Transportation Apps USA

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
1

Hey all! Soon my husband and i will be house sitting full time. We travel in a camper van right now but plan on selling it. We want to locate ourselves in an area with lots of house sitting choices and good public transportation. Right now we are thinking about the Denver, Colorado area. But as I look at what is available I’m seeing other sits in Colorado that are appealing. Once we sell the van we will be relying solely on public transportation. So I’m wonder if any US sitters have a good transportation app they can recommend.

I just downloaded Rome2Rio and Wanderu. Any other apps i should look at or any suggestions for traveling in the US without a car?

Thanks!

2

Of course none of my business, but sounds very inconvenient to me to be doing sits across Colorado without having your own mode of transportation.

Nonetheless, the best way to know about available public transportation is usually… Google Maps! In most places, Google Maps is very up to date with the available trains, buses, etc from A to B. Once you have found a PT connection, Google Maps will tell you also which operator & you can click on the link to go to their website

2 Likes
3

I can’t answer your question but I’d love to know how you get on relying on public transport on a full time basis. Could you keep us updated? :blush:

4

Hello @Makelikeanapeman interesting approach of public transit.

Are you going to pick U.S states that have viable public transportation?

NH for example does not have public transportation, so NH would not be a possibility as well as many other states due to lack of public transit.

Can you say more about your thinking on the public transit approach in the U.S.?

5

[quote=“HelloOutThere, post:4, topic:46629”]
Can you say more about your thinking on the public transit approach in the U.S.? [/quote]

They already answered those things in their original post. :blush:

6

Hi @HappyDeb … the original post brings up more questions than answers regarding public transit being the primary mode of transportation across the U.S.

PS: if correcting replies is going to be your approach to member postings…you may find that will take up a lot of your time…

7

I wasn’t ‘correcting’ you, and honestly I didn’t mean to offend you in any sort of way. I just thought I’d save the poster from repeating themselves as there are quite often a lot of repeated things on here. It helps them to get the answer they need much faster. :hugs:

8

In Europe, I have gotten around by the combination of trains and bicycle. That might also work in some states, but it would be too tough for me in the Rocky Mountains.

9

Hey Make…man (first I thought it was Hawaiian. Now I get it). So, as someone who has loved traveling the US in a camper van and mixing in house sits with BLM land, national parks, state parks, places to breathe great air, the rare unnamed big box parking lot… I’m shocked you want to sell your van. It is absolutely the best way to get from sit to sit in the US, and to manage or plan for gaps/off-leash breaks between sits. It’s a great life.

BUT, I’m sure you have reasons for wanting to exit van life. I don’t know your sitch and don’t judge. And respect for you having done van life. But public transportation in the US is [a term THS won’t allow on forums], ummmm…less than adequate. I think of my former home state of Texas. There are good, comfortable, clean busses between some of the major cities. Maybe $100-200 to get from Austin or San Antonio to Houston or Dallas. But then when you get there you will need an Uber (not cheap!) to get to the sit and around town. A van would be cheaper and would have all your stuff in it.

My suggestion: Either keep the camper van to go from sit to sit in the US or go to a country that has legit public transport. We LOVE Mexico. We’re in Mexico City now. We’ve been on a sit here for 2 months. Next week we move to a sit in Puerto Vallarta. Comfortable, safe buses between cities, or airfare for longer trips, are very affordable. Like US$30-40pp from Oaxaca to Mexico City, for example. Or our flight to PV was about $100pp after paying for luggage. To ride the metro (bus or underground train) pretty much anywhere in Mexico city costs about $0.30. Ubers are maybe $4-5 around town. The most I’ve paid for an Uber, when it was pouring rain and prices elevated, was $16. (Tacos are $1-2!!). We walk for groceries maybe half mile. We walk for tacos maybe 30 feet. Or there are city bikes ($30 for an annual subscription all you want to ride) that are awesome.

I will never poop on Colorado. I’ve spent a lot of time there in my life and love the state as a second home. I’ve done several sits there, and my son lives there. You will find a few shuttles from Denver to ski resorts in season, but otherwise public transport is American-style. Which means it barely exists. I always had a car or van.

Some US cities will have bus service that will get you around. But the US (let me waive my native flag here) just isn’t set up for that to be easy. Except in major metro areas. Where everything (food) is expensive. I honestly can’t imagine how we could have done sits (mid-late 2023 in 7 western states) without the camper van. And mixing in house sits was a great way to get free showers & laundry, cook in a real kitchen and have canine/feline companionship. It also gave us so much freedom to NOT house sit some of the time.

