Experience commuting with metro- red line? Bethesda to Shady Grove

[Anonymous]

Hello, work in Bethesda and looking at a house in urbana/frederick. looking a commute that could include taking metro from bethesda to shady grove kiss n' ride and then driving to urbana. How reliable is the "red line" or this metro route? Better to just do the drive the whole way if want the least time on road? Any experience or thoughts greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

You're better off driving the whole way. You'll already be in the car for a while and parking/walking/waiting for metro will eat up easily as much time as you might save being on the train v. being in the car between SG and Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're better off driving the whole way. You'll already be in the car for a while and parking/walking/waiting for metro will eat up easily as much time as you might save being on the train v. being in the car between SG and Bethesda.

Agree. Shady Grove to Bethesda is a 15 minute drive. It would take you longer to park and wait for a train.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're better off driving the whole way. You'll already be in the car for a while and parking/walking/waiting for metro will eat up easily as much time as you might save being on the train v. being in the car between SG and Bethesda.

Agree. Shady Grove to Bethesda is a 15 minute drive. It would take you longer to park and wait for a train.

Shady Grove to Bethesda really depends on traffic. It can easily be 30-40 minutes in the morning rush. The afternoon rush will be mostly north of Shady Grove.

For that run I'd drive it. If you can get someone to join you for HOV, that can help. I wouldn't move to Urbana if I worked in Bethesda; I'd look for something on the MARC line and transfer in Rockville.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're better off driving the whole way. You'll already be in the car for a while and parking/walking/waiting for metro will eat up easily as much time as you might save being on the train v. being in the car between SG and Bethesda.

Agree. Shady Grove to Bethesda is a 15 minute drive. It would take you longer to park and wait for a train.

Shady Grove to Bethesda really depends on traffic. It can easily be 30-40 minutes in the morning rush. The afternoon rush will be mostly north of Shady Grove.

For that run I'd drive it. If you can get someone to join you for HOV, that can help. I wouldn't move to Urbana if I worked in Bethesda; I'd look for something on the MARC line and transfer in Rockville.

MARC has only a few trains per day, and only in rush hour direction, so not much flexibility there.

The issue pre-pandemic at Shady Grove was finding a parking space, but maybe that's better now. I think Urbana has a park and ride lot with commuter bus service to.. Shady Grove?

[Anonymous]

MTA 515 bus from Urbana to Shady Grove and also continues to Rock Spring in Bethesda:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/mta-website-staging/mta-website-staging/files/Routes+Schedules/515.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're better off driving the whole way. You'll already be in the car for a while and parking/walking/waiting for metro will eat up easily as much time as you might save being on the train v. being in the car between SG and Bethesda.

Op here thanks for help. Any guess on drive time? If I left urbana 6 am headed to bethesda and left bethesda at 5pm to go home? Does it change much if I left bethesda at 6pm? Talking about driving whole way

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're better off driving the whole way. You'll already be in the car for a while and parking/walking/waiting for metro will eat up easily as much time as you might save being on the train v. being in the car between SG and Bethesda.

Agree. Shady Grove to Bethesda is a 15 minute drive. It would take you longer to park and wait for a train.

Shady Grove to Bethesda really depends on traffic. It can easily be 30-40 minutes in the morning rush. The afternoon rush will be mostly north of Shady Grove.

For that run I'd drive it. If you can get someone to join you for HOV, that can help. I wouldn't move to Urbana if I worked in Bethesda; I'd look for something on the MARC line and transfer in Rockville.

MARC has only a few trains per day, and only in rush hour direction, so not much flexibility there.

The issue pre-pandemic at Shady Grove was finding a parking space, but maybe that's better now. I think Urbana has a park and ride lot with commuter bus service to.. Shady Grove?

The question was explicitly for a commuter run, so rush hour direction would work. Outside rush hour, the drive is rarely a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're better off driving the whole way. You'll already be in the car for a while and parking/walking/waiting for metro will eat up easily as much time as you might save being on the train v. being in the car between SG and Bethesda.

Agree. Shady Grove to Bethesda is a 15 minute drive. It would take you longer to park and wait for a train.

Shady Grove to Bethesda really depends on traffic. It can easily be 30-40 minutes in the morning rush. The afternoon rush will be mostly north of Shady Grove.

For that run I'd drive it. If you can get someone to join you for HOV, that can help. I wouldn't move to Urbana if I worked in Bethesda; I'd look for something on the MARC line and transfer in Rockville.

MARC has only a few trains per day, and only in rush hour direction, so not much flexibility there.

The issue pre-pandemic at Shady Grove was finding a parking space, but maybe that's better now. I think Urbana has a park and ride lot with commuter bus service to.. Shady Grove?

I moved near SG last fall and briefly caught the train. I'm surprised that parking used to be an issue because the lot was always empty when I was there.