Utilizing Public Transportation in College

The pressure to be more environmentally friendly, coupled with the insane rising price of gasoline, is making public transportation look more attractive than ever. If you are attending school in a relatively populous city far from home, you are in luck. Most big cities, especially those with a sizeable population of university students, offer great public transportation services so that residents can easily get around town without having to start up their gas guzzlers.

You will immediately save money by not driving your car to campus or having it shipped there. You will also be spared the costs of a parking pass or registration fee for your vehicle. Instead, you only need to learn the ropes of your local public transportation system to get around your new stomping ground and explore what it has to offer. If you have been a loyal driver for years, this can be an intimidating change, but luckily, it can also be a relatively easy and painless one.

Look around the places you most frequent, including the area surrounding where you live and the area surrounding your campus. Scout out the closest public transportation stops around those areas, whether they are bus stops or train stops. These will likely be the stops you will use the most so be sure to familiarize yourself with the routes that the buses and trains that go through there will follow. Many public transportation systems now also have informative websites detailing the various routes of trains and buses. Look over these and figure out which public transportation methods you would need to take to get to places you will go to repeatedly throughout the school year, such as the grocery store, mall, or megastore. If you are particularly fortunate and live in a city where the transportation website is particularly modern, you may even find useful commuter tools like the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Trip Planner, where riders can plug in their origin and desired destination and the tool will figure out the best way to get there.

If you intend to use public transportation often, you should consider purchasing a stored value or monthly rider pass. This often will cost less than paying for individual rides and will also speed up the boarding process because you will not have to dig around your pockets for change. However, the best way to familiarize yourself with your city's public transportation system is to ride it often and not be afraid to ask the drivers and other fellow passengers questions about how to get to certain places. You will find that people are often more than willing to help a commuter get to his or her desired destination.