Moving to Wicklow - Commute and Creche

tibor_imo

Hi,

Will be moving down to Wicklow in early Summer next year. Hoping for some advice on the commute and childcare!

Commute

Any feedback on the Wexford Bus as a commuting option to Cherrywood?

Timetable has the 7.50 bus taking 40 minutes. This sounds like a great alternative to driving if accurate.

How bad is the traffic otherwise? I assume leave as early as possible is the advice.

Childcare

Are there any recommendations in and around the Educate Together school for creche for a 2 year old? Currently have him in with a childminder in Dublin but would like to get him into a creche when we move down.

Any other advice/points of note for a Dub moving south?

Thanks!

dogmatix

Where abouts in Wicklow? Assuming you mean Wicklow town, then if driving to Cherrywood, you would want to be on the N11 by 6am to avoid the worst of the possible traffic. Maybe 6:30am if driving during the school holidays.

Going home you are probably bunched - i'd advise you to be on the N11 by 4pm. South bound N11 traffic frees up considerably once past Bray.

I've never used the wexford bus - but since i've never seen the wexford bus doing anything less then 10-20km over the posted speed limit, then their timetable might very well be correct.

tibor_imo

Ouch, that bad yeah?

Yep Carraig Beag, right beside the educate together.

lorcand1990

I travel in from Rathdrum every day. That's about 10-15 mins from Wicklow. I'm usually on the M11 at Rathnew by 6.20 in the morning traffic is already starting to build by the time you get past Newtownmountkennedy, but would make it into town before 7. Some days if I leave later & get on the M11 at 6.45 traffic becomes stop/start from Newtown and takes an extra 30 mins or so to get to town

I leave town at 4.15 & wouldn't be back in Rathdrum until about 5.30 (sometimes later now the weather is worse). I get onto N11 just before Junction 4 Bray & traffic is pretty backlogged. Once you get past Bray it clears up

Basically if you have any flexibility in working hours I'd recommend getting as early a start as possible!

sumo12

Traffic nuts. Previous poster is spot on. From 6.15am it is slow at Coynes Cross, stopped by Kilquade. +40 mins more to get to Cherrywood than with no traffic. And as for the evenings...........

Olaz

Highly recommend Ashvale creche-it is very sought after. I've had kids there since 2012 and couldn't fault them. Family run and long term staff. Within easy walking distance of Carraig Brag.

listermint

Travel this road everyday. The only time I see the traffic slow or backed up to Newtownmountkennedy is if there is a serious accident. So there's a bit of drama here.

The daily traffic gets busy exactly at junction 11 after kilpedder. This is normal. The traffic described above is not normal.

Leaving at 6.15 to get to cherry wood for 9 I wouldn't recommend. You'll find your own time but tbh 7.40 would be the time I'd recommend.

I have the luxury of a motorcycle so I get to leave at whatever time I want and maintain the same journey times. So I've seen the traffic at all hours.

What I would say is try different times until you find a spot that works .

It won't be 6.15am though.

The Mig

listermint wrote: »

Travel this road everyday. The only time I see the traffic slow or backed up to Newtownmountkennedy is if there is a serious accident. So there's a bit of drama here.

The daily traffic gets busy exactly at junction 11 after kilpedder. This is normal. The traffic described above is not normal.

Leaving at 6.15 to get to cherry wood for 9 I wouldn't recommend. You'll find your own time but tbh 7.40 would be the time I'd recommend.

I have the luxury of a motorcycle so I get to leave at whatever time I want and maintain the same journey times. So I've seen the traffic at all hours.

What I would say is try different times until you find a spot that works .

It won't be 6.15am though.

Fully agree with this.

We moved down to Newtownmountkennedy and hearing the horror stories from people(who don't actually live down this way) regarding the traffic we thought what have we done. Between 7am and 8am is definitely the busiest from Kilpedder through to GOTD and then Kilmac and Bray. We have to be in Ballybrack to drop our child to school at 8:55am. There's some rare mornings we leave at 8:25am and we're there on time but generally we're out the door and by 8:10am and there in time.

Use google maps to plan your route. It's spot on regarding traffic times and ETAs. Swear by it!

lorcand1990

The Mig wrote: »

Fully agree with this.

We moved down to Newtownmountkennedy and hearing the horror stories from people(who don't actually live down this way) regarding the traffic we thought what have we done. Between 7am and 8am is definitely the busiest from Kilpedder through to GOTD and then Kilmac and Bray. We have to be in Ballybrack to drop our child to school at 8:55am. There's some rare mornings we leave at 8:25am and we're there on time but generally we're out the door and by 8:10am and there in time.

Use google maps to plan your route. It's spot on regarding traffic times and ETAs. Swear by it!

