Rathdrum/Rathnew to Sandyford

adocholiday

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right forum. My wife and I are looking at buying a house in the Rathdrum/Rathnew area of Wicklow but we are unsure of the commuting situation. We both work in the general Sandyford area and can drive to work, and I'm mostly concerned about the general traffic en route.

Looking at Google maps, it gives an indication that it can be anything from 50 minutes to 2 hours on a typical day, which tells me nothing at all really. I've heard some anecdotal evidence from people who say that their commutes from similar areas take 45 minutes to an hour generally, but I don't know how reliable that is.

Is there anyone doing a similar commute? How do you find it? The last thing I want to do is spend a few hundred grand on a house and despise living there because of commuting

Also it'd be worth hearing people's experiences of the train from Rathdrum because I work in town too. Google tells me that it's about a 90 minute journey to Connolly which would be acceptable if accurate and somewhat regular.

Working class heroes

If driving a lot will depend on the time you leave at. If you can hit the M11 by 0700hrs it should be ok and you should be able to hit Sandyford within the hour. If you leave it to lets say, 0730hrs you could be in a world of pain.

The train will depend on your choice of location. Departure times from Rathdrum are 0620, 0715 and 0850 with a journey time of about 85/90 min.

If you choose to locate in Rathnew you are about 1.5 miles from the train station(Wicklow). Add about 11 minutes on above for departure times.
The big advantage you have in getting the train from Rathdrum is you would be guaranteed a seat, from Wicklow its 50/50.

Hope this helps, any more questions shout.

P.S. Where are you looking at buying?

adocholiday

Working class heroes wrote: »

If driving a lot...

Hope this helps, any more questions shout.

P.S. Where are you looking at buying?

Thanks a mill for that comprehensive response. Slightly concerned about my working hours being inflexible at 9 to 5.30 though. And then if kids ever come along having to worry about dropping them to schools and the like. It's grand now when we've no commitments

Commuting is going to be the biggest concern and it's looking like it's going to be tough!

I'll PM you the house we're looking at if you don't mind, you might have some local knowledge!

Working class heroes

adocholiday wrote: »

Thanks a mill for that comprehensive response. Slightly concerned about my working hours being inflexible at 9 to 5.30 though. And then if kids ever come along having to worry about dropping them to schools and the like. It's grand now when we've no commitments

Commuting is going to be the biggest concern and it's looking like it's going to be tough!

I'll PM you the house we're looking at if you don't mind, you might have some local knowledge!

No problem. I'll have a look and give you a shout later.

amtc

I work with a girl who does precisely that commute...generally 45 to 50 minutes. However about once a month it just messes up totally and takes her two hours. She generally ends up turning round and working from home when this happens. Probably not an option for you?

adocholiday

Well my workplace has no formal work from home policy but in emergency situations or things like 2 hour traffic delays they may be accommodating. This is all great information though thank you, helps us to make an informed decision.

Idbatterim

buying far closer to work not of interest / an option?

adocholiday

This may come across as a bit snobby but we don't want to live in a medium-high density area. I grew up in a housing estate until I was 16 and my wife grew up in the countryside. We've been renting in an apartment in Dublin for years and have concluded that we'd both prefer to have our own little area of land. Neither of us can justify paying hundreds of thousands for a house that neither of us want for the sake of convenience. Unfortunately with our budget that means going out that far so sacrifices in time have to be made.

I'm prepared to commute no real problem with it, but this is just to see how far out we can go without it being a complete detriment to our lives! It's definitely the upper limit though, I don't fancy much more than 90 mins each way on a regular basis. If I can make it work with my job and could get the commute down to 50-60 mins each way I'd be delighted with that.

amtc

The girl I work with was of the same viewpoint, she's from south county dublin but her husband had this idea of a rural idyll. When it works for her which is 99% of the time works great. It's the days it doesn't and she ends up abandoning car at various train and Luas stations. We're lucky in that work very flexible about working from home, in fact very much encouraged.

Idbatterim

I get the point of not living directly in dublin, but maybe there are places far closer that wouldnt involve that commute time and fuel spend and depreciation on a car?