My car-free trip from Washington DC to Charlottesville

By Noah Kaufman

On June 7, I used public transportation to go from Washington DC to Charlottesville, VA to attend my 20 year reunion.  While the reunion was wonderful, memorable and exceeded my expectations (much like the UVA basketball team), the transportation was difficult and below my frankly low expectations. 

I took the metro to Union Station, which was fine.  The next part of my journey was by Greyhound bus.   I went to the bus area of Union station, which was on a top floor. The signs were a bit confusing, but I did get to my bus.  I took a bus to Richmond. 

After Richmond, I needed to get to a bus to Charlottesville.  The gap between buses was about a half hour, so I should have been fine.  After getting on the bus in DC, the bus driver claimed that the bus would get to Richmond 30 minutes early.  The bus trip was tolerable. The wifi did not work, which was frustrating.  We experienced heavy rain, so the bus was actually about twenty minutes late.  The bus driver stated that when we arrive in our station, we should pay attention to signs, and that we might miss our transfer.  The bus driver told us that he informed Greyhound of the late arrival; it would be reasonable to postpone some connecting busses (similar to connecting flights), but that did not occur. 

After I got to Richmond, I rushed to get to the terminal where my bus to Charlottesville was leaving.  The next bus to Charlottesville was many hours later.  The bus was about to leave, not making any delay despite the fact the prior bus (DC to Richmond) was late.   The bus driver asked why I was late, and I mentioned that the other bus was delayed.  The bus driver gave me a very hard time, though eventually allowed me on the bus.  Other passengers were also stressed and needed to convince the bus driver to let them on the bus.  The trip to Charlottesville was OK, though the bus driver had us wait several minutes for the bus driver to complete paperwork. 

In Charlottesville, there was no connecting bus, trolley or other form of transportation at the bus station itself.  I walked several blocks to a bus station, where several bus riders helpfully told me the proper bus to take to get to the UVA Campus (known as the “Grounds.”)  I then took the bus to the UVA Grounds, where I got a key for the room where I would be staying. 

Overall, it was a stressful and substandard experience.  Also, it was unnecessarily long, taking over six hours to take a trip that should take a bit over two hours. 

Getting back on June 9 was simpler, as I walked from UVA to the train station (about 1.5 miles – would have been difficult if I had any mobility issues) and then took an Amtrak to Union Station.   The train was smooth, had a mediocre wifi, and was spacious.  Still, the train only runs twice a day, and I would have liked more options.  

Noah Kaufman is the author of  Business Ethics of Our Fathers, Running Through Arlington History, and Lessons from the Wrestling Mat.   Noah has been to 45 out of the 50 states.