Public transportation options to commute to western Mass from Boston area

Submitted by sherryxiaoxue t3_11aa06k in boston

I live in Natick/Framingham area and work in Amherst. I only need to commute to work two days a week and work from home on other days. I have been driving to work and it totals a four hour commute. It has been so exhausting 😣

Do you know of any public transportation that I can take to cut the diving shorter? Or can you help me brainstorm some solution? For example can I drive to a station and take bus/train there to Amherst?

I can’t change my job or living locations for reasons that are beyond complication 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️So moving closer to work or moving work closer to where I live is not an option, unfortunately 😂

6

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

Maxpowr9 t1_j9qqcr3 wrote

Once you get past Worcester, you start to encounter dragons and they ate the trains.

45

sherryxiaoxue OP t1_j9qqokz wrote

Hahaha can the dragons give me a ride? I’ll take it 😂

6

ch1ck3npotpi3 t1_j9qqzel wrote

The PVTA has a bus that goes from the Worcester train station to UMass Amherst on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

https://www.pvta.com/schedules/B79.pdf

22

tandemtuna t1_j9r6kj2 wrote

yikes... 3:30 each way. That's a long day.

10

Drift_Life t1_j9ri5tt wrote

Yeah it’s not going to make it faster, probably adds a little bit of time, but much easier on the mental part when you can just kick back and relax on mass transit.

11

f0rtytw0 t1_j9s9t57 wrote

You can nap, read, or just zone out for a bit, its nice and way less stressful.

3

tandemtuna t1_j9scyvk wrote

well, do what you gotta do.... I commuted from Maine to Boston for 6+ years, and all I can say is that it's like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer-- you can make it work, and there are ways to make it feel better, but it feels really awesome when you stop.

It's been 10 years now, and I still get a twitch when the prospect of a long commute comes up.

2

f0rtytw0 t1_j9sf7jp wrote

> from Maine to Boston for 6+ years

Ouch, and for 6 years! I would need therapy.

Longest I had was Boston down to Buzzards Bay and that lasted something like 9 months thankfully.

2

sherryxiaoxue OP t1_j9qrafn wrote

Oh my goodness… you are a life saver 😭🌹🌹🌹

8

crisp_urkle t1_j9s85tb wrote

Are the days you have to go in consecutive? I was in a similar situation a few years ago and I would stay at an AirBNB one or two nights a week. Not sure what the prices or availability are like these days but I would look into it.

4

sherryxiaoxue OP t1_j9tlees wrote

I might eventually need to do that too 😂 Thanks for the idea!

2

exilesamongyou t1_j9rs5ix wrote

You’re not going to find a faster way through public transportation. My ex lives near Amherst and when my car was broken, I took a Greyhound bus Boston to Springfield then used the PVTA buses the rest of the way. It was my only option but just the PVTA from Springfield to Granby(right before Amherst) took over an hour when it’s a 15-20minute drive in a car. The Greyhound does stop in Framingham to pick up people so you could get on there and then the PVTA to Amherst but it’s going to be at least 2 1/2 hours for you. My sympathies to you, I did that trek every week for a while and because I live in Shirley I had to take the commuter rail (1hr) to North Station first, walk to South Station, 2hrs on the Greyhound, and then another hour on the PVTA. I’d usually have to wait an hour or more between the train/bus schedules too. I finally ended just renting a car one time and my god it was glorious! I wouldn’t recommend it but if you take the public transit route, I used this app Moovit - whatever city you’re in it will give you every option and combination of public transit available for your route. Wicked helpful when trying to align multiple bus/train schedules and navigate the inevitable detours

3

sherryxiaoxue OP t1_j9tll35 wrote

My goodness your commute sounds even more stressful! Thanks for the sympathy and tips! So glad you don’t need to do that any more

1

omglemurs t1_j9ure4k wrote

Commuting options are going to add time but might cut stress. If you're ok with that tradeoff, there are a number of bus options (PVTA, Peter Pan, Greyhound) out of Worcester Union Station which you can get to from Framingham via commuter rail. Unfortunately times don't sync up well most of the time.

If you're ok with driving, but would prefer a less stressful commute, the other two options are

- Find a car pool. This can be tricky, but there are a lot more east/west commuters (and west/east) than you would think.

- See if you can shift your hours. I have a longer commute, but I can make the trip in ~90 minutes since I've got shifted hours and am not dealing with traffic most of the time.

2

BonesIIX t1_j9uujql wrote

Ultimately there is no way to make it significantly better just due to raw distance. You really should look for a different job if moving is completely out of the question as your post suggested. Figure out your monthly travel cost currently and see if you can find anything closer that is at least the same earning or within the margin of what you spend to travel to and from Amherst.

2