Take the Bus to Boston or NYC!

Being from New York, my travels home were a definite worry for me (a non-driver) when deciding to come up to UNH. When time came for me to make my 6 hour journey home for Thanksgiving, I had to look at all of my options carefully. What would be the most direct route, with the least amount of transfers? How much does it cost? How long will it take? During my research I was fortunate enough to come across C&J bus lines. C&J services Dover, Portsmouth, Newburyport, and Durham, providing services to Boston and provides services to, and from, New York from Portsmouth.

The Durham service to South Station in Boston is provided Fridays and Sundays during the academic year, and conveniently picks up students at the Dairy Bar. If someone was looking to go to New York, but could not get to Portsmouth, this is a viable option. A student could take a Friday or Sunday bus to South Station, and then transfer to another service into NYC later that day. I, however, chose to take the bus from Portsmouth for both Thanksgiving and winter break: a direct 6 hour trip into the Port Authority.

I would definitely recommend this service to any student who could get to the Portsmouth bus station. For $75 (before student discounts) I was provided with my own seat with so much leg room that I couldn’t even use it all! Two movies were played during the trip—both of which I loved each time (Hook and The Princess Bride, as well as Elf and The Grinch!). Each row had its own power outlets, headphones, and Wi-Fi provided to the entire coach. I took the bus at two separate time slots (7am-2pm & 2pm-7:30pm) during which the bus arrived into the Port Authority on time. This is important to me, since I usually need to rush over to Pennsylvania Station to catch my Long Island Railroad train home! Further, C&J provides its passengers with food on board: fruit, granola bars and chips were available to all passengers, including full usage of a Keurig coffee maker! The bus drivers have always helped me with my bags, and have even allowed me to move my seat on an unfilled bus so that I could get out of the sun and sleep.

C&J is definitely worth the money spent. When traveling home any other way, I have often experienced a 6 hour trip easily becoming a 10 hour trip due to delays, flat tires, and weather. Being able to put your trust into a bus service and know that you will make it home safely, and in a comfortable and timely fashion, is awesome! I absolutely recommend C&J to anyone traveling to the Tri-State Area or Boston—and who knows, maybe we will be traveling together!

 

3 Responses to “Take the Bus to Boston or NYC!”

1. Salina McIntire says:

   February 6, 2013 at 9:57 am

   Thanks for riding with us and for the great article, Caitlin! However, I do have two things to note. We do not offer discounts on any NYC tickets at this time, (sorry!!), HOWEVER, good news..the average trip from Portsmouth to NYC is only 5 hours! Again, thank you so much for writing this!!
   Salina McIntire, C&J Bus LInes

   Reply
2. Amber says:

   February 6, 2013 at 2:35 pm

   Don’t forget you can take a combo of Wildcat Transit and Coast buses (depending where you live) to get to Portsmouth to get the NYC bus or the Boston buses the days UNH isn’t serviced by C&J. Coast accepts UNH student IDs, so ride for free! Coast route 7 and the Pease Trolley both go into the Portsmouth C&J terminal. Rt. 33 goes to the Dover Terminal.

   If the local bus schedule is confusing, let the transit section of Google Maps help you! Just input your location and destination, it will do the rest!

   Reply
3. Salina McIntire says:

   February 6, 2013 at 3:20 pm

   Yes, you can connect from UNH through any of the public transit companies. If it is confusing and you would like help making those connections you can call us 24/7 at 800.258.7111. FYI..Also, if you are not on campus and need to connect to Portsmouth to use our NYC service, you can take a bus from our Dover or Newburyport terminals at no charge to get to Portsmouth.

   Reply