I'm starting a new job in QUB. Parking in the area is basically impossible unless you want to leave your car abandoned to have its wing mirrors smashed off in the Holyland.

I'm only likely to be in 3 days a week, so weekly/monthly tickets and iLink aren't really worth it. Even the 3-day flexi ticket still works out at over £11 per day.

I used to travel on the train every day from 2010 to 2020 when Covid started, and I didn't think it was cheap then either but at least comparable to driving.

I feel like I have no choice but to pay it to get to work though!

by perishingtardis

17 comments

  2. Get a cheap 125cc motorbike and use it to commute. You can park almost anywhere for free, but I’d advise getting a couple of good locks if your parking it in a quieter area just to be sure.

    I used to commute 40 miles a day on my Benelli TNT125. It cost me £1999 brand new in 2020. It costs £20 per year to tax, £10 a month to insure and it uses about 15 litres of fuel a month doing about 145mpg.

    Nowadays I pay £20 a month all in, and that caters for tax, annual MOT, fuel and insurance. Sweeten the deal with free parking and the ability to filter through traffic and it’s a no brainer. Just buy waterproof riding gear lol.

  4. £8 not to have to go back to Antrim seems about right.

    I’ve heard of a few people taking 50p and a packet of Banshee Bones.

  5. Prices are high because not enough people travel by train and people don’t travel by train because prices are high!

  6. The hassle and expense of using public transport here makes it a no go for me, on the commute front anyway, but you are over-egging it on the ‘impossible’ parking front. I park for free within 15 mins walk from QUB with no issue whatsoever and have done for years. You can get closer if you are willing to pay for a parking space at Botanic or Ormeau.

    I suggest asking for an 8am-4pm working pattern if you can as that missing the worst of the traffic and makes finding a parking space easier

  7. I mean let’s look at it this way the distance is 20 miles which is £1.33 a mile. Comparing a similar trip in England
    (Manchester piccalilly to Chorley) this is £17.70 or £1.12 a mile. Not to say translink is good on pricing but it could be worse and the service is mostly reliable

  8. Slightly off topic but this is why the whole “move further out and you’ll save money” thing can be a complete fallacy if you work in Belfast. We live fairly central so me and the wife can both commute by walking or biking so it’s completely free. Even at your £11 per day x3 days x50 weeks you’d be looking at £1650 per year, for 2 people that’s £3300. If you factor in a 3% cost increase every year and multiply it up over a 35 year mortgage term this commute for a couple would cost you an extra £200k over that time. The fact these kinds of costs increase with or above inflation while the mortgage stays fixed is the real killer over time that people don’t factor in.

  9. If you work in QUB can you not use the McClay car park during the day? It was always staff only until 4pm

  10. No one here asked you to live in Antrim. Get a job in Antrim, or move to Belfast like everyone else. Great. Solved. Complaining over.

  11. Parking is not impossible in that area. If youre in early enough you could get a space down the side of Students Union. If not, there are plenty of spaces down Malone and Eglantine avenue. No need to go anywhere near Holylands.

  12. The worst part about all this is that even if the train was affordable, you still wouldn’t have anywhere to park your car because Antrim train station car park is frequently packed. There’s also still the chance that your car will be smashed up while it’s parked there, like mine was once.

  13. When I go to uni I always find parking spaces around Derryvolgie and some of those other streets, only takes like 10 minutes to walk to the Queen’s building.

    Try it out a few times and if you can’t get it to work then you might just have to get the train tickets

  14. There may be spaces available outside the students union at Elmwood avenue.

    I parked there for qcon early from like 8am? Last month in June, though it could be that exams have finished? No charging, all day, tbh I didn’t even see any signs anywhere, u can probably use that. Talk to qub about parking too see if they can give advice.

  15. Well if you’d booked it online 3 months ago at 2am and used a rail card you’d have got it for £8 – average train simp

  16. Got charged 17.50 for a ticket from portadown to grand central, fuckin ripoff

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