I just got my acceptance to Hunter College for Spring 2016!!!
I’m super-excited but also a little nervous. I knew I ultimately wanted to go there, but now I have to flesh out all the logistics.
Have any of you ever commuted from Orange County, NY to Hunter? What do you think is the best transport option?
Metro North to Grand Central and then the 6 train to 68th street would be my guess. Never commuted but I did grow up in the city. Do you know which station is closest to you?
For the train, Harriman is definitely closer. A shortline bus stops right outside my apartment complex, but I’m still trying to weigh the costs of each.
Do you know whi ch service is better during bad weather?
Shortline has an east side bus route that goes right past Hunter College. The can work well in the am but it would probably be easier to take a bus home from the Port Authority. Check the online schedule.
Can you get to Central Valley?
Btw I commute from the Central Valley Park and Ride to NY
If you’re near Harriman, the Port Jervis Line (which Harriman lies on) doesn’t go straight into Grand Central or into the city at all. You’d have to take Metro-North to either Hoboken or Secaucus. If you go to Hoboken, you can take the PATH train to 33rd St.; if you go to Secaucus, then take the NJ Transit Northeast Corridor Line to Penn Station. From there, you’d then use MTA to get from Penn Station to Hunter (can take the M4 up, or walk to Herald Square and take the F to Lexington/63rd.) Either way, it sounds like a pain in the butt.
If you can get to the Peekskill station in Westchester (or Manitou, or Cortlandt - any of the ones on the Hudson Line) then that’s far easier. On the Hudson line it’s a straight shot down to the Harlem-125th Metro-North station and then you can hop on the 6 to Hunter (or ride down to the Grand Central MN station and ride up to Hunter, either way).
The Short Line bus from Harriman goes to the Port Authority Bust Terminal at 42nd St. and takes about an hour. That would work out pretty well; you could take the subway shuttle from PABT to GCT and then take the 6 up to Hunter. Looks like there are lots of buses between 5 am and 10 am. A round-trip ticket is about $30, which is about the same as the Metro-North/NJT/MTA route above (actually, probably a bit cheaper).
BUT they have commuter fares, which slashes the price in half - a 10-trip ticket is $77.60, which comes out to $7.76 per ride or about $15.50 round-trip.
So the Short Line bus seems to be less hassle AND a whole lot cheaper. (I know that MN and NJT have commuter fares too, but the discount isn’t as steep and you’d have to purchase two tickets for the two separate services, not to mention your MTA fare).
Wow thank you!
@smokinact I am in Harriman and I was looking at the schedule for the buses and I didn’t see an east side route? Does the east side route only take off from Central Valley?
@juillet I know the Port Jervis MN route is such a pain and it takes longer and there is an extra fee to transfer from Secaucus! The only reason I am still weighing both options is because I don’t know how the buses run during snowstorms compared to MetroNorth. Your post was incredibly informative!
In terms of bad weather, my experience is more about Amtrak vs. Greyhound on the northeast corridor rather than traditional commuting but I would say that as the weather gets worse, the bus gets more and more delayed relative to the trains but the trains get full on shutdown before the busses do.
@glee17 it only goes through Central Valley.
hey may i aske what was your gpa getting admitted?