Commuting to Bethesda from Chambersburg? (Harrisburg, State College: apartment complexes, for rent, houses)

[berbsnicole]

I am starting a new job in Bethesda, MD and I am in the process of looking for an apartment. However, it has been very hard to find a place that I can afford that is also in a decent area. I am originally from the Chambersburg area and my family is encouraging me to move back home and commute from there instead of paying $1000 or more a month for rent for a place closer to Bethesda that is close to public transportation. I am wondering if anyone commutes to the DC area from Chambersburg and if you have any recommendations or comments on public transportation ( I know that there is a bus that runs from Hagerstown to the Shady Grove metro station but I would like some more information on it if possible.)

[firefightermom]

My husband commutes from Chambersburg to Germantown MD. That drive takes an hour an a half during normal traffic times. Not rush hour. Luckily, he has to report to work by 6am, so he leaves here by 430a at the latest and misses most of the traffic. If he gets to Frederick later than 530, it's bumper to bumper the rest of the way to DC. He also works 24 hours shifts, approximately 9 days a month, so he's not doing this drive every day.
I can understand your family wanting you nearby, and having lived in DC, I know how pricey the entire area is. But this commute will drive you insane. You will have absolutely no life with such a commute. Even with public transportation, the times will be long.
I'll ask my husband any ideas for cheaper apartments; he did property management before his current career.
Good luck with your research!

[danwxman]

Franklin county should really invest in public transportation in and around Chambersburg with daily rush hour runs to Hagerstown and Harrisburg. I actually think Amtrak should invest in reinstating train service between the two cities, it would probably prove to quite popular.

[berbsnicole]

So after talking to my family last night, we realized that my brother had given me the wrong information. My dad thinks that I should live around Frederick and either take the MARC to Rockville and then get on the Metro or take the bus from the Urbana park and ride to the Shady Grove metro station. So if anyone has information on this commmute and apartments in Frederick, I would appreciate it.

[Gil3]

Originally Posted by berbsnicole

So after talking to my family last night, we realized that my brother had given me the wrong information. My dad thinks that I should live around Frederick and either take the MARC to Rockville and then get on the Metro or take the bus from the Urbana park and ride to the Shady Grove metro station. So if anyone has information on this commmute and apartments in Frederick, I would appreciate it.

I honestly believe living in Frederick will be your best option with a daily commute to Bethesda. I agree with FF Mom..You will go crazy with that commute back to Chambersburg daily. Plus, I would rather spend a bit more and be closer to work than the opposite, for sanity's sake.

[firefightermom]

Frederick to Bethesda will still be about an hour if you drive, since 270 is nothing but bumper to bumper during rush hour. My coworker lived there, and we worked off Shady Grove Rd, 45 minutes was average for her. In bad weather, it could take her 2 hours or more to get home. Public trans would probably be the best choice.
Apartment prices will be cheaper, but I don't think by too much; Frederick has tons of people that do the commute to DC and prices have risen accordingly. Since my hubby didn't rent places in Frederick, I don't have any to recommend, sorry!
Good luck with your search!

[berbsnicole]

I am now actually leaning towards places closer to Bethesda now. I looked at the websites of a few places in Frederick and the 3 that are close to the train station that I would commute from are the same price as a place I found in Silver Spring. And when I looked at the bus/metro schedule I realized that commuting from those places in Frederick would probably take ~1.5 hours whereas from Silver Spring, it would be less then an hour.

[BevoInPA]

Silver Spring is very nice now. It used to be sort of dumpy back in the early 1990's. I think the Discovery Channel is even headquartered there. If you have kids be careful where you move. My aunt and uncle used to live there and said that you should be in one of the Montgomery County districts with a high school starting with a "w", Walt Whitman, Whooton (not sure on spelling) and Winston Churchill. I think Bethesda/Chevy Chase is very good but the area is VERY expensive.

[CHIP72]

Coming to this game late, but I'll drop in my 2 cents:

1) Chambersburg to Bethesda commute - DON'T...EVEN...THINK...ABOUT...IT. If you were talking Chambersburg to Hagerstown, Chambersburg to Harrisburg, or even Chambersburg to Frederick, Martinsburg, WV, or Winchester, VA, it would be a different story, but not inside the DC Beltway.

2) Frederick is a nice town in general, though there are some dumpy, rundown-looking houses just southeast of the train station. Having said that, a Frederick to Bethesda commute still is a long commute even by public transportation (MARC Brunswick Line Frederick Branch from Frederick to Rockville, Metro Red Line from Rockville to Bethesda). I have a friend/former co-worker who does the Frederick-Washington commute, though he has arguably the easiest public transit commute possible between the 2 places (lives about 3 blocks from Frederick train station, works 1 block from Washington Union Station). Incidentally, I'm pretty sure the Ride On bus that stops at the Urbana Park-and-Ride does not go beyond Germantown and does not go all the way to the Shady Grove Metro station.

3) Most of the apartment complexes in downtown Silver Spring (where I presume you are looking) are more than $1000/month rent unless you get a studio or efficiency apartment (and many places are still above $1000/month even then). The cheapest place I remember in downtown Silver Spring when I was looking about a year ago was a place called the Barrington, which is on East West Highway west of downtown Silver Spring. (Actually, the Barrington is a little outside downtown Silver Spring but is about a 20 minute walk from the core of downtown and a 15 minute walk to the Silver Spring Metro station. You do need to walk up/down some hills and also cross 16th Street to get to downtown and the Metro station.) A place like the Barrington (or even Summit Hills, which is closer to downtown and is considered to be nicer but is also more expensive) would work well for a commute to downtown Bethesda because the J2, J3, and J4 buses all run along East West Highway between Silver Spring and Bethesda (and the J2 bus in particular runs pretty often 7 days/week, except overnight). Incidentally, riding one of those Metrobus routes between Silver Spring and Bethesda will not only be cheaper than taking the Metrorail, it will also be faster because the distance covered is MUCH shorter.

[CHIP72]

Originally Posted by danwxman

Franklin county should really invest in public transportation in and around Chambersburg with daily rush hour runs to Hagerstown and Harrisburg. I actually think Amtrak should invest in reinstating train service between the two cities, it would probably prove to quite popular.

Capitol Trailways actually had a daily bus route between Hagerstown and Harrisburg up until 2005, but they discontinued it due to low ridership. Mind you, the daily round-trip did not operate at peak periods, which IMO greatly reduced its ridership.

I personally think the Hagerstown-Chambersburg-Harrisburg corridor (and also the Gettysburg-Harrisburg corridor) could support commuter bus service, ala the Fullington Trailways service between State College, Lewistown, and Harrisburg, but I doubt you'll see that kind of service anytime soon. Capital Area Transit does have what I believe is a fairly popular service between Shippensburg and Harrisburg that people in Chambersburg could easily access and use.

Amtrak would be a very, very hard sell on the Norfolk Southern-owned rail line between Harrisburg and Hagerstown (called the Lurgan Branch); that line is single-tracked with sidings and is fairly heavily used by freight trains for a single-tracked line.