Commute from Celbridge to Dun Loaighre

zl1whqvjs75cdy

Hey guys;

So my sister just got a new job. She is living in Celbridge and the new place is in Dun Laoighre. She's in a lease until June when she will move somewhere a bit closer to work, but for now she's stuck with the commute. Firstly, do we think its doable or total madness?

There's two possible options. First one is drive to Lexlip and get a train?dart combo that takes an hour and 15 door to door. She is looking at this for the first few weeks as she is a bit of a nervous driver. I'm not a fan as she'll be knackered

Second option is to drive. Out the back of Celbridge, through Newcastle, onto the N7, onto the M50 and down past Sandyford. Google maps suggest 55 minutes at the time she'd be travelling (around quarter to 8). Is Google relatively correct here? I don't commute that way so I don't have any first had experience.

Cost wise, the train is 140 a month. She's driving a 1.6 relatively nice car so the drive would be ok comfort wise. I'd put the petrol at about 160-200 a month or so.

What do we reckon, is it a doable and what is the best way?

Lucena

I know it's not answering the main question, but you would need to count wear and tear; and insurance, into the cost of using the car, so you're looking at double the cost of just putting petrol in.

I'd favour the train/DART combo, especially if your sister is a nervous driver, as we're heading into the winter months, so with darkness and wet/icy roads, I'd imagine your sister would be a lot more tired driving than if she takes the train.

Marlay

It would also depend on how flexible a start time your sister would have. If she had to be in for 9 driving would be stressful. You would never be sure how long it would take. Leaving at 7.45 is late. Traffic by that stage would be very heavy on that route. The N7 mostly moves OK these days as far as the M50 assuming no accidents.

The M50 southbound however is generally solid all the way from the M1. Any crash or breakdown, which happens regularly, will makes this worse. Exiting at Sandyford would be very busy with people heading to the industrial estates.

1h15 on the train is really not that bad. Driving might be an option when the schools are on holidays, but between now and Christmas driving is just going to get worse and worse.

Peppa Pig

Lucena wrote: »

I'd favour the train/DART combo, especially if your sister is a nervous driver, as we're heading into the winter months, so with darkness and wet/icy roads, I'd imagine your sister would be a lot more tired driving than if she takes the train.

So would I, it's an awkward journey from Celbridge to Dun Laoghaire, even outside rush hour.

There is also one train in the morning and 2 in the evening that are direct so she wouldn't have to change at Pearse to the dart.

Park at Louisa Bridge and go from there. Any extra cost is worth it, especially if it's only for a few months

LXFlyer

As above, the 08:02 train from Leixlip (Louisa Bridge) goes direct to Dun Laoghaire and arrives there at 09:06.

Coming back there are direct trains from Dun Laoghaire at 17:19 and 17:52, arriving at Leixlip Louisa Bridge at 18:14 and 18:50 respectively.

Using a LEAP card would cap the weekly cost at €35.50.

zl1whqvjs75cdy

Thanks guys. As its a new job she doesn't want to push it too much with start times just yet but that 8.02 from Leixlip would be perfect if she could start at 9.15. The office is only 5 minutes or so from the dart station. The 17.52 back would then seem to be the best option. I'll suggest this to her. Thanks all.