Hoping someone can offer some advice on getting a potential student to Yale. My D20 has been admitted and wants to go up on her own for a visit. She is staying with a current Yale student in her room but I am looking to set up air travel/airport shuttle. I see on the Yale website the most trusted airport shuttle service has gone out of business??
She can fly direct into Hartford…any suggested methods to get to Yale from the Hartford airport? She’s traveling alone so prefer not to use Uber… Would appreciate any advice, tips, suggestions. Thank you!
It’s further as the crow flies- but can she fly to Newark airport and take Amtrak from Newark to New Haven? Yale runs shuttles frequently between the train station and campus.
Look at Westchester/White Plains flight options as well. Taxi/Uber to Metro North station in Greenwich. Train to New Haven from there.
Sorry for my unorganized remarks:
- I did hear from a Yalie that for public transport, he would fly into EWR, and then take Amtrak from Newark, NJ to Union Station, New Haven, CT, just like @blossom said. However, you may want to check whether you need to take a bus/shuttle from EWR to the Newark Amtrak station.
- at Union (train) Station, New Haven, you should take transportation to your destination, and not walk around by yourself.
- there should be a lot of licensed taxi's available by the curb, and will cost only a couple of dollars to the Colleges.
- Not sure if it is the same, the Yale Shuttle could require a Yale ID. (But if you explain you are an admitted student, it should be just fine. See also my last comment below.)
- I have not taken this before, from Yale's website, I found a commercial shuttle service ( admissions.yale.edu/travel-arrangements) . It seems to serve a number of airports, to New Haven (I put in Omni as destination). It is not cheap, since it is supposed to be a limo service?
- You probably know, New Haven actually has a small airport. I think there are flights routed through PHL, but the planes are small. It's not for everyone. From HVN, you could just take a (licensed) taxi to campus. (15 min. ride?)
Wish her a wonderful trip. Is this for the BullDog Days? There could be special arrangements available for BullDog Days. I visited in April, 2018, and noticed there were some shuttles from my hotel (10 miles from New Haven) to Yale. There could be more information available later.
“However, you may want to check whether you need to take a bus/shuttle from EWR to the Newark Amtrak station.”
You do not. The entrance to the Newark Airport Amtrak station is clearly marked from the airport; depending on which terminal and gate you get into, you may need to take the monorail inside the airport to get to the Newark train station, but it is physically attached to the airport, not in downtown Newark (that’s a different stop). If you go on the Amtrak website they will have the train schedule-- don’t cut it too close to her arrival since- Y’know- it’s an airport! But if your D has navigated public transportation before, she won’t find it too complicated.
If admissions knows your D is coming, they can make sure she can get on the Yale shuttle bus at the New Haven train station.
Hi @blossom , that’s really good to know–that you could get on Amtrak at EWR. The EWR monorail is easy to use, just follow the signs … And I suspect there will be extra pickups at the New Haven train station during BullDog Days. I think it’s a good plan.
@Ohdeanor I agree that it somewhat depends on if your D is comfortable with transit. My D is a PhD student and got her masters at Yale. She started off slow and easy, but now has her definite favorite ways to come and go and is now pretty savvy.
Tweed (New Haven) is small but so convenient in terms of the time it takes to get anywhere else. Often a little bit pricier but you don’t end up with higher cost of getting from Hartford or NY so there is a tradeoff. There is a move afoot to expand Tweed and there is now a flight on Saturdays direct to Charlotte if that’s an easier connection. I fly into Tweed when I visit because I’m a wimp and buses/trains are stressful for me. Exclusively American if that matters. Most of my Ds flying ends up being on American when coming to SC.
D tends to find best flight out of LaGuardia and takes MetroNorth train to Harlem, then bus to airport. I think all in that’s about $35. With just a backpack or carryon that is easy. When she travels over long break and takes checked bag, it’s a hassle. Sometimes she has used GoShuttle from LGA to Yale campus - there is a special rate for students (not sure she would get it without ID) of around $60. Have used GoShuttle several times - time from airport varies since they stop at other schools depending on students on board, but a good safe option. Worth it for us if she has lots of luggage to wrangle. And will get you all the way to campus.
She likes Hartford if for weekend when she can drive her car. About an hour from where she lives in New Haven. Actually, the cheapest to get to if you can handle bus schedules since can in theory take a CT bus to Hartford and then connecting bus to airport. As of this year there is a new train from NH to Hartford, but would still means you need to take airport connector bus or Uber to airport. One time she got in late because of delay and Ubered home from Hartford for around $70. Hartford is the place other than NY where you can fly Southwest if you care.
Finally, this last time she went back after Christmas she found the cheapest flight into EWR and did Amtrak to NH as discussed in a previous post. Cushy 2 and a half hour ride. But there are nowhere near as many train times to chose from (as opposed to MetroNorth/bus to LGA which pretty much runs constantly). She had to wait 1 1/2 hours for the train. It was fine. She had things to do. But she said that’s why she likes it ok going up there, but wouldn’t like to do it flying out of there when you have to schedule the train to match up with a flight. United does have a flight (listed as ZVE or similar) which includes flight to EWR and train in one ticket. Haven’t done that yet.
Westchester/white plains - she has only been to when her BF flied out. No transport options there at all except uber, etc.
Good luck.
Thanks @blossom, @scmom12 and @par271828nt for all the helpful advice and tips. Called and the GO shuttle from Hartford airport does not require a student ID to drop at Yale as long as you are “student age.” Since we can get a direct flight to Hartford just did that with the Go Shuttle. In the future might do flight to JFK or Newark and then Amtrak–probably a little cheaper than the shuttle roundtrip. Only private car service from Hartford right now, now shared shuttle bus so a little pricey. Thanks again!