<p>First time poster! Long time lurker.</p>
<p>We just made a reservation for my son to fly home in November. His flight back lands at 7:30 a.m. on a Monday morning. Is getting to campus for a 10 a.m. class doable? It looks like he can take a bus to the metro, and then get the campus shuttle? (AstrophysicsMom, are you out there?)</p>
<p>Haha, yep, I’m here, of course!!! I don’t know the schedules for the BWI - Metro link (or if there are any BWI-UMD shuttles still running on that Monday a.m.), but the campus shuttle from the College Park metro back to campus runs frequently. When Ds have flown in/out of BWI, they’ve usually gotten rides from friends…so I can’t tell for sure. My guess is that he’ll still be ok for a 10:00 a.m. class. Anyone else with any experience???</p>
<p>D is also flying in & out of BWI turkey weekend going wed, return sunday.<br>
I looked at the shuttle bus schedule and it says it runs every 40 mins from the metro station but didn’t see how often in runs from the airport back - assuing the same thing. I think if you miss one then you have to wait for the next but longest wait time would be 40mins. It says its a 40min ride and then they have to get on the metro for 2 stops. then catch the UMD shuttle back to school. my best guess is that it is a min 1.5 hr trip but could be as much as 3 hours if you just miss one of those buses.
I don’t want to take the chance missing flight out on wed so
i’m looking at the super shuttle to and from BWI. D is leaving UMD wed am for a 9am flight and looks like she gets picked up around 6:30am. With the busy weekend I would leave around 7am anyway so doesn’t seem unreasonable. Also looking to see if that is a better option to get back to school from the airport on sunday. they don’t guarantee times so not sure if it would be faster that the BWI bus to the metro station. Web site says you can get the shuttle home without a reservation from the airport by going to the counter. so if the bus is missed he could grab a shuttle. Cost is about 32 each way - more than bus but easier.</p>
<p>I’m reporting back - my son took the campus bus to the metro on Friday afternoon; took the metro to Green Belt, and then took the bus to BWI. His flight was at 9:30 p.m., and he left campus at 5 (much too early, but we weren’t sure how everything worked and wanted to have extra time built in). He said the campus bus usually takes 6 minutes to get to the metro, but it took 25, causing him to miss the bus he was aiming for. That aside, he said it “couldn’t have been easier.” He was at the airport well before 7 p.m.</p>
<p>For the ride back to campus this morning he made a reservation on the “Go Shuttle” just to be sure he got back to campus in time for his 10 a.m. class. He found the shuttle easily (instructions on their web site), and the only glitch was that he had made the reservation for 7:30 P.M. instead of A.M… The shuttle was $26.</p>
<p>For those departing Wed, returning Sun, U. Maryland is offering free shuttle service to and from BWI.</p>
<p>[DOTS</a> :: Trips](<a href=“http://www.transportation.umd.edu/trips.html]DOTS”>Break Transportation | UMD DOTS)</p>
<p>As already mentioned, the B30 runs express from BWI to Greenbelt every 40 minutes on weekdays. Checking the [url=<a href=“http://www.wmata.com/bus/timetables/md/b30.pdf]timetable[/url”>http://www.wmata.com/bus/timetables/md/b30.pdf]timetable[/url</a>], there should be an early enough bus for him to catch to make it there on time. The schedule says 35 minutes from airport to metro, but I would like to point out that this is an extremely busy bus. Many people who are unfamiliar with DC public transit use it, it will be extremely crowded (especially after a holiday), and there will be numerous people trying to figure out how to insert their money into the fare-taker.</p>
<p>The last time I took this bus it was 45 minutes late and the driver wouldn’t let anyone on at the second BWI stop because the bus was already full. At this time of morning, I would be shocked at less than an hour drive to the Metro.</p>
<p>He can probably make it, but a lot of things will have to go right. Good luck.</p>
<p>PS. Make sure he has $6 exact change to get on the B30.</p>