This discussion was created from comments split from: Colleges your child crossed off the list after visiting, schools that moved up on the list. Why?.
@lastone03 Hi! Thank you, very sweet of you! I hope she does, I think its the perfect school for her! She just needs to figure out how to access Richmond more, she really wants to get to that big museum but says she can’t from the school.
Actually, can I ask you a question? Her train gets into the Amtrak Staples Mill Station next week one night around 5:15. although it is usually late. Is it safe for her to Uber from there to her school? The shuttle won’t get her because its not the day before school starts. She has to be home Monday for a Dr’s apptmnt that has to be a certain date so will miss the 1st day of school. She wants to be independant and take an Uber (actually a Lyft) but it scares me. Amtraks aren’t the safest places for a young woman alone and I think it will be dark. What is the area like? Thank you!
In general, kids need time to adjust, particularly if they are still upset about a denial elsewhere . UR seems to have good resources, including shuttles to shopping areas, downtown, etc. Nothing is perfect and your daughter may have similar complaints if she transfers . If you are concerned about Lyft in Richmond, how will you do with your anxiety if she transfers to a school in the UK? That will probably involve even more independence and public transportation.
@sevmom Thanks I do have posts in other threads but I just met lastone03 here and thought I would seize the moment. My DD hadn’t been upset about her denial in nearly a year so weird you would assume that instead of that she was over it? If you have seen my other posts, which it seems you have, you will have read that I have already explained why she is considering transferring, what her concerns were about UR, how she still thinks it’s a great school as well as my responses to all those who keep reminding me how independent she must be to go to a U.K. school. And of course no place is perfect & of course she may have similar complaints, so? That’s life, she knows that, good grief.
She has never taken an uber alone, am I not allowed to be concerned about her doing it the 1st time without being told I have anxiety? I am hardly the 1st mom to be concerned the 1st time their daughter takes an Uber alone at night. From that you ask how I will handle her being away? Jump to conclusions much? For heavens sake. I have already told her she could do it, I just saw the other poster who told me she lived nearby, & thought she might just have an idea of the area.
@cloudysmom Yes, she can safely take an Uber from there. I haven’t been to the station lately (that is the one I use when I take Amtrak) but I know there is some construction going on. The station is not very big but a lot of traffic goes in and out of there. The best part is it’s only about 4 miles from campus (about 10-12 mins down Glenside to Three Chopt). I would definitely let my kids take an Uber from there.
As for navigating the city, looks like U of R has zip cars for rent. She can head south on Three Chopt (right) from Campus and take a left on Grove Ave. She can drive straight down Grove and can enter the parking lot at the Musuem right before she hits the Boulevard. It’s super easy and a beautiful drive. If she doesn’t feel like driving, here is the GRTC route she can take. She’ll have to check to see the times it runs but the Grove Ave corridor is a really nice area of town. All safe in my opinion. I am biased, but there is a lot to do and see in Richmond and I hope she is able to spend some time on the river or at the museums, especially during the spring.
http://ridegrtc.com/media/routes/Rte._16_December_2017.pdf
Private message me if you’d like. Seems a couple of folks are getting in a twist about this topic and are being rude to you.
@lastone03 Thank you for your post, it was very helpful! I am writing it all down! My DD doesn’t drive and I think that makes her very confused about where things are. I feel much better having a local moms opinion!!
@cloudysmom she should try and find some local kids that attend. They will most certainly help her get around. The city is quite simple (grid), so if she just studies the 5 or 6 main roads that all flow downtown, she’ll get a pretty good feel for its layout. Any other questions, just give a shout !
@lastone03 Thank you - much appreciated! If I do I will message you, and I may, lol, thanks!
The Staples Mill Amtrak Station is always well lit and there have always been a decent amount of people when I’ve been there. The station has a large (compared to other stations) waiting area indoors, which is where people congregate while waiting for their train/ride out, while the tracks are outside and separated a bit from the building, so you wouldn’t generally be hanging around anywhere in the dark. It’s perfectly safe! I have only ever traveled on Amtrak by myself, and I’ve never felt unsafe. People have always been really nice and helpful to me (I’m short, so I always need help getting my suitcase up and down from the overhead, since it’s too high for me).
