How has your commute changed in the past 12 months?

I picked up about 2 minutes on the way home as a result of getting fitter down to 18-20 mins home, 14 in.

I use the N4 from the West a few days a week (luckily I don't have to drive all the way into the city centre) but the N4 itself has become quite bad.
Even without any incidents there's usually one or two exits that are really slow in the mornings - definitely got worse in the last year or so.

Love when the schools are on holidays - major difference.

My Dart journey is consistently 5 minutes slower since they increased the frequency, and that's not counting the many, many trains that are later than scheduled. I used to be able to time my arrival at the station to meet a train but now the vast majority of trains are running 3-10 mins behind schedule.

69 (Hourly bus) leaves terminus at 8:45am in the morning and used to be at my stop by 9:05-9:10am. Regularly rocks up now at 9:25 or later (as it did this morning at 9:37am, with real time remaining stuck on 13 mins for about 20) so has gotten much worse. Xpresso bus will now pass full at least 2 out of 5 evenings as well. Resorted to getting the god awful 13 and walking 20 mins to the office now, as at least it is somewhat predictable, but still has gaps of 15/20 mins at peak times. Bus service in West Dublin is an absolute joke.

The train (Maynooth line) is almost predictably 5-10 minutes late in the morning/evening since the new timetables were introduced. The frequency of various operational and congestion problems seems to have increased and Irish Rail's communication is as bad as ever. They seem to think 10 minutes late is nothing noteworthy and only really try to communicate when there is a major issue.

The addition of extra trains at off-peak has been very welcome, however the fact they terminate or start in Connolly means anywhere up to an extra 10 minutes travel time if you are going to/from Tara or Pearse. It is pot luck whether a connecting Dart lines up with the commuter service and I feel like I'm spending a lot of wasted time hanging around Connolly station.

I'm worried the new Pelletstown station is going to even further increase the commute time.

My general impression is a service that is creaking at the seems, with no real scope for improvement in the short-term.

McGaggs wrote: »

Irish rail have decided to change the timetables, to have the trains leaving earlier, but arriving at the same time. Except they're consistently running late. From Christmas they've also decided to change from one of the intercity trains where everyone fitted on comfortably to one of those commuter trains with less seats, and each seat is much smaller. It's now a struggle to get a decent place to stand, never mind get a seat. When I do get a seat, it's too small for an adult, resulting in back ache.

Absurd!

Commuting from Kildare and the trains have gotten busier as more people move out of Dublin, the car parks in the morning get busier earlier and earlier and then the trains are overloaded in the evenings.

How are we going to cope with more and more people moving out of Dublin due to high rents thus needing to commute and more people moving into the country for jobs created solely in Dublin? It's already under serious pressure and I can't see it getting any better anytime soon. :mad:

My commute time was getting longer and longer, 1hr 15mins at one stage and when they reduced the morning frequency of the 17a it was the final straw so I bought a bike. Now it's 40mins door to door. Do feel a little scared at times, but the extra time at home in the morning and evenings is totally worth it.

Used to be an off peak commuter and could get door to door in forty minutes followed by a taxi home after work. Now I'm one of the 9-5 club and it can take a little bit longer in the mornings which isn't unreasonable in my view (heavier traffic, busier loadings).

Heading home in the evening is a nightmare though. Bus route is unreliable so it could be north of an hour. Generally I take what will be the Bus Connects option, any bus serving the Malahide Road and then either another bus or walk if the wait will be too long. Doesn't bode well for Bus Connects imo.

Mistook the poll.. damn!

Anyway, my commute is roughly an hour each way in the car - most of it motorway driving, but I expect that to reduce in a few months.

I occasionally have to go in to Dublin city centre to our office there and it takes me as long to get from the house to the M50 (about 45-50 mins) as it does for me to get from there to the office. No point in taking the LUAS from the Red Cow either as it's just as long and would add a walk (and more cost) to an already long day

Bus on way into Dublin city centre was affected by the new tram lines (slightly over the 12 months at this point??).
That was increasing the for me by 10-15 min or so, so started to get off the bus several stops further back instead and walk in. That saved a few minutes.