The MTA has just added a stop at Arundel Mills Mall to all trips on Route 201. Now there is hourly service between Gaithersburg/Shady Grove and Arundel Mills Mall which should be helpful when the casinos open there.
Will the B30 be next with service to/from Arundel Mills and MD Live Casinos?
Quote from: uncle_shawn on February 23, 2012, 04:34:52 PM
Will the B30 be next with service to/from Arundel Mills and MD Live Casinos?
That definitely won't happen. It'll still just serve as an Airport route.
I get the sense the 201 isn't bursting at the seams, but if seems to me that if they keep adding stops, the attractiveness of this route is going to be diminished. The schedule calls for 65 minutes from Shady Grove to BWI. If you are coming from somewhere such as Bethesda, a trip to the airport on this route (Red Line to 201) would take at least 100 minutes. In good traffic, I could get someone to drive me to BWI from Bethesda and they'd be back home in that amount of time. I think this option still beats the B30 routing via Greenbelt, but this route is starting to lose some of its luster in my eyes with all the stops along the way, and IAD will continue to be my preferred airport after DCA since I find BWI so hard to get to.
I'm a frequent rider on the 201 since I live in Gaithersburg and it is so convenient that I have changed my airport of record from IAD to BWI Marshall. The stops don't reallly effect the length of the ride very much and the bus consistently arrives 10 minutes or more early at either end stop (BWI Marshall or Gaithersburg P&R). On the return trip from BWI Marshall to Gaithersburg the operator asks passengers for their stops so he/she does not stop at places like Burtonsville or Norbeck unless the stop is requested. I have been on trips where the first stop after leaving the airport was Shady Grove Metro. Another hidden benefit to taking the 201 is the free parking at Gaithersburg P&R. On my last trip out of BWI Marshall I saved about $70 by parking at Gaithersburg P&R and using 201 rather than parking at the airport!
I'll see if I put any of my relatives on it at Passover in April, on recent visits, the "compromise" between driving to BWI to pick up family that comes in on SWA and making them hoof it themselves all the way to Bethesda is to meet them halfway, either at Greenbelt or now potentially Shady Grove (or maybe Bethesda, now that they can do the 201 to the Red Line). I'm glad to hear there is some padding in that schedule but if I'm looking at the timetable and don't know that, the bus doesn't look too attractive in some ways.
How long is a direct BWI to Shady Grove trip?
My route 201 experiences have been similar to WMAVeteran's. I'm loving this service as the P&R lot on MD 124 is just a 5 min drive from my house. While it's great for for us in Gaithersburg, I think the 201 is easily the best BWI option for nearly all of Montgomery County. So far the 201 seems to be quite reliable, fast and an incredible bargain. I'm very hopeful that the 201 is here to stay. Should we be unfortunate enough to lose it.... I'm back in my car for BWI trips.
BWI to Shady Grove is about an hour-long ride, maybe less, depending on whether or not anybody will get off at any of the stops in-between.
Quote from: RideOn5905 on February 29, 2012, 12:05:58 PM
BWI to Shady Grove is about an hour-long ride, maybe less, depending on whether or not anybody will get off at any of the stops in-between.
That doesn't answer my question...
Quote from: WayneNYC on February 29, 2012, 11:45:54 AM
My route 201 experiences have been similar to WMAVeteran's. I'm loving this service as the P&R lot on MD 124 is just a 5 min drive from my house. While it's great for for us in Gaithersburg, I think the 201 is easily the best BWI option for nearly all of Montgomery County. So far the 201 seems to be quite reliable, fast and an incredible bargain. I'm very hopeful that the 201 is here to stay. Should we be unfortunate enough to lose it.... I'm back in my car for BWI trips.
Sorry I didn't book any flights for April in to or out of BWI so I could give you a report on getting from lower MoCo to BWI via the 201 but I'm glad it is working out better for those of you living close to the route itself.
El AL used to have "service" from BWI, meaning some charter carrier took you from BWI to either JFK or EWR and then you continued on to Tel Aviv from there on the real El Al plane, but that doesn't exist anymore. Even though you can't get to it by any reasonable means by public transit from Montgomery County, I think IAD remains the better airport for flights from DC to points abroad, and I'll pay the extra cash to fly out of DCA up until a point since I find it easier to get to than either BWI or IAD.
Quote from: WMATAGMOAGH on February 29, 2012, 09:26:55 AM
I'll see if I put any of my relatives on it at Passover in April, on recent visits, the "compromise" between driving to BWI to pick up family that comes in on SWA and making them hoof it themselves all the way to Bethesda is to meet them halfway, either at Greenbelt or now potentially Shady Grove (or maybe Bethesda, now that they can do the 201 to the Red Line). I'm glad to hear there is some padding in that schedule but if I'm looking at the timetable and don't know that, the bus doesn't look too attractive in some ways.
How long is a direct BWI to Shady Grove trip?
I have experienced a direct trip from BWI to Shady Grove Metro with no stops at Norbeck or Burtonsville in 45 minutes. If you add intermediate stops it takes about an hour. This was before the addition of the stop at Arundel Mills however. My experience is that you really cannot drive it much faster yourself and keep in mind that you have to pay the ICC toll in your car which is $3.20 each way during peak hours from Gaithersburg to I-95. The bus fare is only $5.00 each way and the coaches have restrooms. What makes the 201 trip so fast is the use of the ICC. If you drove from Bethesda using the Beltway and I-95 during the day there is no predicting how long that trip may take.
Thanks for the answer.
I can get between Bethesda and BWI in 45 minutes with no traffic. While if there is traffic things could take longer, but effective use of backroads can keep it down to no more than an extra 25 minutes or so unless a fatal accident were to shut down everything. It takes me 20 minutes on the Metro (not counting the time it takes to get from my parents' to the Metro) to get to Shady Grove. Again, if driving is an option, it is faster. Also, the ICC route isn't so direct since the highway runs on a SE/NW route. FWIW, Dulles is 35 minutes from the same starting point by car, and that travel time is rarely much longer due to the Access Road.