere

You can get taxsaver tickets for any journey on or through any part of Irish Rail's network

Given the employer is in Newry they are in the UK tax system so taxsaver is not available.

Losty Dublin

bk wrote: »

* I'm not sure if you can get taxsaver tickets for the enterprise, anybody else know?

Taxsaver offers annual tickets to Newry, Portadown and Belfast. It works out at €1,526.40 per year assuming a 41% tax rate; that about €35 a week!

You will need to allow travel time into and out of Connolly, as well as your local fares. Also, Newry is quite a sprawled city with bad traffic at peak hours. You will need to allow time to get to and from the train here which may take you some time or even a local bus.

Victor

bk wrote: »

* I'm not sure if you can get taxsaver tickets for the enterprise, anybody else know?

Given that the OP works outside the state, enquiries should be made.

There is a free shuttle bus between Newry and Newry train station.

Bus Éireann / Ulsterbus also have joint services from Dublin / Dublin Airport to Newry Buscentre. Route 1 is the fastest, but there are some other routes - 100 and 161 (only does Dundalk-Newry).

FaresService 100
16.00 : Adult Single
25.50 : Adult Rtn
21.50 : Adult Day Rtn
10.30 : Child Single
16.50 : Child Return
14.50 : Child Day Rtn
12.70 : Student Single
20.00 : Student Rtn
22.00 : Adult MW Rtn
14.70 : Child MW Rtn
51.00 : Family Rtn
62.00 : Adult 10 Jny
56.50 : Student 10 Jny

foggy_lad

The X1 service works out faster to Newry than the 100 and bus to Dundalk, but there does not appear to be a ten journey ticket option.
Service 801A
13.50 : Adult Single
23.00 : Adult Rtn
23.00 : Adult Day Rtn
6.90 : Child Single
12.00 : Child Return
11.40 : Child Day Rtn
13.00 : Student Single
19.00 : Student Rtn
23.00 : Adult MW Rtn
11.40 : Child MW Rtn
66.00 : Family Rtn

whomitconcerns

if you were in Swords its a 96km 1hr commute, so very doable. But how long do you want to do an almost 200km return journey every day at pretty much 120kph....no room for tiredness doing that drive. BUT...It is a nice straight drive though with one toll booth.

I know a guy used to do it in my company though and he didnt mind it...did it for a year or so. That was in as far as clontarf for work living just past newry

Penny Dreadful

bk wrote: »

Well it would be possible, but you need to think carefully about it.

Driving, well the road to Newry is excellent, relatively little congestion outside of Dublin and easy to drive once outside of Dublin. Depending on where in Dublin you live, you would probably be looking at about 1h 15m to 1h 30m each way. Google maps calculates fuel at €15 each way, plus add tolls and wear and tear to your car to that.

The alternative is to take the Enterprise train from Connolly to Newry. Journey time is 1h 10mins cost €32 return.

The benefit of the train is that you could work, rest or play on it, so it wouldn't be such dead time. If you do take the train I highly recommend getting some sound cancelling or sound isolating (in ear) headphones, it makes regular travel like this much more comfortable.

You could also look into taxsaver tickets * to reduce the cost of the journey.

So the questions you need to ask yourself is, does the benefits of the new job outweigh:

- Reduced Salary
- €30 per day transport cost
- Reduced time to spend with family and friends.

Another question would be, is this something you could just do for a year or so? and then use your new experience to get a similar job in Dublin?

* I'm not sure if you can get taxsaver tickets for the enterprise, anybody else know?

goingnowhere wrote: »

You can get taxsaver tickets for any journey on or through any part of Irish Rail's network

Given the employer is in Newry they are in the UK tax system so taxsaver is not available.

Losty Dublin wrote: »

Taxsaver offers annual tickets to Newry, Portadown and Belfast. It works out at €1,526.40 per year assuming a 41% tax rate; that about €35 a week!

You will need to allow travel time into and out of Connolly, as well as your local fares. Also, Newry is quite a sprawled city with bad traffic at peak hours. You will need to allow time to get to and from the train here which may take you some time or even a local bus.

Victor wrote: »

Given that the OP works outside the state, enquiries should be made.

There is a free shuttle bus between Newry and Newry train station.

Bus Éireann / Ulsterbus also have joint services from Dublin / Dublin Airport to Newry Buscentre. Route 1 is the fastest, but there are some other routes - 100 and 161 (only does Dundalk-Newry).

