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Today's Tip: Local Transportation
Owning a car is not necessary
to get around in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. There is a good public transportation system covering the area, including buses, subway, and trains. Below are descriptions of some of the public transportation systems commonly used by University of Maryland students.
 SHUTTLE-UM
The University of Maryland, College Park operates a free commuter shuttle service for students, faculty, and staff of the campus. You must show a valid UMCP ID to ride. Please visit
their website
for more information about Shuttle-UM.
 METRO BUS/RAIL
The Washington, DC metro area has an extensive bus and subway system run by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). The Metrobus and the Metrorail (the subway) extend well into Montgomery and Prince George's counties as well as the greater DC area. You are not allowed to eat or drink on the bus or metro or in the stations, and the law is strictly enforced. Visit
www.wmata.com
for information about Metrobus and Metrorail services, maps, a Next Bus and Next Train app, and general information.
APPS:
It will be VERY useful to download apps like iNext Bus to plan your travel, because buses in the United States may be less frequent than in your home country.
 PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY: The BUS
Prince George's County's bus system operates in College Park. See their website: http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/1122/Maps-Schedules
 MONTGOMERY COUNTY: RIDE ON
Montgomery County operates a bus system called Ride On. For more information, please visit here: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dot-transit/
 DRIVING IN THE UNITED STATES To get a Maryland driver's license, please visit the
MVA website and view the section on exchanging an out-of-country license for a Maryland license. For information about registering a car in the state of Maryland, please click
here.
A workshop about how to obtain a driver's license will be presented in early September- look out for details in a future Tip-of-the-week
.
 TAXIS Taxis are not the cheapest mode of transportation in the United States, but are convenient and fast. Taxis are metered, which means you will pay for each mile driven. Tipping taxi drivers (10-20%) is expected.
Taxi companies in the College Park area:
Greenbelt Taxi Service: (301) 441-8400
Ontime Transportation Incorporated: (301) 474-6111
Langley Park Taxi: (301) 559-0000
Silver Cab: (301) 341-5140
RIDESHARE Especially in cities, ridesharing programs have gained popularity in the last year. App services such as
Uber,
Lyft and
Sidecar allow you to call a car from your smartphone and pay directly with your registered credit card.
 AMTRAK Amtrak operates limited service throughout the US and Canada. Locally, it goes to and from BWI Airport from Washington, DC's Union Station, but MARC is much cheaper. Their website (
https://www.amtrak.com/home.html) has lots of information about schedules, routes, and fares throughout the country. It is likely more expensive than trains you may have in your home country! Most students find that train travel is in general a less popular and less convenient mode of travel in the US.
 MARC TRAINS These trains are operated by the Maryland Transit Authority, and are mostly used by commuters in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. MARC is a cheap option to get to downtown Baltimore, but it doesn't run on the weekend yet. MARC trains also run to BWI Airport, but it might be cheaper to take the Metrobus from the Greenbelt metro station. Check out the
MARC website for fares and schedules.
INTERCITY BUSES
New York and Philadelphia, even Boston, can often be reached from Maryland/DC by affordable buses such as Bolt, Mega, and Vamoose.
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