As for uber and lyft, a lot of UR students use them, but I’ve never used one by myself, so no idea about that experience. I’ve only ever split rides with other UR students. A lot of times (every time I’ve been there at least), there are taxis at the Amtrak station, and I’ve taken those back to campus before when I had to travel during the semester (when the shuttle doesn’t go to the station). The drivers have always been very nice.
Nice to here the cabs are still there. Wasn’t sure since Uber seems so prevalent.
Transportation is not the easiest but do-able. My daughter has relied heavily on uber and lyft. It’s pricey after awhile and I also don’t love how much she has to do it alone this past semester especially as there was no public or school transportation to her internship. She has never had an issue with a driver though. She has taken cabs too but it was cost prohibitive to her. She has friends with cars so that helps a bit but there are frustrations… like flying in from the west coast into a smaller airport where most of the flights land late at night. Zip cars are accessible but not too useful if you have to be out a whole day (and make sure she looks at the liability if she’s in any sort of accident.)
Our D (a junior) flies a long distance between home and UR and relies on Uber and Lyft rides from the Richmond Airport. Because of the long distance flights, she usually arrives in Richmond the afternoon before dorms open for each term and I reserve a hotel room for her for that night. She then takes Uber or Lyft from the hotel to campus the following day.
When she flies home, she needs to take the early morning red eye flights out of Richmond Airport to make her connecting flights, so I book a hotel room for her at an airport hotel for the night before and she takes the hotel shuttle to the terminal the following morning.
She has taken several trips on her own during college breaks to the New York City and Washington, D.C. areas using Amtrak, departing and arriving at the Staples Mill Station, and using Uber or Lyft rides between UR and the train station. Once she had to fly back from New York to Richmond because the Amtrak trains from the New York area southbound were sold out at reasonable hours, and she took a night time Uber or Lyft ride from the airport back to her dorm.
In all of these trips, she has never had a problem with an Uber of Lyft ride share in Richmond or at the Staples Mill Amtrak Station. She does use the campus shuttle or Uber or Lyft sometimes to go off campus when she can’t get a ride from a friend (she doesn’t have a car at UR).
We like the UR campus’s safe, suburban setting and we find the transportation options acceptable and manageable, especially for students like our D who don’t have their own cars. I think Richmond Airport has a very convenient and customer-friendly terminal, which is a big plus because UR students arriving and departing by air don’t need to deal with an enormous and congested hub airport terminal and long waits for checked baggage or ground transportation. Our D does have TSA PreCheck and we recommend that highly.
@ARTCC great post. The only clarification I would make, as a local, is to stick with the higher end flagged hotels that are located at the intersection of 64 and Airport Drive (Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites, Hilton GI) . The vast majority of the hotels on WIlliamsburg Road are low end and can be dicey (with the exception of the Courtyard by Marriott).
@lastone03 Thank you. I agree. We have used both the Hilton GI and Homewood Suites at the Richmond Airport and both are nice, safe properties.
@ARTCC I live about 10 minutes from campus. My kids went K-8 off Three Chopt so I’ve been through there thousands of times. Love the campus and the school. Too bad none of mine wanted to stay in town. Would
have loved to have had a Spider!
Cloudysmom and everyone else, every child is different and many 18 year olds have a variety of experiences. My D had no experience on her own with public transportation so I was extremely nervous about her taking Amtrak but everything has been pretty good. She takes the scheduled shuttle to and from Amtrak but there have been several times that the train has been late so she’s missed her scheduled shuttle. They usually come back again. D also took uber for the first time at the end of freshman year and all went well. There is nothing wrong with parents being nervous about these options. My kids were always homebodies so they didn’t go out a lot using public transportation but since they have been in college they’re a lot more comfortable as are the parents.
Thanks everyone, very helpful, @ARTCC wow great info, thanks!!
@LMHLAW3 sounds like we have the exact same kid, but I knew that already, lol! DD just took Uber for the 1st time from Staples Mill to UR & had a nice, female driver, made me feel better anyway. Thanks for saying there’s nothing wrong with patents being nervous about it, there are a lot of senior poster shamers on this site I’m afraid. DD is a homebody but as you say, getting more comfortable so I am very relieved, thanks!
@cloudysmom glad it was a good experience for her using Uber. I took a walk at UR yesterday - beautiful as ever and the new tennis courts look great 
@lastone03 Thank you! Wish I could walk there, it is beautiful!