Being a student in Dublin can be influenced by many factors.
One of these is the location of your accommodation with respect to your college or university and the transportation options around this.
Getting around Dublin for most will be a mix of Bus, DART (Electric Rail) Luas (Tram), Suburban Rail, taxi, bike and foot.
"Da Bus" The concept of commuting by rail/tram is slowly dawning on the select few lucky to live near a train station but make no mistake - regular travel around Dublin will require a working knowledge of the Bus system.
You can check on the dublinbus website the routes that are close to you.
Also get to know where the bus terminates.
The vast majority of routes either pass through or terminate in the city centre at one of 4 or 5 major locations (e.
g.
Ushers Quay, Nassau St.
etc...
).
Buses run until 23.
30 but Dublin Bus does run the "Nitelink" service until 4AM on selected routes Thur/Fri/Sat which can be a life-saver when you've spent the taxi fare on just one more round of drinks! Also check the options that Dublin Bus offer for regular travellers, buy a weekly or monthly ticket; you can save a lot of money this way.
Finally, keep a pocket full of change; if you're not using a pre-paid ticket the Busses will only accept coin and give no change.
Aircoach runs services between Dublin Airport and the city centre.
Check the route as this may be your cheapest way to get to/from the airport.
There are a few other private operators such as UrBus and The Patton Flyer which may also be worth looking into.
Luas The Dublin Luas (means "Speed" in Irish) tram system is a relatively new Light Rail Transit (LRT) system.
Clean and reliable, but limited to just two lines which run mostly on the south side of the city.
DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transport) and Suburban Rail The DART suburban rail service runs between Malahide in the North of the city to Greystones in the South and follows the coast.
There are separate suburban rail routes north, north-west, south-west and south.
All of these connect with the DART at Connolly Station and/or Pearse Station except the South-West line which terminates at Heuston which is a long walk, a short taxi ride or a luas ride away from Connolly.
Fortunately someone has managed to work out the logistics of calculating how to get from A to B using these various rail systems so you can plan your journey in one place at www.
irishrail.
ie Taxis Taxis can be hailed, hired at taxi ranks or booked by telephone.
Taxis are pretty plentiful nowadays since de-regulation several years ago.
The average fare for a taxi from the airport to the city centre is 25 euros.
However, they are not the optimum transportation choice for students and only use them if other options are unavailable.
If you do have to use them plan your journey in advance and figure out if you can share the cost with others.
Driving If you're going to be driving around Dublin then the next time you see "The Ordnance Survey Dublin Street Guide" at a petrol station, grab it.
Its not really that cheap at about ?10 but unless you've got GPS and/or Google Maps on SmartPhone I can guarantee it will pay you back in time and petrol saved.
Dublin (and all of Ireland) lags the rest of the developed world in that we do not have Zip-Codes, Post-Codes or anything like it and driving in Dublin is as complex as getting around any major city and worse than most.
Make sure you get a street address and you'll be set.
Watch out; parking in the city centre can be expensive but a little tip; parking at the suburban DART stations is usually reasonable if it suits to leave the car there.
If you have a car ensure your accommodation has secure parking.
Also, get to know the city to know where it is safe to park your car.
Cycling Despite the weather, cycling is a surprisingly efficient way of getting around the city.
I say "surprising" because up to a few years ago, Dublin was not at all conducive to cycling with bikes sharing narrow lanes with heavy traffic in many places.
Things have definitely improved with increasing numbers of cycle-lanes but your own regular route will determine your comfort level with using a bike to get around.
Dublin is not entirely flat, but neither is it impossibly hilly and so cycling is easy.
As mentioned with cars above ensure your student accommodation has secure parking for your bike.