Pittsburgh, PA to Chestertown, MD

March 26, 2007 10:08 PM

Another "here-to-there" question: Pittsburgh, PA to Washington College in Chestertown, PA. Is this possible without a car? Here's the information I have gathered so far:

- There is a shuttle from Washington College to Annapolis and New Carrollton. I'm not sure if it's only for WashColl students, but I am visiting a friend of mine there.

-Southwest rates from Pittsburgh to BWI are cheap, cheap, cheap. So this question may reduce to "BWI to Washington College," unless someone can think of some way cheaper.

-The BWI web site lists different methods of ground transportation, but none of them seem to help much.

-The MD Transit web site is confusing, even for city transit web sites.

Anyway, all of these different transit systems have confused me thoroughly, so if someone with some experience in these matters could provide a good solution, I'd much appreciate it. Thanks!

posted by nervestaple to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

I assume you mean Chestertown, MD, since that's where Washington is located.

Note: while I am a Pittsburgh native, I have no personal experience with the DC/Chestertown/Baltimore etc areas. All I know for sure is that you can take the 28X to the airport in Pittsburgh. The following information is based on website info.

Maybe you should look into getting to the New Carrollton Metro Station, which is listed on the Washington shuttle site you listed. It's on the DC Metro system, Orange Line. Also on the Orange line is a shuttle bus to Dulles at Rossyln station and L'Enfant Plaza, the 5A bus.

Also, a MARC train goes from BWI to New Carrollton. Info here. Only runs Mon-Fri.

My reccomendation? Call Washington College about their shuttle. Maybe they can enlighten you about how to get there. Good luck.
posted by ALongDecember at 11:40 PM on March 26, 2007

Yeah, oops, Chestertown is in Maryland.
posted by nervestaple at 12:23 AM on March 27, 2007

Here's the Washington College shuttle schedule: it looks like it's only a weekend thing.
posted by mdonley at 12:41 AM on March 27, 2007

OK - so forgive my haste in pasting the exact same link as you did. Ugh. As I don't live in the area, I can only advise:

- you renting a car (Enterprise has a BWI location and rents to anyone over 21 [not 25], but they'll ding you with a $20 fee...)
- the friend reserves one shuttle seat from WashColl to New Carrollton, and two for the ride back
posted by mdonley at 12:57 AM on March 27, 2007

Don't fly to BWI, fly to Reagan/National instead. It has its own metro station, so you can just take metro from there to New Carrollton. It will be so much faster, and it runs on weekends. Btw, the Maryland site may be extra confusing because Metro is in Washington, and not part of Maryland at all.

P.S. If you insist on BWI, there's also metrobus which will get you to New Carrollton. You can use the trip planner on the previously linked metro site, just put in BWI and New Carrollton Metro and the day/time and it'll show you exactly what your choices are.
posted by anaelith at 6:09 AM on March 27, 2007

I'm fairly familiar with the area as well as the transportation... I'm not exactly sure what getting to the DC Metro would accomplish as far as getting to Chestertown. I also not exactly sure how you'd get to Chestertown without a car.

After researching looks like you can maybe get a Commuter Bus - to Cambridge from DC... and once in Cambridge take the MUSTBUS to Chestertown. Good luck!
posted by TuxHeDoh at 9:12 AM on March 27, 2007

This is what you do: Get to Annapolis from BWI by taking the MTA #17 bus. Then take the MUST bus (you will have to transfer) from Kent Island to Chestertown. The issue is getting from Annapolis to Kent Island (vis the Bay Bridge) but this can be accomplished by taxi. These services all appear to run on weekends.

If you can schedule your arrival on Friday afternoon and departure Monday morning, you can take an MTA commuter bus which will leave from Kent Island and take you straight to Washington DC and allow you access to the DC Metro and DCA/IAD airports.

It won't be easy but could make for an interesting journey. Good luck!
posted by heydanno at 10:41 AM on March 27, 2007

See also USTAR, which is geared towards seniors but also serves the general public.
posted by heydanno at 10:44 AM on March 27, 2007

Anaelith speaks the truth. Washcoll grad ('98) here.
posted by emelenjr at 6:24 PM on March 27, 2007