Arriving in Heuston at 8am and getting to UCD for 9; can it be done?

Maraz · 03-05-2008 02:43PM #1

Howdy,

I need some advice - I need to attend lecture in UCD every friday starting at 9am. I'm travelling from Limerick and the earliest train gets me into Heuston at 7:57am (supposedly). Whats the quickest way to UCD at that hour of the morning? I've been checking around and have come up with this:

Heuston to Connolly by Luas (20 mins)
Connolly to Sydney Parade by DART (15 mins)
Sydney Parade to UCD by bus (not sure how long or how reliable this is?)

Is this feasible in under an hour?

Alternatively is there taxi's normally available at sydney parade?

Cheers

simonrooneyzaga · 03-05-2008 02:48PM

you'd be cutting it fine with traffic etc... Come up the night before and sleep in a hostel or a mates house!

Bluefox21 · 03-05-2008 02:49PM

bus from sydney parade at twenty to nine sometime waits till quarter to never seen a taxi there either unfortunatly unsure about traffic but maybe bus/luas into town and then get the ten?

Pride Fighter · 03-05-2008 02:59PM

Sometimes the 46E leaves Heuston and goes straight to UCD. With horrible traffic it gets in at around half 9. Luas to Abbey street then get either the 10, 46 A,B,C,D,E, 63, 145 at the stop at O'Connell street across from the spire. That should get you in on time.

MizzLolly · 03-05-2008 03:04PM

Get the luas to Abbey St. and wait on O'Connell St. for a 46a or 145.

AVOID number 10's at all costs. It's a longer route and I've often been an hour and 20mins on the bloody thing!!

Pride Fighter · 03-05-2008 03:15PM

MizzLolly wrote: »

Get the luas to Abbey St. and wait on O'Connell St. for a 46a or 145.

AVOID number 10's at all costs. It's a longer route and I've often been an hour and 20mins on the bloody thing!!

In my experience its only 5-10 minutes longer than the buses you stated.

Zippitydoo · 03-05-2008 03:16PM

Taxi will get ye there in under an hour if ye have the cash.

MizzLolly · 03-05-2008 03:41PM

Pride Fighter wrote: »

In my experience its only 5-10 minutes longer than the buses you stated.

You were lucky so.

Avoid the number ten if you are in a rush!!

Tayto2000 · 03-05-2008 04:00PM

Be cutting it very fine by bus...

1. Stay with a mate overnight, or hostel.
2. Taxi.
3. Lock up a bicycle at Heuston or bring one on the train (it's about a half hour cycle from there to UCD)

boardian · 03-05-2008 04:32PM

usually takes me 45 mins by luas and the number 10, but thats at night, on a sunday so doubt it could be done in the morning within an hour

armada104 · 03-05-2008 04:38PM

25x might be worth a look, though I wouldn't count on it entirely.

Rosita · 03-05-2008 04:50PM

If there is a bus going from Heuston directly to UCD almost immediately after the OP's train arrives I'd say this might be feasible. But once you get into the business of changing Luas/bus/DART and all that it will be amazing the amount of time that gets eaten up in between. It's all very fine if each mode of public transport is there waiting for you when you arrive and takes off straight away but you might have to wait five minutes for a DART or ten minutes for a bus when you don't have that time. And even after arriving in UCD you have to get from where the bus drops you to the actual lecture which again takes a bit of time and it all adds up.

Overall I would say you could not expect to be on time on any regular basis but you wouldn't be far off it either. If it was even 9.15 I'd be a lot more confident. Certainly I would get off the LUAS at Abbey Street and take my chances with a bus from around there before I'd go near the DART. But a bus direct from Heuston (I think somebody mentioned one) would seem the best option.

A few quid on a decent central hostel the night before would be as cheap as getting into the business of getting taxis and would save the rise at an unearthly hour on the Friday morning to get the train in limerick only to find that you are late for the start of the lecture anyway.

Frank Grimes · 03-05-2008 05:13PM

Another thing the OP should keep in mind is that at 8am there's a good chance they mightn't be able to get on a Luas immediately after getting off the train. I had a couple of 9am starts this year and get the Luas and bus out to UCD. There can be crowds of people around that time waiting to get on the Luas at Heuston, it's not unusual for less than half the people waiting on the platform to actually be able to get on the tram. It can get pretty full even before it reaches Heuston in the mornings, it all depends.

Riamfada · 03-05-2008 05:49PM

It would be immensely easier to book yourself into a B&B near UCD for the Thursday night and travel home on Friday after your lecture. At about 30 euro a night it at least garuntees you be there the next morning

Maraz · 03-05-2008 08:07PM

Cheers Guys, I appreciate the info. It's alot of help

dmigsy · 03-05-2008 08:09PM

Another solution would be if you had a folding bike that you could bring on the train (Or had a cheapo bike you could leave locked at heuston). It's then 25-30 minutes out to UCD from Heuston even with heavy traffic. Nice bit of exercise to wake you up after the train too!

bassman22 · 03-05-2008 08:49PM

I'd say bike really is the way to go, its the fastest, cheapest and most reliable.... with the added bonus of being good for your health!

I know a lot of people seem to have a mental block about cycling but its worth a try at least?

03-05-2008 09:37PM

I live pretty close to Heuston station (5 minutes further away actually), and it usually takes me 50 minutes to get in to UCD for 9am by taking the Luas then a bus. Sometimes it only takes me 40 minutes. It's very rare that it takes me more than an hour, so you should be fine....

Redpunto · 03-05-2008 09:41PM

Need friend with motorbike you do

blorg · 03-05-2008 10:04PM

Cheap bike in Heuston, definately. Alternatively you could bring one on the train but that costs €8 each way.

Tayto2000 · 04-05-2008 12:03PM

Nope, take the front wheel off and put the whole thing in a bag of some sort, it magically becomes 'luggage'

Leave it locked at Heuston, should be OK for the duration of exams...

Tigrrrr · 04-05-2008 05:17PM

Taxis to UCD only cost about ten euro, definitely get you there in plenty of time

Rosita · 06-05-2008 01:30PM

I have to say that the idea of getting a taxi from Heuston to UCD in rush-hour traffic for €10 or being able to cycle from Heuston to UCD in 25 minutes in rush-hour traffic are stongly at odds with what I would have believed to be the case.

I'd have thought that the distance between Heuston and UCD would rack up a taxi-far of the best part of a tenner even in the dead of night with no serious traffic around. And I imagine that the 25 minutes on a bike is a personal best achieved under optimum conditions rather than something that could be repolicated week in week out irrespective of traffic and weather!

Tayto2000 · 06-05-2008 02:48PM

It's 8.4k from Heuston to UCD and it's bus lanes for most of that so traffic shouldn't be too much of a problem. I do 7k from Crumlin to UCD daily in about 20 mins most days, it depends how fast you'd want to take it. Maybe 30-40mins if you wanted to take it really easy?

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=12563810291809970282,53.308780,-6.219000&saddr=53.346555,-6.292505&daddr=Stillorgan+Rd+%4053.308780,+-6.219000&mra=mi&mrsp=0,1&sz=14&sll=53.337997,-6.302376&sspn=0.033773,0.079222&ie=UTF8&ll=53.321235,-6.233025&spn=0.067573,0.158443&z=13

dmigsy · 06-05-2008 05:39PM

I cycle from beside the hapenny bridge to UCD most days in heavy traffic. Takes about 20 minutes and I don't hammer it out-it doesn't look cool arriving into lectures dripping in sweat!

Arriving in Heuston at 8am and getting to UCD for 9; can it be done?

Comments