Daily seat Lottery - Connolly to Mullingar not 17.05 but 18:05

[Ballymore]

Just to clarify, I took no offence at the question and as you can see was quite happy to give my reasons.

I appreciate that with the current housing market thousands of people have essentially been displaced from areas they would prefer to live in order to find 'affordable housing' but we actually chose to move to Ballymore of our own free will. I was fully aware of the fact that I would be commuting to Dublin unless I got a job nearer to home and as yet that hasnt happened so the commuting continues.

[Thomas J Stamp]

Originally Posted by plant43

Well done on reading something into the post that wasn't there. I was merely interested to know why people would put themselves through such a long commute. In this case, the OP has said he enjoys a better quality of life despite all the travelling, so that's fair enough.

I don't buy into this "no choice" thing. There is always a choice about where you can live as far as I'm concerned.

My post wasn't meant as an attack on the OP and I don't think he took it as such, so why you did is beyond me.

you were having a pop, the fact the is good natured enough not to be offended is not relevent, others would be.

Glad you are lucky enough not to buy into the "no choice" thing, well done you. Many of our members do not have that choice. As Mark says, and as I said, we do not recommend living outside the surburban boundary but if you do that is your own business. If you weren't having a pop at either Ballymore personally, or those who commute long distance in gereral then why bother with the post in the first place? Let me guess, its part of some research you're conducting? Give it up.

[lambo77]

Mullingar commute is not that bad. I believe the extra 45-60 mins travel is worth it. I have a big house with plenty of space,have a realtivley small mortgage and plenty of amenities. Some people on the outskirts of Dublin such as Lucan and Citywest that work with me have a similar commuting time in the morning and evening yet they have to pay dublin prices for property etc and live in overcrowded estates.
All we need is a few later services in the evening like Dundalk has.

[chris]

I don't think most people here are qualified to make comments about planning, so RUI should get back to talking about its core issues.

If anyone wants to talk about planning in a different forum, I suggest you head along to the planning debate tomorrow (Tues 5th Feb) in Trinity College (Emmet Theatre) at 7:30, Admission Free

[Ballymore]

Originally Posted by chris

I don't think most people here are qualified to make comments about planning, so RUI should get back to talking about its core issues.

If anyone wants to talk about planning in a different forum, I suggest you head along to the planning debate tomorrow (Tues 5th Feb) in Trinity College (Emmet Theatre) at 7:30, Admission Free

Sorry Chris but thats a bit of an assumption isnt it? Maybe we're all town planners for all you know. (Christ I hope not - otherwise we've a lot of answering to do...)

Does that mean because we're not football players we cant specualte on who gets the Irish job, or because I'm not a movie star I cant say a movie is good or bad? Dont think so.

[chris]

Originally Posted by chris

I don't think most people here are qualified to make comments about planning

Originally Posted by Ballymore

Sorry Chris but thats a bit of an assumption isnt it? Maybe we're all town planners for all you know

That's why I said "think", not "know". Anyway, experts or not, we won't change it by posting about it on this forum. It's as futile as arguing with the geography of a country - transport just has to deal with it, it can't greatly change it.

[Derek Wheeler]

Im coming back to this thread. Just have to finish cooking the roast spuds.

[Derek Wheeler]

Ah yes, they sure were nice spuds and the sirloin steak wasn't too bad either. (licks lips and gets down to business.)

This is a big thread thats wandering all over the place, but the theme seems to be consistant, so I'll try to incorporate as much of the discussion as possible in no particular order.

T. Stamps "row" with plant43 is fairly irrelevent. Plant43s question is perhaps born out of naievity rather than malice. I don't see the point of singling the poster out for redicule. Education is a better concept than attack.The question of people having a "choice" of where they live is a very difficult one. While bad planning is an obvious cause contender, we must remember that Ireland is unique in terms of its attitude to living space. In this country we have developed a culture that demands you aspire to owning a home as soon as you shake off mammys apron strings. So it was this demand that fuelled rising land prices, which in turn encouraged "dodgey" planning. Before long it was all out of control and commuter rail services were been dictated by the TD who could shout the loudest. Hence they're a badly structured mess in many areas.
Unfortunetly Transport 21 is not designed to address the problems of the past. The interconnector (DART Tunnel) will deliver the groundwork for solving the problem, but only if IE have the vision and the freedom to introduce worthwhile services to outer suburban areas. I disagree with some here that "recommend" people don't live outside the short hop commuter zone. Real life tells us that thousands do and actually have "no choice" based on the culture that has been created. I don't think that Ballymore should have to justify why he/she lives in Mullingar and works in Dublin, just as I don't think that plant43 should be taken to task for asking. These are the mysteries that successive Governments have provided us with. If they had Governed properly, we wouldn't be arguing over the issue.

