Blessington to Blackrock

slevdog

Hi I am due to start a course in Blackrock in September. I was wondering if anyone had any information about transport out there. I know I can get a bus from Blessington to town and then a dart out to Blackrock. I was wondering if anyone knew how long this would take and if there may be a better route?

Enigma IE

Bit of a trek, allow 2 hours each way.

https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Blessington/Main-St-Blackrock-Co-Dublin-Ireland

caviardreams

Another option could be to get off the 65 from blessington in Terenure and get a 17 which goes to Blackrock Dart station - might be a shade faster depending on time of the day etc.

SimonLynch

65 to the Square, Tallaght and 75 to Dun Laoghaire, Dart or bus from there? I use the 65 a few times a year outside peak hours and wouldn't like to count on getting on it every morning when it's busy. Horrible journey whichever way.

helimachoptor

I'll ask the question..

Is cycling an option?

amcalester

helimachoptor wrote: »

I'll ask the question..

Is cycling an option?

OP wouldn’t even have to pedal until they got to Tallaght.

Bit different on the way home though.

Stephen15

SimonLynch wrote: »

65 to the Square, Tallaght and 75 to Dun Laoghaire, Dart or bus from there? I use the 65 a few times a year outside peak hours and wouldn't like to count on getting on it every morning when it's busy. Horrible journey whichever way.

Wouldn't even dream of getting the 75 the entire journey. It would be a nightmare. Sounds like a nightmare of a commute for the OP. Is there any chance the OP could get a place nearer or a car.

gwalk

I get the 75 every morning from Tallaght to Sandyford Industrial Estate and it is a shambles of a bus.

even worse on the way home.

avoid it like the plague

BattyInNZ

Does the 65/65b start in Blessington or is there a service from the Lakes area into Blessington?

crossman47

What about bus to Tallaght, Luas to Connolly and then Dart? The Luas trip would be about 45 mins - don't know about other two.

SteM

sugarman wrote: »

65/65B to town and Dart is probably the handiest and slightly more reliable of the 2. It'll drop you literally at the door of Tara St and the Dart is more frequent than the 17. If you miss a 17 you can be left waiting around in Terenure with no other options and nowhere to shelter. Definitely something to keep in mind for the winter months. Also, if you hop off the 65/65B the stop before Tara St you can also catch the 4 or 7 from D'Olier St to Blackrock.

I'd agree with this but on dry day I'd suggest jumping off the 65/B at Portobello Bridge and taking a Dublin Bike down along the canal to Grand Canal Dock. It means you miss the worst of the city centre traffic and get a bit of exercise in too.

Stephen15

BattyInNZ wrote: »

Does the 65/65b start in Blessington or is there a service from the Lakes area into Blessington?

The 65b doesn't go to Blessington only Citywest

TheShow

65 is horrible, particularly when the schools are back, could be 2 hours each way alone on it.

Cycling is the best option or a motorbike.

I used to come in on a vespa 50cc which was an experience, but still a better option than the bus.

BattyInNZ

Stephen15 wrote: »

The 65b doesn't go to Blessington only Citywest

Thanks! I'm trying to find a property to rent for a client and their son works in Blessington. I've seen one house out by the lakes and I'm trying to persuade them it's not too far! I remember seeing a bus trundling into Blessington from the Baltinglass road years ago and wondered if it was still running.

gwalk

BattyInNZ wrote: »

Thanks! I'm trying to find a property to rent for a client and their son works in Blessington. I've seen one house out by the lakes and I'm trying to persuade them it's not too far! I remember seeing a bus trundling into Blessington from the Baltinglass road years ago and wondered if it was still running.

Some 65's go to Ballymore Eustace and Two a day go to Ballyknockan

TheShow

BattyInNZ wrote: »

Thanks! I'm trying to find a property to rent for a client and their son works in Blessington. I've seen one house out by the lakes and I'm trying to persuade them it's not too far! I remember seeing a bus trundling into Blessington from the Baltinglass road years ago and wondered if it was still running.

65 bus goes to Blessington, some of them go to Ballyknockan also.

Muahahaha

Isnt that 65 bus horrifically slow though? Something like an hour and twenty minutes to the city centre

Stephen15

Muahahaha wrote: »

Isnt that 65 bus horrifically slow though? Something like an hour and twenty minutes to the city centre

Longer I'd say

gwalk

Stephen15 wrote: »

Longer I'd say

Especially when the schools start back, the peak time busses can take 2 hours or more

RacoonQueen

Your best bet would probably be to try a lift share. If you can get to town or Sandyford direction you'd have a few options from there, the 114 bus goes from Ticknock to Blackrock dart statoin via Sandyford Industrial estate. Doesn't run many times a day though.

trellheim

Could you get a lift to Saggart/Citywest/Tallaght and get the LUAS in ? then DART from Connolly

TheShow

Muahahaha wrote: »

Isnt that 65 bus horrifically slow though? Something like an hour and twenty minutes to the city centre

In the summer without traffic maybe, up to two hours otherwise.

Muahahaha

Wow, 2hrs to cover that distance (about 30km?) seems very slow as the first 15km to Tallaght is mainly countryside.

I wonder how BusConnects might improve times (if at all?) iirc frequency from Blessington will go to every 30 minutes but youd wonder whats the point if the journey still takes up to 2 hours.

