Contact: Esther Bowring, 240-777-6513
Howard Benn, 240-777-5800
For Immediate Release: December 6, 2001

Ride On Adjusts Schedules to Serve
MARC’s New Commuter Rail Service From Frederick

On December 10, Montgomery County Ride On service on Bus Routes 68, 69 and 28 will adjust their schedules to coincide with schedule changes on MARC’s Brunswick line. The changes are designed to provide better service to passengers who use the Maryland Department of Transportation’s new MARC rail service extension from Frederick City and Monocacy to Washington’s Union Station. Trains on the newly extended line will begin carrying passengers to and from Frederick or Monocacy on December 17.

Ride On Routes 68 (Germantown MARC - Waters Landing) and 69 (Germantown MARC - Gunners Lake) serve the Germantown and Metropolitan Grove MARC stations. Route 28, the Silver Spring Dasher shuttle, serves the Silver Spring MARC station.

Parking at the Germantown, Metropolitan Grove, Gaithersburg, Washington Grove, and the Kensington MARC stations is free and connecting Ride On bus service is also free if passengers show a MARC weekly or monthly ticket to the bus operator.

With the new MARC train service, residents in northern Montgomery County who commute to the District of Columbia or southern Montgomery County will have a much better choice of trains. Nineteen trains a day will serve Germantown and 18 trains a day will be available at the Metropolitan Grove and Gaithersburg stations, running about every 20 minutes during rush hour. In addition, service to both the Rockville and Silver Spring stations will be increased to 20 trains a day.

For more information on Ride On’s schedule changes, call the County’s Transit Information Center at 240-777-RIDE or check the Transit Services website at www.RideOnBus.com. Detailed information on MARC rail service is available on the Maryland Transit Administration’s website at www.mtamaryland.com or by calling 1-800-325-RAIL. Or, passengers can call the following MARC stations directly for information (station operating hours are limited): Germantown Station, 301-540-9641; Gaithersburg Station, 301-926-0092; Rockville Station, 301-762-3455; or Silver Spring Station, 301-589-2241.