<p>I’m considering getting an internship over the summer in North Carolina. I’m probably going to bring my car but would prefer not to (since I’d have to drive it all the way from Boston). The job has various placements across the state so I can request a certain spot to be placed at.</p>
<p>That being said, which counties in the state of North Carolina have the best public transportation (and on a side note, which county is the best to live in?)</p>
<p>I’m thinking probably the best places for me would be Asheville, Durham/Raleigh/Chapel Hill or Charlotte.</p>
<p>You might want to look at the City Data Forum for these areas and post your question there. There is no forum for Asheville, but there are forums for Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill-Cary. There is a post about Asheville public transport in the Western North Carolina section dated Jan 24th of this year.</p>
<p>Chapel Hill has free bus service within Chapel Hill. Connections are easily made to Durham. I don’t know about Raleigh service but Research Triangle Park is a likely stop. Durham, Raliegh and Chapel Hill cover a wide area. It’s easy to sublet in Chapel Hill for the summer and it’s very walkable. If you can get a hold of the “The Daily Tar Heel” you might find a good small apartment close to a busline. If however your job is in Raleigh, you might consider the NC State area.
Asheville does not have good public transportation but working and living downtown for a summer would be fun.
Are you familiar with Zip cars? They are good for occasional forays. UNC has them available and perhaps NC State or Duke do also.</p>
<p>TEE HEE HEE! If you expect NC to have a system like Boston, even in RTP/Raleigh/Durham you will be very upset.</p>
<p>NC is more bedroom cities where everyone relies on their car to get around. There is no ELL, Subway or Metro like you would find in NYC, Boston or DC where they run constantly at all hours. The system is suburban where you must plot and plan when to leave, because if you miss that one, it might be 20-30 minutes later until you get another, compared to 10.</p>
<p>BRING THE CAR!</p>
<p>Zip cars are great. They charge a $50 membership, 7 bucks an hour and have apps for Ipod/Phone to locate the cars. Most people use them to do errands on the weekend, such as grocery shopping and picking up dry cleaning.</p>
<p>Native North Carolinian here who LOVES the state (and the Asheville area) - but b&p is absolutely correct. Don’t expect to find much in the way of mass transit in western NC.</p>
<p>I too love NC, so I hope it wasn’t taken as a slam, just trying to point out that even their largest cities are small compared to a place like Boston.</p>
<p>Raleigh/Durham/RTU and Cary are spread out, there is no real defined downtown like you would find in Boston, DC, NYC. The only way I could explain it is to say Urban Sprawl.</p>
<p>what about Charlotte?</p>
<p>I had my student check with her very good friends born and raised in Charlotte - they say you should take your car. Availability of parking is not an issue if that is what you are concerned about.</p>
<p>Hmm alright so it sounds like I will need a car either way, I’ll think about it (got another offer in Maryland/DC area) but then again I was planning on maybe bringing a car to Clemson next year.</p>
<p>North Carolina has great beaches - good for the summer time and you can always go to the beaches in South Carolina, too. Asheville is a nice town - lots of great restaurants and sights to see. The national park in the area is very beautiful. A fellow passenger on a plane to Raleigh told me he lived in downtown Raleigh in a condo and walked everywhere. He was in his late 20s and said there are plenty of clubs and restaurants downtown. </p>
<p>If you have been in Massachusetts for the past few years you might consider an experience in a different state. North Carolina mountains were where many DC and northeastern residents spent the summers in the late 1800s and early 1900s. That is why the Biltmore estate exists in Asheville.</p>
<p>Good luck on your internship wherever you choose to go.</p>
<p>Lived in NC all my life. I would say Charlotte prob. has the best bus system. There is also a light rail line but it’s reach is pretty limited…basically from south Charlotte to uptown. Even if you plan to use public transport, it would still be nice to have your own car if one is available to you.</p>
<p>DC/MD is totally different…DON’T BRING YOUR CAR! You will truly regret it if you do!</p>
<p>hey pierre!</p>
<p>I lived in Charlotte for 10 years, and while they do have a pretty good bus system I’d advise you to bring your car.</p>
<p>My mom had to use the buses for a few years, and I think you’d get tired using them. Also, public transportation is not widely used in Charlotte except by the people who absolutely have to or who live on a main route to the city and (as a teen girl speaking) it’s sort of scary sometimes.</p>
<p>Charlotte would be a fun city to intern in, there’s lots of things to do (it’s no Boston however) but be prepared for confusing roads and getting lost. There’s not a grid street system in place at all except for a small part of uptown and roads like to change names two or three times.</p>
<p>thanks for the input calabacin! I applied for an internship in Charlotte but I may end up taking summer classes back home to get ahead next semester. We’ll see where things end up!</p>