Commuter bus from Hagerstown to Rockville adds another trip

May 23, 2008

Another trip has been added to the commuter bus line that travels from Hagerstown to Rockville, Md., according to a Maryland Department of Transportation press release.

The Maryland Transit Authority commuter bus 991 route now has six buses leaving the Motor Vehicle Administration building on Col. H.K. Douglas Drive on weekday mornings between 4:15 and 6:35 a.m., said Jack Cahalan, spokesman for the department of transportation.

The new trip, which leaves at 5:40 a.m., was added under a $3.36 million expansion of the commuter bus service approved Thursday by the Maryland Board of Public Works.

The expansion added trips to nine routes on the system, which serves Washington, D.C., as well as Western, Central and Southern Maryland.

Ridership on the bus system has increased in the past year, according to the release.

Between 900 and 1,030 riders use the 991 route every weekday, 13 percent more than the 800 to 900 riders the route had last year, Cahalan said.

Every week, between 4,500 and 5,150 people ride the 991 bus, Cahalan said.

The 991 route is the only one that includes Hagerstown.

It travels through the Monocacy MARC station and Urbana in Frederick County and the Shady Grove Metro Station in Gaithersburg to Rock Spring Business Park in Rockville.

For a map or schedule of the 991 route, go to www.mtamaryland.com and click on "Commuter Bus."

-- Joshua Bowman

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