MTA ROLLS OUT ICC COMMUTER BUS ROUTES 203, 204, 205 | Transportation

The following information was sent to us by Daniella Cummins:

Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) Commuter Bus 

routes 203, 204 and 205 began service today along the 18.8 mile Inter County Connector (ICC) toll road. 

The three new commuter bus routes will provide service between I-270/370 in Montgomery County and 

I-95/Rt.1 in Prince George’s County. The first two weeks of service will be provided free of charge, 

with fare collection starting on January 16, 2012. With the addition of these new commuter bus routes, 

the MTA now offers a total five commuter bus routes operating along the ICC corridor. 

The new service follows the launch of routes 201 and 202 in March 2011. The initial routes linked 

Gaithersburg to job and transportation centers at Fort Meade and Baltimore-Washington Thurgood 

Marshall Airport. Routes 203, 204, and 205, will serve the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the 

National Naval Medical Center in Montgomery County, connect Howard County to employment centers 

in Bethesda, and transport Prince George’s County residents to jobs in the I-270 High Technology 

Corridor in Rockville, Gaithersburg and Germantown. 

MTA Administrator Ralign T. Wells said, “The addition of these new routes to the commuter bus 

service fulfills an MTA goal to improve the quality of life, and access to employment opportunities in 

the region. This additional service will shorten commute times, reduce gasoline consumption, negative 

impact on the environment, and wear and tear on state roads.” 

The new service will also provide improved connections between MTA and Washington Metropolitan 

Area Transit Authority (WMATA) services including Columbia and Bethesda, Frederick and College 

Park, and College Park and Germantown.  

Route 203 

 Commuter Bus Route 203 will serve the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Naval 

Medical Center in Montgomery County.  

 It will connect Howard County to employment centers in Bethesda.  

 Route 203 makes five stops between the Snowden River Park and Ride to the Medical Center Metro 

Station.  

 It will operate Monday through Friday during peak periods only.  

 Route 204 

 Commuter Bus Route 204 will transport Montgomery and Frederick County residents to their jobs at 

the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in White Oak and the University of Maryland (UMD) 

College Park.  

 It will operate between the Monocacy MARC Station in Frederick County and the College Park 

Metro/MARC Station, and will be in service Monday through Friday. 

Route 205 

 Commuter Bus Route 205 will carry Prince George’s County residents to jobs in the I-270 High 

Technology Corridor of Rockville, Gaithersburg and Germantown.  

 Among the employment centers that would be served are Shady Grove Hospital, the Life Sciences 

Center, Human Genome Sciences, the future Johns Hopkins Research Center, NIST and the US 

Department of Energy. 

 Service on route 205 will begin at the College Park Metro/MARC Station on the Metro Green line 

and connect to the Shady Grove Metro Station. The service will operate Monday through Friday. 

Fares on the Commuter bus routes are: $5.00 one way, $38.25 for a ten trip ticket, $144.50 for a monthly 

pass, and $219.00 for a Transit Link card which allows for transfers to intersecting transit services such 

as WMATA. 

This expansion of MTA service is part of a larger intermodal plan to accommodate the estimated 40,000 

to 60,000 extra jobs coming to Maryland over the next six to ten years due to Base Realignment and 

Closure (BRAC). 

For more information on MTA service, visit the MTA website at www.mta.maryland.gov. Customers 

can also call the MTA Transit Information Center Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. at 

410-539-5000. (TTY 410-539-3497) To sign-up for e-mail about service modifications and delays, click 

“e-mail notification” at www.mta.maryland.gov.