<p>Good evening everybody,
Has anybody ever taken a bus from VT, provided by Home Ride of Virginia? How was your experience? What kind of bus?</p>
<p>Thank you</p>
<p>Also looking for feedback on this. Son has exam on last possible day so is having more problem than usual finding a way back home. Any feedback?</p>
<p>Home ride is just a nice charter bus. I’ve taken it before and theres nothing wrong with the ride itself but it definitely isn’t worth the money ($100 round trip?? cmon) and should really only be used as a last resort.</p>
<p>also try megabus? I haven’t tried it myself but I just saw that they have a route up to DC.</p>
<p>My son is a sophomore and has used Home Ride a few times: from campus to Harrisonburg, as well as from Vienna back to campus. We live in SE PA and prefer using the Harrisonburg stop - greater travel distance for us, but typically less time and an easier exchange. </p>
<p>Home Ride uses coach style busses. As is typical for my son, he had no complaints. Purchasing tickets was easy. I would think that some of the busier travel days they might sell out of seats, but he was always able to get one when needed. The only problem we have had was no fault of Home Ride. We did not get him to the bus stop at Harrisonburg in time last year when returning to campus after Thanksgiving break due to 1 1/2 hour traffic delay (we only allowed an extra hour of travel time). We then had to make the full round trip to campus and back home - left our house at 1:45 pm Sunday and returned home at 5:00 am Monday.</p>
<p>Finding a carpool ride from someone in your area might be more economical if there are several students pitching in for gas, but when the logistics don’t work out, Home Ride has been a good option for us.</p>
<p>springva,phoshzzle and SnLMom,Thanks so much for the thoughts and feedback on Home Ride and Megabus!</p>
<p>The last time I took home ride was in 2007 and the prices were like $88 round trip to Northern VA then. I heard they are over $100 now. Not worth it at all.</p>
<p>Megabus is a new thing that just came out and it’s like only a few bucks if that for a ride. I drive a fuel efficient car and it’s $47 round trip in gas for me. Even a train is cheaper than home ride. So Home ride is way far outside of the economical range. I’d recommend looking at Mega Bus. It also goes to DC and other big cities.</p>
<p>While Home Ride is not a cheap option, it is a reliable option; in our case, it helps to shorten the 12-13 hour round trip required to transport our son to and from campus. </p>
<p>I have had no experience with the Megabus.
I don’t know of a train service out of the Blacksburg area.
If a student has a car on campus, he probably would not be looking for other transportation options.</p>
<p>I just looked at the Megabus website. The departure point nearest Tech is in Christiansburg, Falling Branch Park & Ride Exit 118A. But the prices are unbelievable low - looking to average around $5 each way. They only go to downtown Washington DC, Parking Lot H St. NW opposite 10th St. NW, but for 90% off the price of Home Ride it looks like an option for NoVa and north students. </p>
<p>If you can get to Christiansburg to catch the bus and get back to Blacksburg it certainly seems to be the way to go. </p>
<p>Here’s the press release on the Hokie website: [Megabus.com</a> expands Washington, D.C., service to Christiansburg/Blacksburg/Roanoke | Virginia Tech News | Virginia Tech](<a href=“http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/notices/112310-tcs-megabus.html]Megabus.com”>http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/notices/112310-tcs-megabus.html)</p>
<p>I would think this would drive Home Ride prices down in the near future. Home Ride’s current prices are: $106 round-trip or $60 one-way to Northern Virginia, $113/$66 to Hampton, $98/$59 to Richmond, $66/$39 to Charlottesville, or $66/$39 to Harrisonburg.</p>
<p>Megabus might sound good “on paper,” but I would need to hear some positive feedback to prove that it’s reliable before I would be willing to depend on using it to get my son anywhere at this point … even at such a huge savings over Home Ride. See report from dpeacock:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/virginia-tech/1050509-megabus-route-christiansburg.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/virginia-tech/1050509-megabus-route-christiansburg.html</a></p>
<p>We live in Southern Maryland and our son used HomeRide on Dec 16. The bus leaving from campus is very convenient. The drive from our home to the Vienna Metro station is about an 1.25 hours away but a very easy drive. According to our son, the ride was uneventful, and he’d recommend it even though the price is significantly higher than the Megabus. </p>
<p>We plan to try Megabus for the trip back to VT after break. Driving him to the DC parking lot is about the same distance from our home, but not as simple of a drive IMO (I hate DC driving). Megabus will leave him off in Christiansburg, and he’ll catch a bus back to campus at that point. </p>
<p>Megabus seems a tad more of a hassle from our home and also having to take a bus from Christiansburg to campus, but the price difference is significant. At this point, we don’t know anyone personally who has used it, but we are willing to give it a try.</p>
<p>SnLMom, do I understand you that Home Ride drops off at the Vienna metro station? Would it be practical to take the train to an Amtrak station? We live in the philly suburbs and are trying to figure out the logistics of transportation at Tech, just in case. I guess it’s a gamble going to school if the train is delayed and she misses the bus. But coming home might work.</p>
<p>juniebug - Yes, Home Ride drops off at the Vienna metro station. We did look into the Metro and Amtrak from Vienna as an option for coming home. Getting to Philly would require a few transfers: metro orange route from Vienna to the the Metro Station; red route to Union Station; Amtrak to 30th St Station in Philly. Seems like a lot of bouncing around and not incredibly practical, but if there are no other alternatives, it could serve as a back-up plan. </p>
<p>I agree that getting back to campus this way would be extremely risky with potential delays, unless you start out with a fairly comfortable time cushion built in to your plan.</p>