How to get from Manhattan to U Mass Amherst using public transportation?

Bus, from the Port Authority Terminal at 42nd and 8th.
I did this when I was in college and had a buddy in grad school at UMass.

On the other hand I graduated college in 1972 so things might have changed a little in the interim.

Seriously the bus is the best way. In the 70’s you could take Amtrak to Springfield on the Montrealer but I don’t know if that still is running.

Someone on Fluther must have done this more recently than I have.

SRM

in the mid 90’s, it was peter pan bus lines from nyc port authority right to amherst. to get to amherst from boston, i have no idea.

Chinatown to Chinatown bus. It’s cheap and fast. I think $15 one way. NYC to Boston. After that??

the chinatown bus. of course. but that’s a looooong trip.

boston to nyc = 5 to 6 hours
then subway from chinatown up to port authority maybe 20 mins
then bus to amherst, mass roughly 4 hours.

that’s a lot of time on a bus, dude.

Going from NYC to Amherst via Boston is just plain dumb. Check out a map—it’s likely to involve significant backtracking and at least double the length of the trip.

Greyhound bus from Port Authority to Amherst, MA is probably the best way—Greyhound stops right at the UMass campus. You might be able to take the train to Springfield, depending on timing, but then you’re looking at a 2-hour trip from Springfield to Amherst via 3 different local public transit buses, if you arrive at a time where you can make that trip at all.

Amtrak also stops at Amherst (5 hours), if you can get picked up in Springfield it’s shorter (3.5 hours). The bus is about the same time – cheaper, but more likely to get stuck in traffic.

cwilbur’s got it exactly right; you would be going way out of your way if you traveled through Boston.