Reverse commute in DC area??

January 5, 2009 10:10 AM

Is there a way to do a reverse commute from Howard County to DC via public transportation (preferably in less than 3 hours)?

My girlfriend is planning to take some courses at Howard Community College this spring, and I was excited that there was an MTA commuter bus with monthly passes that went more or less from right where we live in DC to within walking distance of the campus. I just realized, however, that because it is a 'commuter' bus, it pretty much only runs one way. She needs to get to Howard in the morning/early afternoon and get back to DC in the evening (sometimes the late evening).

The MTA website has been less than helpful, I'm not familiar with Maryland at all, and we are both in Germany right now, which makes it hard to make telephone inquiries.

thanks

posted by milkman to travel & transportation (5 comments total)

I'm not sure what you mean - I'm pretty sure the 929 runs both ways. Apparently the latest pickup in Columbia going southbound will be around 8 pm-ish. Click for schedule (pdf). Their website has a trip planner on the front page so you can figure out the next bus at any time.

You can always try out the WMATA trip planner, too, if she needs to take a detour rather than the straight shot down 29.
posted by peachfuzz at 10:31 AM on January 5

Have you e-mailed these guys? If you describe what you need, they can recommend the exact routes/buses you need to take.
posted by longdaysjourney at 10:34 AM on January 5

thanks, peachfuzz....yes it does run both ways, however it only begins in the PM from DC and she needs to leave Columbia at around 10pm one night each week.
posted by milkman at 10:35 AM on January 5

I have looked into this in the past (about 8 years ago). I had to do the same reverse commute (from Arlington) to Columbia that you're describing. The problem with HCC is that it's all the way out in Columbia, well past regular mass transit lines from DC. (The commuter bus wasn't even there at the time.) The thing that I found was that you could take MARC trains from Union Station (on the Red Line) to Dorsey Station, which is more or less in Columbia. The MARC page has a schedule (you want the Camden Line) and you want to take the Silver Route on Howard Transit.
posted by el_lupino at 12:18 PM on January 5

Wait, 10 PM? No, absolutely no mass transit whatsoever will do that for you.
posted by el_lupino at 12:20 PM on January 5