As for standing on commuter services, I would deem a 30 minute journey standing as acceptable, but beyond that, no way. In terms of the Mullingar commute, there is no point arguing with the current set up whereby Maynooth passengers get a seat and a passenger going beyond Maynooth has to wait until said Maynooth passenger vacates a seat. Its first come first served. This brings us back to the "commuter train" that does a 140 + mile round trip. The reason for it brings us back to what I already said. Bad Planning. However Transport 21 has a drawbridge mentality to it. It caters for the traditional commuter area. Its routed in the DTOs Platform for change document, a document that is so out of date, it makes George Formby look contemporary. This is probably why the DTO are beginning a "beyond 2015" document. Too little, too late for what has happened beyond the pale. T21 is predominantly geared towards serving the high density developments that have finally started to appear and those being planned.(all within the Dublin city/county limits.

Mark Gleeson mentioned the original DART plan from the 70s. I used to think that had it been implemented in full, then we wouldn't be in the mess we're in. But after some reflection and further research, I say that it wouldn't have stopped the outrageous planning decisions that took place in the GDA. But T21 could still have solved what we have now. Now, our man, Chris, is probably thinking that I'm a "planner". But of course, Im not a "professional" planner and have no "formal qualifications" in that area. But since I helped set up this organisation in 2003, I have learned far more than any University could teach me. Dublin is barely comparable to anything else in Europe. Our great hope that is T21 will evapourate into yet more gridlock and we'll have Platform for Change 2 attempting to deal with it as if it has just arrived. The people in charge are years behind, so why expect the service to be years ahead?

Time for dessert. Sugar free Angel Delight (Im Diabetic).

[Ballymore]

A new development - last few evenings the 18:05 from Connolly has sat just a feww hundred yards short of Mullingar station for 2-3 minutes before eventually moving up to allow us disembark. Any ideas why?

[Mark Gleeson]

Either the train ahead was still in the platform in Mullingar or there was a train going the other way, one train must wait until the other is safely in the platform before entering the station

[Ballymore]

Definitely no train seen going the other way anyway.

[Ballymore]

Quite annoying when we are already arriving late to stop short and be delayed further without any explanation.

[CSL]

Aren't there two platforms at Mullingar [ or even a 3rd unused one ? ]

[James Shields]

There are actually four. There was a third platform added on the Sligo line, but there was already an extra platform on the Athlone line.

[Mark Gleeson]

On a single track route, where a station has two platforms only one train is allowed to enter the station at a time, this avoids the situation where one train fails to stop and crashes into the other

[ThomasJ]

Tonights 18:13 tara street longford service was six coach 2800 and left people behind at tara street.

[Ballymore]

Another delay getting into Mullingar last night and this time I did notice a Dublin bound train passing on the other side before we moved into the station. Looks like this is going to be a daily occurance now.

[Ballymore]

My recent good run of getting a seat at Connolly on this one came to an end yesterday and I had to stand to Maynooth again.

It was very crowded last night, more so than usual I thought.

[awhooley]

hey there, i am new to this fourm, (hey ballymore, we must be neighbours! )

So, to begin with my very first post may I ask did anyone notice this lately?:- Since the new timetable was implemented, the new early service from Dublin to Sligo is rostered to arrive in Mullingar at 08:15 but ACTUALY arrives at about 25 mins past.

Well, since this has been happening, the 08:53 service to Dublin has been about 10 mins late ever since!

[Ballymore]

Hi awhooley and welcome to the forum. The Ballymore contingent just doubled!

I actually got the 08:53 on 3 occasions last week and it was on time(ish) bar a minute or two so is it only this week it's been 10 minutes late?

I normally get the 07:26 myself and though it's not very late I've never seen it actually leave at 07:26 yet!