NEW BETHESDA

TO COLUMBIA

COMMUTER BUS

OFFERS PM

GETAWAYS

...SORT OF

When I received the MTA press release announcing the January 2012 launch of Bus 203 between Columbia and Bethesda, it sounded like exciting news.

Thinking about what was around the stops on the route, I was ready to write about how you could ride horses, drink Ethiopian coffee and enjoy wine tastings Friday afternoons in Scaggsville. Or catch Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol in IMAX 3-D at The Mall in Columbia. And then zip back to Bethesda on Bus 203.

Unfortunately, after downloading the 203's schedule, I instead must report a disappointment: Either half the schedule was left off by accident, or this bus only travels west in the morning, and east in the afternoon.

The bus costs $5 each way, which is pretty stiff for the distance and could-be-faster trip.

203 is great news if you live in Columbia and work at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the USUHS on Jones Bridge Road, or NIH. You can leave Snowden River Park & Ride at 5:33, 6:03 or 6:33 AM. Trips back to Columbia start at 12:30 PM from Bethesda Medical Center; the last one is 4:33 PM.

So on that count, 203 is a small BRAC commuter success. But its benefit for Bethesda residents is less than minimal. All the things you can do around the Scaggsville Park and Ride I mentioned? Well, you can take the 203 over there from Bethesda Medical Center in the afternoon. To get back here, alas, requires a string of local routes that sounds more like a bingo game than modern transit.

You could drive home from Scaggsville faster. From that standpoint, this is a wasted opportunity to provide any incentive for a Bethesda resident to use this bus. Not only should it provide service east in the morning, but it should be able to use the shoulder on I-270 N to I-370 E to the ICC, rather than take jammed Connecticut Avenue during rush hour. That would have been a true express bus.

I can only find one evening getaway for Bethesda residents on the 203's route: Cuba de Ayer in Burtonsville.

Dyer's Law 433: Cuban restaurants are hard to find.

Dyer's Law 434: Good Cuban restaurants are even harder to find.

Fortunately, we have Cuba de Ayer in beautiful, downtown Burtonsville.

You can take Bus 203 from Bethesda Medical Center/NIH at 4:33 PM. Arrive at the Burtonsville Park and Ride at 5:09 PM (this schedule sounds mighty optimistic, if you been on northbound 185 in the evening rush hour; they must really floor it on the ICC!). Cuba de Ayer is within walking distance.

After dinner, take MTA Commuter Bus 201 from BP&R to Shady Grove Metro. Take the Red Line back to Bethesda.

That's still pretty convoluted, and you could do it faster in a car.

So, as Bill Clinton once said, "at least I tried."

Ultimately, Bus 203 is a great commuting option for Columbia, Scaggsville and Burtonsville residents who work in Bethesda.

Planners did not seem to take into account, however, the fact that there is more job and housing growth in Columbia right now than in Bethesda. And that faster, all-day service east would generate customers for businesses located in underappreciated retail centers in Burtonsville and Scaggsville. That would boost ridership and create jobs. Isn't that what the politicians keep telling us they're going to do?

And, of course, that massive growth in Columbia is exactly why we need to build the Rockville Freeway between Montrose Parkway and the ICC near Indian Spring Country Club.

Having a modern transportation system - and Responsible, rather than "Smart" Growth - requires roads like the Rockville Freeway, and a faster Bus 203 that serves Bethesda as much as Columbia.