The lives of commuters: ‘I wonder why we all chose to do this? ’

More and more people are having to commute long distances to avoid the high cost of living in Dublin.

Three more commuters share their stories of spending hours on the road each day to get to work.

Lewis Kelly (37), financial executive

Commute: Carpenterstown, Dublin 15 to Ballsbridge, Dublin 4

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Total commuting time, including morning and evening travel: 2 hours 40 minutes each day

“The day starts at 6.20am as I tiptoe around the house trying not to wake up my wife and two young kids. I leave at 7am and walk to the station to catch a 7.15am train.

"The train originates at Longford at 5.40am. It is only four carriages long. It's cheek to cheek, standing room only, by the time it gets to Coolmine where I get on. It's dangerously overcrowded; people have fainted plenty of times.

“The train is an odd place at this hour of the morning: people doing makeup, eating breakfast, sleeping, working, sitting on the floor, anything to make better use of their time or make the journey more comfortable. Yet there is a comforting familiarity to it. You see the same people in the same carriage every morning. You know nothing about them but yet so much.

“As we limp into the city centre, I’m watching the clock as I have a connecting Dart to catch. There is only a five-minute margin for delay. Any later and it’s a 20-minute wait for the next Dart.

“This is a 21st-century EU capital and our main source of public transport runs every 20 minutes at rush hour. The rail service is grossly underinvested in and needs to be improved to reflect the society we live in: more people working but living further away as they can’t afford to rent or buy in or around the city.

“I’ll leave work at 5.30pm and take the same route home, hoping there isn’t a signal fault or mechanical issue and I get home on time to play with the kids before the bedtime routine starts.

“I wonder why we all choose to do this? What has gone so wrong that we are all working so hard to buy a house that is miles away from anything, that we don’t get to enjoy, as we spend all our time away from it and our family commuting to work?

“At the same time I am grateful that I have a job and a home.”

Shane Kelly (34), primary school teacher

Commute: Ballinasloe to Dublin

Total commuting time: 3 hours 10 minutes each day

“My wife and I were living in Dublin. She was a social worker in Beaumont but in April 2015, after six years on a panel, was offered a job in Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe.

“As things were, my wife was spending over two hours a day commuting in Dublin. Rent prices were going through the roof and as we were getting married we thought that moving home to Co Galway was best chance we had to set up as a family.

“I get up around 5:30am every day for my commute to Dublin and am on the road for 6am. I like to get to work early so I minimise time after school. At first the only issue was the cost of travel – around €400 a month on diesel, tolls, servicing the car. However, we have since had a daughter and have another child due early next year.

“Now it’s the time I miss out with them. I am lucky that I have the summer and other holidays but it would be nice to have longer time in the evenings.

“Apart from time spent with children, the other issue is probably my own health. I find playing sport very tough and am not sure I can do it again next year. After so long in the car it is very difficult to motivate yourself to train and I started to get much more injury-prone.

“It’s certainly not easy but I still believe we made the right choice. Our children will be raised around their grandparents and with more manageable housing and childcare.”

Eoghan Delany (28), now living in Australia

Commute: used to be Dublin to Craigavon

Total commuting time: 4 hrs 30 mins each day

"I finished a PhD in chemistry in August 2015 and with rent and bills increasingly on my mind, I accepted a position in December in a pharmaceutical company in Craigavon, north of the border. My girlfriend had a good job in Dublin so I decided to drive for the first few weeks and see how I got on.

“It was a 288-kilometre round trip, so I spent almost four hours of my day on the road. Life quickly became regimented: up at 5.30am, out the door 20 minutes later, arrive in work for 7.45am. With flexitime, I left at 4.15pm and was home before 6.30pm. If I strayed too much from this schedule, I’d end up sitting in traffic at both ends of the homeward journey.

“Not so easy to manage was the mental toll of the financial cost. Petrol, toll fares and car maintenance all add up rapidly. Because I was paid in sterling, I became an expert in analysing exchange rates. After Brexit, I had almost €8,000 knocked off my salary overnight. These things made it difficult to continually convince myself the commute was worth it.

"In the end, I decided that 15 months was enough. We left Dublin to travel in Australia and settle in Melbourne. My commute here is a 15-minute tram ride from the stop outside my door."

Tell us your commuting story by emailing 300 words and a photograph to commuters@irishtimes.com.