Getting from Washington DC to Baltimore

Walter

I'm headed to Baltimore with a bunch of my friends over labor day weekend. The original plan was to fly into Washington Dulles and meet up with a buddy who lives there, then drive to Baltimore. Unfortunately the plans changed and now I am the only one flying into Dulles and my friend who lives nearby will not be there. Changing my ticket is not really an option cause it will cost about $400.

Anybody have a good way to get to Baltimore and back? I've checked the bus schedules and greyhound actually has buses leaving about every hour. The main problem is that the bus station is 33 miles from the airport. Too expensive for a taxi and if I try to get there via metro it'll take me 3 hours just to go 33 miles.

Fristle

For 3 bucks, you can get a Metro bus from Dulles airport to the Metro-rail, and for a couple bucks more ride that to Union Station, and grab a Greyhound bus to Baltimore from there.

Here's the map (PDF) for the bus you need.

On the way back, follow the same route, but when getting off the Metro-rail, pick up a free bus transfer at the station, from one of the little machines. That's your free bus ride back to Dulles airport.

EDIT: Clarification -- the Greyhound bus station in DC is not on a metro stop. Union Station is the closest one. If you don't mind walking a couple blocks through a semi-bad neighborhood...ish, this is still the way to go. Or you know, I'm sure a taxi will take you from Union Station to the Greyhound Station, for a few more bucks.

EggyToast

So where are you getting the car? At Dulles, or in DC proper? Are you "stuck" at Dulles and need mass transit to get somewhere specific, or can you get into somewhere generic and have a friend pick you up?

If you are fully reliant on public transit to get into Baltimore, the best way is to take the Metrobus. Look HERE for more info. They have an express bus that goes into downtown DC.

From there, hop on the metro to get to a MARC station, and take that to Camden Yards in downtown baltimore. Then you can get on the baltimore lightrail to scoot around a bit, although mass transit is not nearly as useful once you're in baltimore compared to DC.

If you have car access, just go from Dulles to 495 (the capital beltway) on the inner loop, to 95 north.

Fristle

Very interesting, I never knew there was a commuter train from DC to Baltimore. Only $7 too! Cheers to EggyToast.

Walter

I am pretty much completely reliant on mass transit to get me from Dulles to Baltimore - Penn Station. You guys have both helped out a ton. I at least have a plan on how to get there. Right now I'm headed from Dulles to Union Station by way of metro and catching the Amtrak there to Penn station, where I am close to where I need to be. The MARC route confuses me a little bit, is it significantly better than what I have planned now? Is the area around Penn Station bad?

EggyToast

Check the prices, the Amtrak tends to take the same route as the MARC. Don't spend more than $10 getting from DC to Baltimore if it's during a weekday (and daytime). The MARC will either take you direct to Penn Station, or, if it's late that day, you can take the MARC to Camden Yards, and then hop on the light rail to get up to Penn Station.

Penn Station is a major rail hub in Baltimore so *everything* goes through it at some point. You can't miss it as long as you read where the trains are going.

Taking the light rail in Baltimore costs about the same as bus fare -- I believe it's about $1.50 to go from Camden Yards downtown up to Penn Station.


Penn Station is in a nice part of town. There's a bizarre sculpture out front. Directly south of Penn Station, over 83, is Mount Vernon, which is kind of the "uptown" of Baltimore, with some funky food and shops. Directly north of Penn Station is the Charles Theater, which is a very nice indie theater that gets good movies in. The only area that's sketchy is North Avenue, which is the name of what otherwise would be 20th street. North Avenue is fine in the daytime but a little eerie at night. To help orient you, Penn Station is essentially the 1700 block, Mount Vernon ends on the 1500 block, the Charles is on the 1800 block. That gives you a whole block before you get anywhere sketchy. And even then, North Avenue is more notorious than actually bad.

iolo

EggyToast has given you the goods on the cheapest way, by far. Be advised, though, this is a long trip with a lot of moving parts. I don't know the prices, but another option that might still be economical is to take a shuttle bus or van from Dulles to BWI, and then catch the light rail (or MARC train) from BWI in to Baltimore, Penn Station. Or better yet have your delinquent friends pick you up at BWI since it's just a stone's throw from Baltimore.

This Washington Post article has a list of shuttle services. It's from 2000, but some of these companies are still shuttling. Also, Googling "bwi dulles shuttle" will return a few companies who you can get a quote from if you know your flight info.

Have a good trip. Oh, and if you do take the MARC train in this process, bring your DS/PSP/GBA charger. They have outlets by the seats.

Walter

I think the shuttle is a really good option, thanks for that article. As it was, I would be spending about an hour waiting on transfers. You guys are great, I was just about to cancel the trip.