<p>My son is a freshman at Bard. It is a really easy drive, but I was wondering if there were any train/bus options for those times when it might be difficult for me to do the trip. So far it seems Metro North and Amtrak involve going into the City and then going to Connecticut, making an under two hour trip into an almost four hour trip. Any ideas?</p>
<p>There are no easy ways that I know of via public transport. The good news is that student parking is very abundent at Bard and many students have cars so hitching a ride is relatively easy.</p>
<p>The NY City route is the only one we have found for public transportation…BUT…my D has been lucky in finding rides from other students where we could pick her up within 30 minutes of home. Another possibility she considered (but ultimately didn’t follow up on) was to join the free bus trip to the Danbury mall that was organized by some student club or another, and have us meet her there.</p>
<p>Helpful note: follow the speed limits carefully if you are driving through Red Hook!</p>
<p>Also watch your speed on the Taconic. My just graduated son’s ticket was on it despite my warnings to him for years that it is very heavily patrolled. He was all dressed up to go a Foreign Policy forum at West Point which may have helped persuade the officer to drop the speed a bit.</p>