Also, I have found rome2Rio to be entirely useless and inaccurate. Google maps is pretty good internationally. Never heard of Wanderu.

Best of luck. Love your journey.

3 Likes
10

My brother lives in CO, about 3.5 hours drive from Denver. There are daily buses (like, 2) between his town and Denver and there are buses between the Denver metro area and other far-flung towns. But once you are in those small towns, there is no public transport to speak of. In his town of 6000 there wasn’t even a taxi until recently. Lack of a vehicle will be a serious handicap if you want to do sits away from a big metro area in the west.

11

If I was looking for sits in Colorado I will start with the sits where the HOs are offering a vehicle. Search for Colorado, then apply the filter “Use of car included”. There are currently 30 open sits. Getting around with public transportation outside of Denver will be very difficult.

1 Like
12

You can get around Denver pretty well without a car. Without one, you’d miss so much beauty in Colorado. And with your own transport (or a borrowed car or rental), you could take your sit dogs to various places. Public transit in the U.S. often doesn’t allow pets unless they’re seeing eye dogs and such.

I love Denver and other parts of Colorado, having been there many times on road trips and otherwise. It’s one of the most beautiful U.S. states.

13

Yes, it is going to be very inconvenient, but unavoidable once we sell our van. That is why I am reaching out to see if anyone has suggestions.

I’m good with using Google Maps, thanks for the suggestion. But I’m looking for an easier way to find out transportation options from different cities - and especially prices.

14

Yes, I will keep you updated. We will only be relying on public transportation for only a couple of months tops. We are ultimately flying in South America to study Spanish for 6 months.

2 Likes
15

Yes, the idea is to pick an area that has a lot of available house sits and good public transportation. We are in the southeast right now and will be traveling to New Orleans to see my niece in February, so Denver is looking like our closest option right now. I thought about Texas - Austin, Houston, Dallas, etc. for a while but there aren’t enough house sits. I’d love to do the Seattle area but it is so far away.

There appear to be trains in Denver that will take you up to Fort Collins and down to Colorado Springs. Amtrack also comes through and doesn’t cost too much to go to Grand Junction.

16

I guess I made it seem like I was going to be traveling across the US without a vehicle. I understand how it wasn’t really clear. I guess I should have said, across certain regions of the US. We have been house-sitting in North and South Carolina now. I don’t think we could do these sits without a car - they are all too far away from each other and the one we are at right now is far from a town. So, although the southeast has been a good region for us, it won’t be once we sell the van.

17

Bicycles aren’t going to work for us. But interesting suggestion! I imagine it is easier to get around in Europe. Here in the US, it is a lot more complicated if you don’t have a car.

18

Do some extensive research on which cities, locations have a fair amount of sits as well as what the network of public transportation is available. Many bigger cities now have transit apps so do a search where you download your apps.
Also make inquiry as to any potential discounts on passes, tickets rail cards. Join some local forums/groups related to the particular places you want to focus on in social media and ask away.

Do the same where you are planning to go in South America. In my experience, I found S.A. locals overly willing to offer assistance as well as expat groups. When I was in Uruguay I was impressed with the ease of public transportation, not only in the cities but out in the wild (off the beaten trail towns).
Have fun!

Have a look at this @Makelikeanapeman

19

Hey J0e! So, I guess I should have explained my whole story.

We love our van! Really love our van. We have been traveling for 12 years - first 5 in a boat, 7 in the van. But now we are going to do something new for a while. We are flying to South America where we are going to spend at least 6 months studying Spanish. We initially thought about storing the van for those 6 months but then decided that we didn’t want the van to just sit for 6 months. We have been talking about buying a new van and doing a new build for a while now - so that is what we are going to do when we return (unless we love living out of backpacks).

We love Mexico. We have been 4 times in our van. And just flew to Mexico City over Christmas. I loved using public transportation to get around CDMX. And walking everywhere. I’m hoping that we will have a similar experience with cities in South America. The CDMX Christmas trip was like a little test run of living in Airbnbs and living out of backpacks.

When I use Google Maps to map public transportation from Denver to nearby cities like Boulder, Fort Collins, or Colorado Springs, I get good results. I looked at Texas - I’ve seen buses between cities cheaper than $100 but there just isn’t enough house sitting - especially longer sits. I hope Denver can work out for us because my next option is Seattle and we are in the Southeast right now. That is too far to travel in a van we are hoping to sell.

Enjoy Mexico City! We got sick (the flu maybe) during the second half of our trip in December so I really felt like we got shorted. There is sooo much to do. This was our second trip to CDMX. The first time we took the van - driving in CDMX is crazy!

2 Likes
20

Thanks for the suggestion.

1 Like