CAR

It takes at least an hour and 40 minutes to get from Arklow to the city centre by car in rush hour - 40 minutes to Bray and an hour's crawl to O'Connell Street. You meet the first bottlekneck on the narrow stretch just past the Tap pub on the N11. Get behind a slow truck here and the 9 a.m. start is in jeopardy. Traffic through the Glen of the Downs is slow at the moment because of roadworks. Some Arklow commuters branch off at Delgany and drive through the outskirts of Greystones and Bray, rejoining the road at the beginning of the Bray by-pass. If you turn off at Rathnew and drive the back road through Newcastle and Kilcoole to Bray, you miss the roadworks at Glen of the Downs. Once on the Bray by-pass, the Dublin commuter traffic begins and it's anybody's guess how long it takes to get into the city. Commuters sometimes drive to Bray, park the car and take the DART to town.

BUS

A Bus Eireann service leaves Arklow at 7.15 a.m., arriving at Busarus by 8.55 a.m. Going home, there is a 5.30 p.m. bus which arrives in Arklow at 7 p.m. and one at 5.45 p.m. which arrives at 7.15 p.m. A weekly return ticket costs £23. Local taxi company Call-a-Cab operates a weekday service from Fair Green at the lower end of Main Street. It leaves at 6.45 a.m. and picks up passengers at two points on the Wexford and Dublin roads, getting into O'Connell Street around 8.30 a.m. This service drops passengers off at several places along the route, including Loughlinstown Hospital, Foxrock Church, Donnybrook and St Stephen's Green. It continues on to the airport for commuters catching a morning flight. On the return journey, the bus leaves Kildare Street at 5.15 p.m. and arrives in Arklow at 6.50 p.m. A weekly return ticket costs £30 and a single airport journey from Arklow is £10.

TRAIN

A train departing Arklow at 6.53 a.m. gets into Dublin Connolly at 8.38 a.m. Going home in the evening, the Rosslare train, which stops at Arklow, leaves Connolly at 6.30 p.m. and arrives in Arklow at 8 p.m. A weekly return ticket costs £36.