Hello-- My D is considering Smith, which would be an excellent fit for her. Until now she has only been considering more urban/metro area schools. Sounds like the Northampton actually has a lot to offer a student, but how to they get around without a car? Are there reasonable ways to get into a real city? Are the buses between the 5 colleges frequent enough to be useful (and do they run late at night?) I don’t think she would want to feel stuck and I can’t get a good feel for how mobile the students are-- or does everyone else bring a car? Thank you! (Note: we are in NorCal, not at all familiar with Western Mass but are planning trip in the Spring, but we’ll have a car for that).
I just visited Smith with my D20 last week. Northampton is a lovely town and from what they said in the info session the bus runs frequently and is no cost for students. We were surprised to see how far the colleges are from each other - they said Amherst is the farthest and is about a half hour away.
We took an Uber between Smith and Mount Holyoke a couple of times when we visited, and it’s a long drive (up one side of the river, across, back down). Much longer than I’d imagined before visiting.
PVTA bus schedule and routes: https://www.fivecolleges.edu/bus
Northampton was very bikeable / walkable.
You can bus to Springfield: https://www.smith.edu/about-smith/visiting-smith/directions
You can Amtrak to any number of places: https://www.amtrak.com/vermonter-train
You can Zipcar: https://www.northamptonma.gov/1528/Zipcar-Northampton
The 4 colleges not named “Smith” all lie along Route 116, so there is a free PVTA bus that loops between the 4 of them, about every 20 minutes (I believe, don’t hold me to that timetable). Smith, being on the other side of the river, takes a bit longer. Students may have to change buses at UMass to get to Smith. However, since UMass is sort of like the hub of the system, one can get a bus from there to just about anywhere (Boston, NYC, Bradley Airport, etc).
WARNING: D graduated from Mt Holyoke 6 yrs ago, so my info may not be 100% current. She used the free bus to take courses at UMass and Hampshire. Avoided Smith because of the longer ride. Avoided Amherst because the vibe there is less than welcoming for consortium students.
Thanks everyone. Sounds like transit is something that is possible and students so it, but you have to plan and put thought into it and allow plenty of time. Good to hear there are Ubers in the area. Seems like on demand ride sharing must revolutionize travel for students.
You mentioned getting into a real city, I assume you mean Boston? There is the Peter Pan bus that runs out of the Pioneer Valley that has a stop in Northampton. It is a Greyhound type bus that has WiFi and movies. They run even in the worst of weather which is nice to know.
CottonTales: Boston, sure, but anywhere with a airport too. It isn’t obvious to me how to get your kid home for school breaks. I would hope the schools provide shuttle service to an airport during those busy coming/going times?
Actually Amherst College website has really good info about airport shuttle services. Smith’s site has basically nothing. Anyway I found what I was looking for. Thanks everyone!
Most kids would fly out of Bradley or Logan. The shuttle to Bradley (Valley Transporter IIRC) is convenient but costs almost double what the Peter Pan is to Boston, and I found the flights out of Logan to be much cheaper.
The student govt at Amherst organizes free shuttles to Bradley, Boston and NYC on breaks. Not sure about Smith - a good question for D to ask them directly.
Amtrak right there is pretty huge. Peter Pan is OK but no longer nonstop to NYC I think, maybe not even Boston? It was until about a year ago, on weekends.
Around Northampton they can walk or bike - it’s not that huge. PVTA works to move outside of town. Uber/Lyft available for late nights, and if a few share the ride, not a bad option for Bradley airport either.
I went to UMass without owning a car, and would go over to Northampton and Smith frequently via the free PVTA bus. I also lived in Northampton for a year, and commuted to UMass via the bus. The bus connects the five colleges, and runs frequently enough that I often didn’t even worry about the actual schedule. I’d just go out there and wait.
To get around Northampton itself, you just walk. It’s pretty compact in terms of its downtown. I also mainly used to walk around Amherst, but I’d sometimes take the bus if I was going all the way from UMass to Hampshire College.
To get to NYC or Boston, I’d take the Peter Pan bus from Amherst or catch a ride with someone who did have a car. Amtrack runs a train from Northampton to NYC, and up to Montreal. I never took the train, as the bus was much cheaper.
At UMass at least, many people didn’t bring a car. You have to pay for student parking, and the parking is not near the dorms, so having a car can actually be a bit of a PITA. I understand that first year students can’t bring a car to Smith.