Community Corner

The U.S. Open: Getting There

What's the most convenient way to get to the golf championship?

What’s the most convenient way to get to and from the U.S. Open?

That’s the question many are asking in anticipation of the high-profile golf championship that’s happening at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda June 13-19, bringing about 35,000 daily spectators along with it.

According to representatives from the USGA, which runs the tournament, due to Congressional’s – about five miles west the Bethesda Metro station, five and a half miles from Medical Center and seven miles from Grosvenor-Strathmore – “utilizing Metro as a primary part of our transportation plan was not deemed feasible,” wrote Reg Jones, U.S. Open senior director, in an email to Patch.

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Since there’s no onsite parking at Congressional, the majority of spectators will arrive via shuttle bus from parking locations at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds and Crown Farm in Gaithersburg. A permit-only lot will also be set up in Virginia, Jones wrote.

For Metro users, there will also be a shuttle running via a reservation system from the Grosvenor Metro station, operated via contractor TMS.  “The USGA still wanted to make Metro a viable option for a portion of our spectators and partnered with TMS to make the reservation based system available to supplement other forms of transportation (taxis, limos, etc.),” Jones wrote.

Find out what's happening in Bethesda-Chevy Chasewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But as Greater Greater Washington recently reported, there's an $8 charge for the Metro shuttle, while the parking shuttles are free. So, taking the Metro will require a reservation and some extra cash.

Then there’s the bus option –a county spokeswoman tells Patch that while there’s no plan now to increase service on bus routes that run to Congressional during the Open, transportation officials will be keeping on eye on demand during Open week.

Ride On operates the 36 bus, which stops near Congressional. While it doesn’t operate on the weekends, “if it appears during the week there is a high level of demand, we might end up running extra service for that route,” county spokeswoman Esther Bowring told Patch.

The T2 bus also stops near the club and runs during the week and on the weekend, though it’s operated by RideOn on weekends and Metro during the week, Bowring said.

More information on getting to and from the U.S. Open is available via USGA’s official spectator’s guide.


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