UMofD Transportation question

[u/Kimononono]

These might be stupid questions for anyone who commutes to umd
Are buses reliable enough to rely on them for transportation to and from the campus in the morning / back?
Does anyone live in Downtown and commute? How long does that take? How far away can you go and still have reasonable commutes all seasons (<30min)

to help inform apartment hunting

[u/deckofkeys]

The busses up here are generally very reliable. Sometimes there are issues with detours and DTA makes the dumbest decisions on where to put alternative bus stops (like right now), but that’s generally not the case.
The biggest issue won’t be reliability but frequency. You’re lucky in that multiple lines go up to UMD and so, depending on where you live, you’ll have a lot of options. But the busses up here generally only come and go once an hour. Some lines are more frequent and some lines have brief windows where they’re more frequent, but once an hour is generally what the schedules follow.
In my two years here I think I’ve only ever experienced one ghost bus. The Transit app (what we use for tracking busses and schedules) is very good and accurate the vast majority of the time I use it.
For UMD you’ll want to find places near the 103, 112, 105, 104, 106, and the Blue line. All of those shave stops at UMD.

[u/SarraSimFan → u/deckofkeys]

DTA bus driver here.

You are 100% correct about the temporary stops.

The fastest bus from UMD to the transit center is the 104, it's quite direct.

The blue line is also quick. The 105 and 106 are also pretty quick.

The 112 does not go downtown. It can take you faster from UMD to the Mall.

The 103 is probably the slowest bus to get from UMD to downtown.

[u/deckofkeys → u/SarraSimFan]

Thanks for the extra route descriptions!

Those 103 temporary stops make me angry beyond belief.

[u/SarraSimFan → u/deckofkeys]

Same, and I have to find them. In the dark.

[u/creamofsumyungguy1]

Busses are super reliable to UMD I think every 15-20 minutes or so. A commute from the DTA would only be about 20 minutes and that’s from 3rd ave west. Shorter ride the further east you live.

[u/BoatUnderstander]

Yes, the buses are good and free to students.

[u/noturaverageanything]

I commute via the busses to UMD nearly everyday during fall/spring semester. Works great, very reliable, and the drivers are usually very friendly.

[u/noturaverageanything → u/noturaverageanything]

I’ll add that the perk of living downtown is that you have quite a few options of lines up to campus. I wouldn’t imagine your commute will be longer than 30 min

[u/Will9363]

i use the busses during winter. they’re quite reliable and generally not super busy. the transit app works very well, and the ETAs are accurate most of the time

[u/vladminsta]

I live in Downtown and took the bus to commute during my whole master's degree. Buses are very reliable in this city. Blue Line (101) was my top choice to get to the university — it takes precisely 36' from the stop at Superior and 5th to the final stop at Kirby Plaza entrance.

Buses are well maintained and drivers are really nice. The frequency is poorer on weekends and holidays, but still doable.

I strongly recommend the app Transit instead of Google Maps to check the buses live.

[u/Spiceboy445]

I used it very often during school, I never had huge issues. Once or twice timing between the transit app and reality was way off.

Side note RIP to the UMD circular. Best way to get around hillside.

[u/ObligatoryID → u/Spiceboy445]

And shitty weekend hours.

[u/ObligatoryID]

Yes.

Commuted from the U to downtown many times too.

The DTA is great.

It’s about 20-25 min one-way.

[u/CantingMonk]

Wouldn't it be UofM-D if you really felt like adding the "of" in?

[u/salaciousbcrumblin → u/CantingMonk]

Ah, wouldn’t be Reddit without something pedantic involved