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I'd pick a different city to visit that had better public transportation. For example, you'd have no problem getting around Washington DC or New York City without a car!
I had a friend come visit from Australia who didn't have a credit card - he wound up getting one as he was unable to rent a car at any of the major agencies without it. He didn't try Triangle Rent A Car, though.
Agreed.
Washington has buses and the Metro along with a lot more to see.
Don't waste your money and time visiting here if you need public transit.
well, i'm sorry to say that but i totally disagree with you saturfan! almost every corner of the world can be seen without driving a private car! it definitely takes extra effort and adjustment, nobody denies that, but still it can be done!
for instance last year i went all around florida, as usual using only buses & coaches, trains and airplanes... uhm, that just looks like a famous song, doesn't it?
when i was in fort lauderdale the buses would stop the service at 8pm exactly, so it gave you the choice of either spending the evening in the area within walking distance to your hotel or hiring a cab.
Let's remember that for a tourist everything is NEW in the city they're visiting so any place - provided that they researched the hotel/area beforehand - is going to be just fine!
In the last few days I read so many complaints about the public transport. Well, cheer up people and look on the bright side: for one thing your service doesn't shut at 8pm! The fact that I can take buses till midnight it's golden!
And what about the trip planning? Trip Planner
Even a moron or a beautiful foreigner (ahahah) can understand it very easily!
So! If you want to give me some tips on how and where to get about feel free to drop a line at any time, but if you are trying to stop me visiting your city, well, what does it say about you?!?
Let's all try and make a bit more of an effort and dump the car sometimes!
Signed by a European Theatre Manageress who spends HOURS to give tips, directions and bus numbers to all the Americans who come to her theatre.
So! If you want to give me some tips on how and where to get about feel free to drop a line at any time, but if you are trying to stop me visiting your city, well, what does it say about you?!?
Let's all try and make a bit more of an effort and dump the car sometimes!
Signed by a European Theatre Manageress who spends HOURS to give tips, directions and bus numbers to all the Americans who come to her theatre.
I am now the ninth person in this thread who is telling you that it is extremely difficult to travel in the Triangle area without a car, especially if you want to leave the Triangle and go to someplace like Wilmington, as you said. I'm not sure what bus schedules you are looking at, but in my experience, the buses DO stop running by 8 pm in my neighborhood of Chapel Hill. And forget about public transit on weekends! I would agree that you should visit New York or Washington, DC, instead. I have lived in both of those cities without a car, and it is quite possible to get around by public transit.
You asked for advice, and we are giving it to you. It is not a matter of making "a bit more of an effort." American society is just not designed around public transit for the most part. If you want to ignore that, fine, but don't just keep asking for advice until you get the answer you want to hear.
Debit cards from the UK are useless here in the States; they have to be run as credit here and that probably won't fly for the car rental places. I know some will let you do a cash rental but require lots of cash for downpayment. I understand the reluctance for a credit card, but being from the UK myself, a credit card is useful there too, say for renting cars there, hotel trips etc.
I have to agree with most other people here who tell you that, while not impossible, it will be VERY difficult to get around and see the place without a car. DC, Chicago, NY, San Francisco, LA etc....all the big major cities have great transportation but we do not, yet. I am hoping it will change but also doubtful.
Good luck. My recommendation; if you really want to see NC try and figure out a way to rent a car here.
well, i'm sorry to say that but i totally disagree with you saturfan! almost every corner of the world can be seen without driving a private car! it definitely takes extra effort and adjustment, nobody denies that, but still it can be done!
for instance last year i went all around florida, as usual using only buses & coaches, trains and airplanes... uhm, that just looks like a famous song, doesn't it?
when i was in fort lauderdale the buses would stop the service at 8pm exactly, so it gave you the choice of either spending the evening in the area within walking distance to your hotel or hiring a cab.
Let's remember that for a tourist everything is NEW in the city they're visiting so any place - provided that they researched the hotel/area beforehand - is going to be just fine!
In the last few days I read so many complaints about the public transport. Well, cheer up people and look on the bright side: for one thing your service doesn't shut at 8pm! The fact that I can take buses till midnight it's golden!
And what about the trip planning? Trip Planner
Even a moron or a beautiful foreigner (ahahah) can understand it very easily!
So! If you want to give me some tips on how and where to get about feel free to drop a line at any time, but if you are trying to stop me visiting your city, well, what does it say about you?!?
Let's all try and make a bit more of an effort and dump the car sometimes!
Signed by a European Theatre Manageress who spends HOURS to give tips, directions and bus numbers to all the Americans who come to her theatre.
I lived in NYC 10 years and love public transit. We just bought Amtrak tickets to visit DC in July.
You are just not aware of the limited public transit here. In Raleigh, the local transit buses (CAT) run infrequently. Almost no Sunday or late evening service.