I do agree that it's not the absolute nightmare that people have made it out to be. Before I moved down in August I had heard the M11 is like a parking lot all the way in, but definitely haven't experienced this yet.

As I said it certainly gets slower after 6.40 as I drive in at that time some days (most days I'm on it earlier). The 20 min difference between 6.20 and 6.40 is definitely noticeable- although I'm on the M11 at Rathnew so a bit further out than Newtown. I find the evenings are worse at Bray merge coming out, but once you're through that it clears up

u140acro3xs7dm

It depends on how far you are travelling. Wicklow to Cherrywood will be doable under an hour most days - without traffic, it is about 25 minutes. If you are going further than Stillorgan, you want to be leaving before 6:15 or after 8:30.

The Wexford Bus or the 133 will get held up in that traffic too, and once you factor in 15 mins walking and waiting at either end, it takes longer.

youandme13

Also bear in mind if your child is in a crèche down there that most wouldn't open until 7:30am and then close at 6/6:30pm..

tibor_imo

Thanks all for the info. Reassuring!

tibor_imo

youandme13 wrote: »

Also bear in mind if your child is in a crèche down there that most wouldn't open until 7:30am and then close at 6/6:30pm..

Good point, will work it out with my wife so one is leaving earlier etc

tibor_imo

Henrik Refined News wrote: »

It depends on how far you are travelling. Wicklow to Cherrywood will be doable under an hour most days - without traffic, it is about 25 minutes. If you are going further than Stillorgan, you want to be leaving before 6:15 or after 8:30.

The Wexford Bus or the 133 will get held up in that traffic too, and once you factor in 15 mins walking and waiting at either end, it takes longer.

Yeah I assumed as much as there's not exactly bus lanes going through GOTD. Would be nice to be able to either get the laptop out and get a bit of work done or just switch off and relax for an hour though.

Will give it a few trial runs next year sure and make a call. Good option to have.

Henrik Refined News

Henrik Refined News wrote: »

<snip>
The Wexford Bus or the 133 will get held up in that traffic too, and once you factor in 15 mins walking and waiting at either end, it takes longer.

Got the 133 to/from Cherrywood for years. Work in town now, so on the train most days, but I've gotten the Wexford Bus back from town many times since that service started running.

The only thing I would mention is that very occasionally, on the return journey to Wicklow, the buses are full before they get to Cherrywood. They'll drive right past you then.

u140acro3xs7dm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Got the 133 to/from Cherrywood for years. Work in town now, so on the train most days, but I've gotten the Wexford Bus back from town many times since that service started running.

The only thing I would mention is that very occasionally, on the return journey to Wicklow, the buses are full before they get to Cherrywood. They'll drive right past you then.

I did see the Wexford Bus leaving people behind at Cherrywood a few weeks ago, I think a few got left at UCD too.

2013Lara

If possible flexible working hours! My hubby misses all the traffic and flys up and down to clonskeagh. I mind kids and parents drop to me between half 7 and quarter to 8 for a 9am start. There's only the rare occasion, bad weather etc they'd collect later than the arranged time of 6. You'll be grand! Carraig Beag look fab, they've done a great job. We moved from South dub 7 years ago and would never go back!

2013Lara

And to add, ashvale does get great reviews, know a few happy people with kids there. There's also little explorers thatd be really easy to get to once they open the link road. I don't know what the hold up in that is.

Mercury12

tibor_imo wrote: »

Yeah I assumed as much as there's not exactly bus lanes going through GOTD. Would be nice to be able to either get the laptop out and get a bit of work done or just switch off and relax for an hour though.

Will give it a few trial runs next year sure and make a call. Good option to have.

Hi Tibor,

We are considering moving into Carraig Beag but we would like to hear from someone who lives there that Internet speed and broadband work great. We'll be WFH a lot and that's very important to us. The sales rep couldn't tell us more that it's wired for Sky and Eir.

Thanks!

Fanta24

Mercury12 wrote: »

Hi Tibor,

We are considering moving into Carraig Beag but we would like to hear from someone who lives there that Internet speed and broadband work great. We'll be WFH a lot and that's very important to us. The sales rep couldn't tell us more that it's wired for Sky and Eir.

Thanks!

The housing estate has the lines down but no broadband company has activated them yet ( been calling them all for weeks to see when they will be available). You can get 4g internet with imagine, which is okay, speeds are much higher in the morning rather than peak times in the evening etc... also with so many more people WFH alot more on the network, but all in all it is doable and works!

2013Lara

We're 2mins from Carraig beag and have Virgin. Husband works from home and heavily relies on fast Internet (live sports, racing etc) and no problems.