I would like to travel from New York to see my cousin in Connecticut for the weekend at the end of this month. She can collect me from either Hartford or, perhaps, Willimantic after 4pm on the Friday. Any ideas what is the best way? Cost is an issue as is convenience, speed less so. I will be starting from Manhattan.
It’s not clear from your post if you’re driving or not.
If you are driving, take the Merritt Parkway instead of I-95/I-91.
If not, take the Metro North commuter train to the end in New Haven, then take a bus to Hartford, I guess.
Yep - more details, please. And if you are driving, you can take the Hutch, which becomes the Merritt, which then ends by dumping you onto 1-91 about 20 miles or so below Hartford.
I am pretty sure you can take the train - check Amtrak as well as MetroNorth. But I bet with Amtrak, a cheap car rental may start to look attractive…
Sorry, no I’m not driving - never learned!
You can take Amtrak from Penn Station directly to Hartford, CT. It takes about two and a half hours.
Alternatively, you can take Metro-North to New Haven, and then get a bus to Hartford. Probably will save you a couple bucks, but it hardly seems worth it.
ETA: According to Amtrak’s scheduling doohikey, some of the trains to Hartford require a transfer at New Haven. You might be able to save money by taking Metro-North to New Haven and then taking the Amtrak the rest of the way.
A friend of mine from Mass. used to do that quite often, her family would then pick her up in Hartford. We once also took Metro North to Stamford and rented a car there (right next to train), but of course that only works if you can drive.
I think that it will take a long time to get from New Haven to Hartford, so if possible, see if your cousin can pick you up from Union Station in New Haven (and then you can get to New Haven either via Metro-North or Amtrak).
I just checked Amtrak’s schedule, and it’s about 1h30m to New Haven and about an hour more to Hartford. It can take about 30-45 minutes to drive to New Haven from Hartford, so it might be faster for her to drive there, especially if she lives between the two cities.
I live in the New Haven area and frequently work in Manhattan. If you’d like to see if we can work out a carpool (I may be able to take you to Hartford, depending on my schedule) send me an email. My email address is in my profile.
I’m in awe. If this were a less suspicious age, I would ask if I can touch you. I’m amazed that you have been able to avoid having to drive, though I see from your location it’s entirely possible in your case.
[aside]
Isn’t it true that whenever you see New Yorkers in TV or films, they almost always drive a lot more than they do IRL? If so, I attribute that to the fact that it’s much easier to shoot a scene of a couple of people in a car, than it would be to show the same people convincingly on a train or bus.[/aside]
Peter Pan Bus Lines runs buses from New York to Hartford. You can buy tickets from the Greyhound or Trailways counters in Port Authority. The trip takes around 3 hours.
Bus pros: It’s cheaper (a round trip will cost around $50, while a round trip on Amtrak will cost around $100). The scheduling is more frequent than Amtrak’s.
Bus cons: Well…it’s the bus. Have you ever ridden Greyhound/the Chinatown buses to Boston, etc. before?
I grew up in New York City, and like you, ticker, I don’t have a car. I got used to mass transit very quickly. So I can put up with cramped, crowded, smelly intercity buses. But, when I have a choice, I take Amtrak. The train is WAY more comfortable.
If you can afford to take Amtrak, I would recommend that you do so. It looks like you’re planning to travel during Memorial Day weekend. Both the train and the bus will be crowded, but the train might be a little less crowded (because of the higher fare), and at least your seat will be bigger and give you more legroom.
I would probably take the bus, because going via New Haven is way out of the way.
Thanks for all the replies folks! I shall probably take the bus because, besides being half the cost, they are more frequent and fit my schedule better plus the train is only a little faster. Thanks again.
I’ve taken the Bonanza Bus (now bought by Peter Pan) from New York as far as Southbury (it continues up I-84 to Hartford and beyond). Other than it being a bus ride, it isn’t that bad.
Hey, I work in Southbury!
I remember chatting with you about it in some bar or another in the City. You work in the corporate end of Southbury, and my Aunt lives in the old people part of Southbury.
Yeah, my folks live in CT so I used to take the FDR to the Bruckner to the Hutch to the Merritt. Or MetroNorth.
I don’t believe MetroNorth connects to Hartford but Amtrak does.
I will also refer you to some helpful sites:
Boston Bus Tickets to New York, Washington DC, Philadelphia - GotoBus (I think this will be your low-cost winner)
I’m from Hartford.
If you don’t have a car, I would vote for the bus. It’s relatively painless as busses go, and there is no switching in New Haven. In Hartford the bus station and the train station are in the same building, so it doesn’t matter on that count.