What about the Bus Eireann 132 service, the timetable says it takes about an hour to Dublin CC to Blessington, anyone know is an hour realistic for this route?

Stephen15

Muahahaha wrote: »

Wow, 2hrs to cover that distance (about 30km?) seems very slow as the first 15km to Tallaght is mainly countryside.

I wonder how BusConnects might improve times (if at all?) iirc frequency from Blessington will go to every 30 minutes but youd wonder whats the point if the journey still takes up to 2 hours.

What about the Bus Eireann 132 service, the timetable says it takes about an hour to Dublin CC to Blessington, anyone know is an hour realistic for this route?

The BE service doesn't pick up or drop off on the return journey in Blessington. It only drops off on services to Dublin and only drops off on services ex Dublin.

After Bus connects Blessington will get an hourly service to Tallaght through the 254 the 65 is currently every two hours and every hour during the peak. Blessington will also get the 344 which will run between Tallaght and Ballyknocken giving Blessington a half hourly service during the peak. Post bus connects the OP could connect to the S6 or S7 in Tallaght to go to Blackrock.

I always thought it was strange that DB goes so far out to places like Blessington, Newtownmountkennedy and Balbriggan. Don't think other European have bus systems which go so far out.

L1011

London Buses have a few routes that leave Greater London which works out much the same

TheShow

Muahahaha wrote: »

Wow, 2hrs to cover that distance (about 30km?) seems very slow as the first 15km to Tallaght is mainly countryside.

I wonder how BusConnects might improve times (if at all?) iirc frequency from Blessington will go to every 30 minutes but youd wonder whats the point if the journey still takes up to 2 hours.

What about the Bus Eireann 132 service, the timetable says it takes about an hour to Dublin CC to Blessington, anyone know is an hour realistic for this route?

Often two buses driving beside each other, both going through Tallaght village, not one of the buses uses the tallaght by-pass which could save considerable time in the morning/evening.
Also, if your getting the bus home in the evening, you'd want to be on it from the start at Poolbeg st or very near it as it fills up very quickly with load of punters going to Rathmines/ Rathgar, Terenure & Templeogue, despite there being numerous other buses that do this route that run very frequently.
Been a few times that I've tried to get the 65 from Richmond/Rathmines and its been full.
Its a very frustrating service.

SteM

TheShow wrote: »

Often two buses driving beside each other, both going through Tallaght village, not one of the buses uses the tallaght by-pass which could save considerable time in the morning/evening.

I'm assuming you mean 27s coming from the city to Jobstown? I've never seen 65's beside each other, they're too few and far between.

I agree some 27s should scheduled to go via the by-pass skipping the village and The Square entirely, but this should have been arranged when the 27 route was set up back in the day. The amount of times you see 3 27s bunched up by the time they get to The Square in the evenings is laughable, especially as one is always packed and the other two are running light.

Stephen15

SteM wrote: »

I'm assuming you mean 27s coming from the city to Jobstown? I've never seen 65's beside each other, they're too few and far between.

I agree some 27s should scheduled to go via the by-pass skipping the village and The Square entirely, but this should have been arranged when the 27 route was set up back in the day. The amount of times you see 3 27s bunched up by the time they get to The Square in the evenings is laughable, especially as one is always packed and the other two are running light.

Would there be a scope for more Xpresso services to Tallaght only Xpresso serving Tallaght is the once a day morning only 77x

Muahahaha

Stephen15 wrote: »

The BE service doesn't pick up or drop off on the return journey in Blessington. It only drops off on services to Dublin and only drops off on services ex Dublin.

I just saw that on the timetable of the 132. It seems like pure madness to run a bus through Blessington every day and for local residents not to be allowed to use to to commute to & from Dublin. Is there any reasoning or logic behind not allowing potential passengers to use this bus? It can hardly be some DB-BE infight as Balbriggan has both DB and BE services

Stephen15

Muahahaha wrote: »

I just saw that on the timetable of the 132. It seems like pure madness to run a bus through Blessington every day and for local residents not to be allowed to use to to commute to & from Dublin. Is there any reasoning or logic behind not allowing potential passengers to use this bus? It can hardly be some DB-BE infight as Balbriggan has both DB and BE services

The only reason I could think of is to prevent the bus which serves other places such as Baltinglass, Tullow and Bunclody being full of passengers only going to Blessington. The BE bus to Balbriggan is usually a double decker I think so it would have a larger and the 132 wouldn't the busiest route so it would probably be a standard BE coach operating it which might run into capacity issues.

TheShow

SteM wrote: »

I'm assuming you mean 27s coming from the city to Jobstown? I've never seen 65's beside each other, they're too few and far between.

I agree some 27s should scheduled to go via the by-pass skipping the village and The Square entirely, but this should have been arranged when the 27 route was set up back in the day. The amount of times you see 3 27s bunched up by the time they get to The Square in the evenings is laughable, especially as one is always packed and the other two are running light.

In the morning and evenings, 2 x 65's beside each other, each going trough the Village, granted they are destined for or coming from ballyknockan & Ballymore Eustace.

There should be an express service at least, but when there is no competition on the route why would they bother.

whomitconcerns

But both of those 65's are generally packed for most of the journey.. So is not an issue