FaresService 100
16.00 : Adult Single
25.50 : Adult Rtn
21.50 : Adult Day Rtn
10.30 : Child Single
16.50 : Child Return
14.50 : Child Day Rtn
12.70 : Student Single
20.00 : Student Rtn
22.00 : Adult MW Rtn
14.70 : Child MW Rtn
51.00 : Family Rtn
62.00 : Adult 10 Jny
56.50 : Student 10 Jny

foggy_lad wrote: »

The X1 service works out faster to Newry than the 100 and bus to Dundalk, but there does not appear to be a ten journey ticket option.
Service 801A
13.50 : Adult Single
23.00 : Adult Rtn
23.00 : Adult Day Rtn
6.90 : Child Single
12.00 : Child Return
11.40 : Child Day Rtn
13.00 : Student Single
19.00 : Student Rtn
23.00 : Adult MW Rtn
11.40 : Child MW Rtn
66.00 : Family Rtn

Wow you've all been really helpful and very quick too! Thank you. This is a lovely forum, I should have visited earlier!:)

The job is something I'd be interested in for approx 2 years. It is interesting and would add to my CV greatly. It would make for good employment prospects in Dublin at the end of the 2 years.

The fact that its UK based is important. I'm considering a career break from where I currently work and if I take it then I can't work in the Republic of Ireland and so cross border makes lots of sense.

Decisions decisions

Penny Dreadful

whomitconcerns wrote: »

if you were in Swords its a 96km 1hr commute, so very doable. But how long do you want to do an almost 200km return journey every day at pretty much 120kph....no room for tiredness doing that drive. BUT...It is a nice straight drive though with one toll booth.

I know a guy used to do it in my company though and he didnt mind it...did it for a year or so. That was in as far as clontarf for work living just past newry

It would be from Lucan to Newry. So I'd be on the M50 pretty quick. The drive itself is straightforward but the distance is significant.
However, the job is a good job (but its not mine yet so I'm just thinking of the practicalities of it) and I'm only interested in doing it for 2 years or so.
I guess I need to weigh up the pros and cons of it all.

JustAThought

Penny Dreadful wrote: »

Hi All,

A job has come up in Newry that I am interested in however I live in Dublin and so would have to commute.
Is this a crazy idea? The job is a good job and although I'd be on a little less money the experience, etc is well worth this slight salary drop.
My husband lives and works in Dublin too and moving up there for both of us isn't really a runner.

Jobs that are good .& we'll paid are hard to come by -congrats !!!
My commute into the city centre in Dublin
used take an hour & twenty minutes ...

dowlingm

Is moving at all feasible? Like to Balbriggan or somewhere that would make for two meh commutes rather than one crap one? If there are kids in school or a hard-to-sell house in the picture then that's understandable.

Chris_5339762

Since its only for two years, could you use some of the travel money to B&B in Newry for two nights per week? Would break things up nicely.

I know a few people who commute from Newry and one from Warrenpoint to the Swords area. They tolerate it. I wouldn't dream of it!

rainbowdash

I know some people who stay near work for work a few nights then come home one evening during the week.

Say you go up Monday morning, stay mon and tue night in a b+b, go home Wednesday night to Dublin and overnight in Newry again Thursday, that's just 3 nights away from home.

Lots of b+b's will give a good long term rate to somebody who just wants to kip a few nights midweek as they are ever full anyway.

ponderousanon

Hi Penny!

I was just wondering what you decided re your job in Newry and the commute! I am currently in the same situation as have a job offer that would involve a 200 km a day commute, mainly on the motorway at least!

Have you found it very tiring? And what about the cost?

I hope you can help, I need to make my mind up by tmw!!

Penny Dreadful

Hi,
In the end I didn't take it. The job was a good one and interesting but having considered the suggestions and advice given here and trusting my gut feeling I decided not to do it.
I really didn't want to be on the road so much all of the time. It would have cost quite a bit and certainly added a lot more to my current commuting costs and removed any benefit of earning any extra money.
Also the fact that I would have been away from my family for either a longer period of time or had to stay over night to remove the commute turned me off it. Moving to somewhere closer to the border area wasn't really a feasible option.
I've no regrets about it. I started a different role in the same work place I had before since and will see how it goes. If I'm not happy with it by Christmas I'll be out looking once again.
Good luck with your decision.

n97 mini

Penny Dreadful wrote: »

It would be from Lucan to Newry.

I know it's a moot point now, but two tolls, M50 and M1, would be enough to make me move to Swords or even further north.