There are two ways to reach
Amherst from Boston.
BOSTON
AIRPORT - FRAMINGHAM -
AMHERST
One
way to reach
Amherst by bus from Boston is to
take the
Framingham Logan Express Bus
service.
The bus
starts from Terminal E and reaches the
Peter-Pan bus terminal at Framingham. It
should cost you around $9 to reach
Framingham. From there you should take
another bus to
Amherst. Ask for a student
concession on the ticket. In any case
the cost for your ticket from Framingham
to
Amherst would be around $25. You may
need to change buses once more at an
intermediary stop called Springfield.
Ask the bus driver if you need
assistance.
You
need to check the timings of the bus
from Framingham to
Amherst. You can check the schedule
online by going to
Peterpan home page and typing the
departure city as Framingham and
destination city as
Amherst. The result will be the bus
schedule from Framingham to
Amherst. You must check the schedule
before you start from India and plan
accordingly. There are not many buses
from Framingham to
Amherst. So
check your schedule and plan accordingly.
BOSTON
AIRPORT - SOUTH STATION (BOSTON) -
AMHERST
The
second way to reach
Amherst is to catch a bus from
Boston Logan Airport to South Station
bus terminal. To do that you need to
take a bus from the airport terminal.
Ask the people there for help and they
will provide you information on how to
reach South Station by bus.
To
reach south station from Logan airport,
you have several options. Check out
http://www.massport.com/logan/getti_typeo_buses.html
which
has info on all types of transport to
south station. Among the bus services
offered, the most frequent services are
http://www.bonanzabus.com/logboswh.htm
You will give as your origin "Logan" and destination as "Boston" or "South
Station".
http://www.concordtrailways.com/concord_manchester_bus_schedule_mf.htm if you
are coming on a weekday and
http://www.concordtrailways.com/concord_manchester_bus_schedule_ssh.htm if you are coming on a weekend or holiday.
http://www.concordtrailways.com/concord_trailways_bus_fares.htm Look under New Hampshire for fares.
Also check http://www.p-b.com/LDweekday.htm and
http://www.p-b.com/busfairs.htm.
Usually there is a bus every 2 hrs.
Weekends there is a different schedule.
From
South Station you have to take peterpan
bus to
Amherst. Goto the peterpan/greyhound
terminal and ask for a ticket to
Amherst. Ask for student's
concession (show your I-20 and visa).
Keep the passport handy. You might have
to change buses in Springfield. Ask the
driver if you have any doubts. The
frequency is lot better in South
Station. To check the schedule goto the
peterpan website and type Boston as the
departure city and
Amherst as the destination city. You
will see the schedules.
Once
in
Amherst, you should get down at
Amherst Center bus stop (NOT
Haigis Mall). Ask the driver and he would
notify you when the stop is reached.
Amherst Center is located in
downtown
Amherst. There is a peterpan bus
stop there. You would also be having
public telephone booths from where you
can call us. Be prepared to wait for
even an hour. We will definitely get
someone to pick you up. Just stay put at
the bus stop.
Have
at least $50-60 for expenses involved in
the bus journey. Also quarters are used in lots of places so keep a separate sachet for it.
As
we have your arrival time, we will be
expecting your call.
AGAIN: before
you start on your journey from India.
-
Check
your arrival time at Logan Airport,
Boston.
-
Check
for the earliest Logan Express
service.
-
It
takes 1-1.5 hrs to reach Framingham.
See if you have any immediate
connection to
Amherst from Framingham.
-
Alternatively, check for earliest bus
service from Logan to South Station on
the bonanza bus or concord trailways.
-
it
takes 25-30 minutes to reach south
station from Logan. Check for earliest
possible connections from south
station to
Amherst.
-
Draw
a plan and get printouts of all the maps,
schedules and this page and keep them
in your hand luggage.
-
In
case your flight arrives late or
anything else happens, be prepared to
make changes in your plans. That is
why you need the schedules on hand. If
you are going to Framingham, make sure
you go to the Logan Express info desk
and ask them how long it will take to
reach Framingham from Logan.
New
York to
Amherst
In
the baggage claim area of JFK airport,
you will find ground transportation
desks, courtesy telephones, and
representatives of
transportation agencies. Ask them about
Peter pan bus counter.
You
may need to go to Port authority bus
terminal on 42nd street (Manhattan) by
cab (less than 40 $..its expensive, but
better with
luggage). Tell the driver about Peter
pan bus terminal. There, you can ask
people as you go in (at one entrance,
you may find the wheel carriages for
your luggage). There are 2 or three
counters in different floors. Get the
Ticket (ask for student discount) (its
about 31$ one way without discount).
They will tell to go to the gate where
the bus starts. Buses normally run till
11 pm in the night.
Once you reach NY please call us if you
wish to be picked up from the
Amherst bus stop.
Follow
the instructions for calling given in
the Boston to
Amherst section.
Hartford to
Amherst (Valley transporter - costlier option):
The
immigration formalities would be
completed in an airport you would land
before transferring to a flight to
Hartford. So, they are the same as
above.
Hartford is a small airport. So, there
are a couple of information counters
where you can get general info.
Take the Valley
Transporter. It’s a taxi service that
picks up people from Bradley airport and
drops them off at specified addresses.
It costs 35-50$ to reach and address in
Amherst. However the frequency is
very good: its usually there every hour
on the fifteen of the hour. For more
info, check http://www.valleytransporter.com/bradley.htm
. In this case you can come directly to
the specified address ( call/email us to
get the address) and need not get down
in
Amherst Center.
Note: Make
sure you call one of us before you land
up here because we need to make sure
someone is in the apartment when you come!
IMPORTANT NOTE:
In any case if you are coming by BUS
then, get down at
AMHERST CENTER and give us a call
from there and someone would come and
pick you up. It is also a good thing if
you could call us before you board the
bus in Boston/Hartford/New York so that
we have an idea of when you would be
coming to
Amherst.