CAT buses do not operate like those in major cities. It can take many hours on multiple routes to get a very short distance. Taxis are very expensive.
Many roads are deadly for bicycling. Many major roads have no sidewalks.
If you want to get a hotel in downtown Raleigh, you might have a decent trip if your plan is to limit your destinations to downtown.
My daughter is a CAT commuter, and it's not good at all.
A good place to set up shop will be at the Carolina or Franklin Inn in Chapel Hill if money is no object. Or, less expensively the Marriott or perhaps one of the hotels near duke in downtown Durham. That will give you a pretty good selection of activities and outstanding dining within walking distance, and a central location from which you can take local buses a bit further out or triangle transit to one of the other cities. Raleigh folks can chime in if there is a similar hotel in downtown Raleigh. Very simple to get back and forth from Durham to Chapel Hill, and pretty easy to get around without a car. Triangle transit runs till after 10 pm. If you are an intrepid cyclist, there are bike rentals available in Durham and you can get everywhere in both towns on a bike (getting to raleigh on a bike would be dicey and long, although the triangle transit buses do have racks, so you could take a bus there and then toodle around on the bike).
For your trip to the beach, probably your best be is going to be doing a couple to several day trip, heading up in the afternoon, catching a cab to the beach and then getting a hotel either there or in downtown Wilmington for a couple nights, and then catching the afternoon bus back a couple days later. Wilmington's downtown has a beautiful waterfront, so I'd lean towards staying there and taking the bus to the beach. There's also bike rentals down that way if you want to get around town that way.
Likely in the long run it will be much cheaper and convenient to rent a car for the trip to the beach, but if you are creative you can pull it off.
I'll have to agree, a car is the best and most practical way.
It's a problem I deal with often. Whenever I have relatives visiting from Germany it's an issue. We loan them one of our cars. They are ALWAYS amazed how spread out things are.
I will have trouble next year when I will be hosting teenagers that don't drive. They are used to taking local trains, or the ICE all over Europe. Heck, they are used to riding their bikes, walking or vespa/motor scooting to places. I will be a full time "taxi driver" next summer. It's not even conducive to walk/bike to the YMCA where I live.
It's sad, but true, the infrastructure isn't great in the US. This is one vast, spread out, BEAUTIFUL country. The areas you mention are nice and worth the trip.
toot68, that was exactly was I looking for: kind, positive encouragement plus a succulent bone. )) thank you so much!
i want to take the chance to apologise to anybody who might have felt hurt by my comments. i realised only afterward that my writing could have come accross as a bit too harsh. *AM DEEPLY SORRY DUDES!*
I think I may understand a bit where momix76 is coming from.
I lived here in the triangle without a car for 5 years as a student and for 1 year post graduation as an IT professional before I bought one. It was, honestly, a challenge - but it was also fun, and I learned a lot about the area. I even made some trips to places in NC without a car: Salisbury, Charlotte, Asheville, Wilmington.
To me, going somewhere without a car makes it more of an adventure. You get to feel more of a connection to a place & its people, you get to see a lot more because you're not always staring at the road or the brakelights in front of you.
It takes sacrifices. Such as packing lightly. Such as being willing to walk a mile on a street that's not very pedestrian friendly to get where you're going if you have to. Or waking up early in the AM to catch a Greyhound bus. You will have to sit next to people who are too poor to afford a car. You may have to shell $20 for a cab ride when there's no other choice. You will be on your own for things like bus schedules, stops, and routes - because very few people know them around here.
You may wonder quietly to yourself "Was I crazy to try this?"
But if you go into it with the right mindset - it's a blast. Not a relaxing vacation. An adventure. You come out of it feeling like you've learned something about about your city/state/country, about your fellow human beings, and about yourself. But I can't stress this enough: it's an adventure, you have to have the right mindset.
Send me a private message and maybe I can help you figure something out.
A couple of tidbits. The Clarion in downtown Raleigh is probably the best place to stay w/o a car. If you want to go to the beach (which I do recommend) you can catch a greyhound to Wilmington (Greyhound station is 2 blocks from the Clarion). Some of the hotels on Wrightsville Beach operate a free Airport shuttle, so they probably serve the Greyhound station as well (I recommend calling ahead to confirm - if no free shuttle service, the cab fare is probably about $25, still probably worth it.) Downtown Wilmington is nice and definitely worth a visit too.
Another one: If you like old trains (I love 'em) the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer is cool. Salisbury is a pretty neat town, too. Catch the Amtrak to Salisbury and back. Call the museum ahead of time and they'll tell you how to get from the Amtrak station to the Museum on public transport. The train is a twice-a-day deal but the schedule works out well for a day trip. Actually Charlotte and Greensboro make for good daytrips on the Amtrak as well.
Last edited by orulz; 05-07-2009 at 01:37 PM..
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