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Entry tags:
public transport
tongodeon's post about taking the bus prompted me to revisit my own travel arrangements, not least because I spend at least an hour each day sitting in a car between home and work, and it's neither fun, healthy, nor good for the environment. Alas, I'm still somewhat doomed. My options are as follows:
Using either public transport route suffers from three problems: it takes longer than driving, there's a long enough walk involved in either that I'll get pretty soaked when it rains, and there's poor synchronisation between the services - particularly the DART and its supposed "feeder bus". There's also the lesser issue of purchasing combination tickets to cover the services - as best I can tell, there's no such thing as an economical one-day commuter ticket covering rail and bus, for example, despite the fact that they're under the same umbrella management and in theory working towards a common goal. The cycling route would probably be the best option if I ignored my general state of physical fitness and the inclement weather, but it's also the lengthiest of the three options timewise.
I have an entirely separate rant about the difficulty in collating this information; both the DART and Dublin Bus websites are teeming with overengineered interfaces and a complete absence of useful features. You can, for instance, find out which bus routes serve Dalkey, but you have to click through each one to find out which of those services connects with Dun Laoghaire. And don't even think of asking for a multiple-hop chain of services that'll get you somewhere not on a direct route. The DART site, to give them some kudos, has recently introduced a feature whereby you can check for the next train serving the station of your choice in the direction of your choice. No such facility is available on the Dublin Bus website, despite the fact that the information is available in electronic form, since they're offering to send it to you via text message if you like. I'll pass over comment on their notion of a website for the visually impaired.
Upshot being I'm sticking to the car for now. Vroom vroom!
- 59 bus - or 15-20 minute walk - to Dun Laoghaire, followed by 46A to Brewery Road, followed by a fifteen-minute walk to the office.
- 10 minute walk to DART station, followed by DART to Blackrock, followed by 114 bus to Sandyford Industrial Estate.
- Cycle - it's about 8-10 miles, including a steep climb up a half-mile-long hill
Using either public transport route suffers from three problems: it takes longer than driving, there's a long enough walk involved in either that I'll get pretty soaked when it rains, and there's poor synchronisation between the services - particularly the DART and its supposed "feeder bus". There's also the lesser issue of purchasing combination tickets to cover the services - as best I can tell, there's no such thing as an economical one-day commuter ticket covering rail and bus, for example, despite the fact that they're under the same umbrella management and in theory working towards a common goal. The cycling route would probably be the best option if I ignored my general state of physical fitness and the inclement weather, but it's also the lengthiest of the three options timewise.
I have an entirely separate rant about the difficulty in collating this information; both the DART and Dublin Bus websites are teeming with overengineered interfaces and a complete absence of useful features. You can, for instance, find out which bus routes serve Dalkey, but you have to click through each one to find out which of those services connects with Dun Laoghaire. And don't even think of asking for a multiple-hop chain of services that'll get you somewhere not on a direct route. The DART site, to give them some kudos, has recently introduced a feature whereby you can check for the next train serving the station of your choice in the direction of your choice. No such facility is available on the Dublin Bus website, despite the fact that the information is available in electronic form, since they're offering to send it to you via text message if you like. I'll pass over comment on their notion of a website for the visually impaired.
Upshot being I'm sticking to the car for now. Vroom vroom!