Swords to Blackrock Commute

I have been doing this commute for the last 6 months or near enough and have never once been on a train that wasnt on time going to Blackrock.
Twice only have i been delayed coming home for about 20 mins both times because someone crashed into the Merrion gates. A small pain, but sure i had my iPod.
As for the Dart suicide comment. I think there was one suicide in the history of the Dart.
The train service is fantastic.
I wouldnt drive or bike it to blackrock at all.
The only reason to get a scooter is to get you to Malahide but you could cycle that easily. The dart will still beat you in even if you travelled on a scooter all the way to Blackrock with no traffic.
 
minion said:
I think there was one suicide in the history of the Dart.
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What!!??

Only in the last 14 days did it happen again.

This post will be deleted if not edited immediately lads you must be on a different DART line to me cause I've never found a ************************* commute anywhere on them.
 
Lappy said:
What!!??

Only in the last 14 days did it happen again.

This post will be deleted if not edited immediately lads you must be on a different DART line to me cause I've never found a ************************* commute anywhere on them.
Click to expand...

If you can show us some stats, or a report to back up the assertion, then well and good. Or that it happens once a week.

DART services were suspended yesterday between 10 and 12-the one time I had ever gone for a 10.40 DART. The cause was a bridge strike between Howth Junction and Malahide (at Moyne Road I suspect). I don't think I've ever seen that before; Amiens St., Tara St. and Grand Canal, yes, but not that often.

And I haven't said that the commute is *************************-but it is nowhere near as unreliable as you are making out.
 
I don't think IE provide stats on how many decide to take their own life by jumping in front of a train...

I do however have a friend who is a fire officer and only last week was giving out stink about the guards who took 40 minutes to arrive at the scene of someone who had jumped. That was in the last 14 days.

Anyway, the point has gone on so long now it's irrelevant at this stage, fact is, it happens.

I still would rather a moped to do that commute.

And the Howth line still has more trains and more frequently - have a look at the weekend times for Portmarnock to Tara, sometimes there's only one an hour, it's a sham and it's 100% Irish.

Try living in Sydney where you'll wait no more than about 10 minutes for a train AT ALL TIMES and obviously more frequent during busy times. Now that's a public service transport system that you CAN rely on to bring you to work day in, day out.
 
As far as I know, teachers don’t work weekends, so train times on a Saturday aren’t exactly relevant for commuting purposes. There are more trains serving Howth at the weekends-fair enough. But it doesn’t change the fact that there are the same number of trains serving Howth and Portmarnock/Malahide at peak times Monday-Friday, which is when most people would be travelling to work.


And I don’t dispute that fact that someone tried to throw themselves in from of a train in the last 2 weeks-what I disagree with is your earlier assertion that “it happens once a week”. I have been using the DART for well over 4 years, the last 2 from Portmarnock, and have not experienced the kind of unreliability in the mornings that you seem to infer. The evenings can be bad, but maybe once a month.


If you favour a moped, that’s fine, I’m sure many would agree. I prefer the DART, and I don’t think there is any harm in getting the facts right as to its reliability when you have stated otherwise.


What is certainly not relevant is how things are in Sydney-there’s no way that it’s a quicker commute from there to Blackrock than it is from Swords. Any ranting about Irish transport issues can be saved for Letting off Steam, where it belongs.
 
And just one more thing...

How is it, if I stand at Landsdowne Rd at 4pm the next train going to Portmarnock doesn't arrive til nearly 4.50pm - in that time there will have been 3, maybe 4 trains to Howth.

You don't drive a DART at all CCOVICH do you?

I think my Sydney point is VERY valid, you'd swear the Irish transport system was state of the art reading some of your posts and from my experience in other countries, it's FAR from it.
 
Lappy said:
You don't drive a DART at all CCOVICH do you?
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Yes, of course I do. I'm typing this on my laptop as I drive. I want to get as many people on the DART as possible because I'm paid based on the number of passengers I carry (no, wait, Bertie didn't fall for that one yet....). I also work for a builder and Fingal County Council.

Do you work for a scooter manufacturer? I mean, I presume that's the only reason that you're advising people to buy scooters, right?

Lappy said:
I think my Sydney point is VERY valid, you'd swear the Irish transport system was state of the art reading some of your posts and from my experience in other countries, it's FAR from it.
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Like I said, take it up in Letting Off Steam. Or just go back to Sydney.
 
Lappy said:
And just one more thing...

How is it, if I stand at Landsdowne Rd at 4pm the next train going to Portmarnock doesn't arrive til nearly 4.50pm - in that time there will have been 3, maybe 4 trains to Howth.
Click to expand...


If you take the Howth Dart to Pearse at 4pm you can then get the 4.15 Drogheda train to Portmarnock.
 
To the OP:

I'd be wary of moving right over to the other side of the city if you intend commuting to Blackrock long-term. That said, the Metro will eventually arrive in Swords, improving it's transport links no end I'd iamgine.

At the moment, you have five options: car, scooter/motorbike, bus, DART or don't move to Swords.

The car is probably going to be the most painful.

I don't know if the bus is much better-as someone said, you can get the 41X to UCD, but getting from there to Blackrock? The 17 is a joke AFAIK, but I'm not sure if the 46A is an option? Or I guess you could get the bus to town and DART from there?

Scooters/bikes-I have never used them. I'd say they are pretty convenient, but not for everyone.

The DART from Malahide or Portmarnock-I've said enough on that option. l better not say any more for fear of being accused of being the Minister for Transport.
 
Cahir said:
If you take the Howth Dart to Pearse at 4pm you can then get the 4.15 Drogheda train to Portmarnock.
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Yeh, last time I did that I ended up in Malahide as the train decided not to bother stopping in Portmarnock and it cost me €10 in a taxi to go home.

CCOVICH - take a chill pill. If you did any of the jobs you mention you wouldn't be able to spend so much time posting on here so it's probably a good thing, depending on which way you look at it.
 
Re: Free Parking in Blackrock

I have a friend who is driving to Blackrock town centre for work and is looking for free parking. I know theres a street about a 10-15 minute walk away for the centre of town where theres no pay-and-display, does anyone know where this is?
Thanks!
PS driving is the only option as there's no bus or other transit routes from where she lives and Blackrock.
 
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