Savannah-Charleston-Andrews-Baltimore

Author Message   William Dimsdale Member Username: Mebillyd Post Number: 31 Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 74.196.60.127 Posted on Saturday, March 27, 2010 - 12:18 pm:    Great detailed instructions. If one wanted to go from Charleston AFB to the Greyhound Bus station what city buses would they take?   Dane Berry Member Username: Dane_b Post Number: 14 Registered: 09-2007 Posted From: 70.223.181.160 Posted on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - 11:25 am:    None of the MARC lines run on the weekend and limited service on holidays,unfortunately. It would be wise, as mentioned earlier, to check the schedule. The full schedule for all lines can be found at: http://www.mtamaryland.com/services/marc/ I had planned my trip for an early morning weekday flight, but the only one I could get out on was a late afternoon flight, thereby, my transfers were tight. Had I been an hour later, I would have stayed at Andrews until the next morning.   Leland Senior Member Username: Leland Post Number: 5628 Registered: 05-2006 Posted From: 98.218.147.237 Posted on Monday, January 18, 2010 - 08:47 pm:    Yeah, two of the MARC lines are purely commuter rush-hour operations. The third, the Penn line that runs between DC Union Station and Baltimore via BWI, runs through the day but infrequently outside of rush hour. see <http://www.mtamaryland.com/services/marc/schedulesSystemMaps/MARC_PENN_HTML_New. cfm> I don't know if the Penn line operates on weekends, the other two apparently do not.   John Schneider Member Username: Jschneid Post Number: 15 Registered: 02-2008 Posted From: 71.176.29.172 Posted on Monday, January 18, 2010 - 08:38 pm:    Great information, thanks. I do remember a few months back, after 10 pm was a problem from the Union Station to Balto. segment, Amtrak or MARC. It would pay to check first.   Danny Hamilton Senior Member Username: Dannyhamilton Post Number: 534 Registered: 03-2004 Posted From: 68.225.115.15 Posted on Saturday, January 16, 2010 - 06:18 pm:    Dane, those are some fine-detailed directions for getting from Savannah to Baltimore. I, too, favor utilizing public transportation whenever possible (and I have the time to spare, of course). I know some SPATS will benefit from your posting. Thanks for taking the time to detail your trip, step by step.   Dane Berry Member Username: Dane_b Post Number: 13 Registered: 09-2007 Posted From: 75.254.50.171 Posted on Saturday, January 16, 2010 - 03:50 pm:    I found I was in need of making a quick trip from Savannah, GA to Baltimore, MD and I thought some may be interested in the details of doing this via public transportation. My wife brought me to the Amtrak station in Savannah and I took the 8:03 AM train to Charleston, SC (cost=$21.00). Upon arriving in Charleston at 10:00 AM, I walked to the local CARTA (Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority) bus stop. This is done by proceeding right out of the terminal and through the station's gate. Continue right along the tracks and under the bridge to Meeting St. There is a child care facility on the left. Cross the street and bear left to the River St. bus stop. It will read #10 River St. bus stop. The stop is across the street from the Fabian Shopping center. Daylight travel here is recommended since I was approached several times by seemingly homeless people asking for handouts. Once on the #10 River St. Southbound (Fare=$1.50 or $0.75 for seniors over 60) proceed to the North Charleston CARTA Superstop. This is at the corner of River St. and Cosgrove Ave. Watch for the Naval Hospital on the left side of the bus. It will be right after that. Depart the bus at Cosgrove and River and cross the street to the CARTA terminal. Take the Northbound #12 bus (Dorchester Route) to the main gate of Charleston AFB. I did not ask for a transfer when getting on the #10 so I had to pay the $0.75 again. The ride is about 20 minutes. Having been to the Charleston AFB AMC terminal before and it being a pleasant day, I walked to the terminal from the main gate. It is about 1.4 miles and took about 20 minutes. I arrived at the terminal check-in counter at 12:10 PM. The flight was still on and roll call was a few hours away. Once at Andrews AFB, and after another wonderful flight on a C-17, I immediately proceeded to the base main gate at Allentown Rd. and Suitland Rd. It being dark now and not knowing they had constructed a new route to the main gate, I found my self far away from where I wanted to be. I stopped for directions and a kind retired AF Sgt. offered me a ride since he was going that way. Once at the gate, I crossed Allentown Rd. and proceeded to the Metrobus stop located in front of the Quality Inn. It will read #D13, #D14 and #K12. Take the #K12 to the Branch Ave. Metro station for the Green Line (fare=$1.35). By this time it was about 7:30 PM. I had two options to get to my destination just north of Baltimore. Number one was to take the Green Line to its terminus at the Greenbelt station, take the B30 Metrobus to BWI airport terminal, take the Baltimore Light Rail to downtown Baltimore and take a Metrobus to within 2 blocks of my destination. This was my preferred route, but since it would be very late when I arrived in downtown Baltimore, I was hesitant to make this trip. The second option was similar except I would transfer from the Green Line to the Red Line at the Gallery Place/Chinatown station and go to Union Station. From there I would take the Maryland commuter train, MARC, on the Camden Line to the Camden Yards terminal and then take the Light Rail as in option one. But again, it was late and I did not want to take this option either, so I was left with option three. I took the Green Line to Gallery Place/Chinatown and transferred to the Red Line getting off at Union Station (fare=$1.85-higher during rush hours). At Union Station I took MARC's Penn Line to a station close to my destination (fare=$8.00) (the Penn Line also stops at the BWI airport). Since this MARC station is about 8 miles from my destination, I was going to use this option last. I had called a cab while on the train and it was waiting for me when I arrived at 10:10 PM. I made the last leg of the trip in 10 minutes (fare=$17.80). Time of arrival was 10:25 PM. I hope this will be useful to those when utilizing public transportation to or from Andrews and/or Charleston. It was quite a pleasurable journey although had the weather been bad, it would have been difficult to walk while on the bases because of the distances (about a 1.5 miles in both cases).