The Silver Spring Penguin

Construction on Silver Spring’s long-awaited transit center drops Monday, but commuters can get their first taste of change on Sunday. That’s when Metro, Ride-On, VanGo and collegiate shuttle buses take off from new bus stops dotting Wayne and Dixon Avenues and Bonifant Street.

Here’s how it all goes down, according to the transportation department:

If you roll on Metro’s F4 or F6 to PG County, hit your ride at bus stop A, along the “jug handle” near Discovery Communications. You can catch the free VanGo shuttle around downtown Silver Spring on the jug handle, too.

Strangely, there’s no bus stop B. (Insert conspiracy theory here.) But at bus stop C, you can hit Metro’s Z2, Z6 and Z8 buses up route 29 (Colesville Road and Columbia Pike). That stop sits on the north side of Wayne Avenue, closest to the entrance to Discovery Communications’ underground garage.

Just east of that is bus stop D, where Metro’s Z11 and Z13 buses can drag your ass express-style to the Greencastle and Briggs-Chaney areas. And next to that, at bus stop E, Metro’s Z9 and Z29 will take you to the outer reaches of civilization: Burtonsville and Laurel.

On the north side of Wayne, just east of Discovery’s circular driveway, Metro’s J1, J2 and J3 lines to Bethesda kick it at bus stop F. And next to that, closest to the northwest corner of Wayne and Georgia Avenues, the Bethesda-bound J4, Ride-On’s route 2 to Lyttonsville and its route 9 to Wheaton take off from bus stop G. (Buses returning to Silver Spring on those routes unload directly across the street, on the south side of Wayne.)

Head downhill again on Wayne and arrive at bus stop H, on the street’s south side and just outside the red-brick Trips commuter store. There, you can hitch a ride down Georgia Avenue on Metro’s 70 or 71 bus line. Take two steps east to catch Metro’s 79 express down Georgia at bus stop I (”eye”).

At bus stop J, near the southwest corner of Wayne and Dixon, Metro’s S2 and S4 lines will take you down 16th Street. And near the southeast corner, at bus stop K, eastbound J4, route 2 and route 9 buses dump their passengers.

According to the county’s map of this mess, there is a bus stop L on the south side of Wayne, directly across the street from bus stop G. But so far, no bus actually stops there. There’s also a bus stop M on the west side of Dixon, near its intersection with Wayne. But again, no bus. (Keep those conspiracy theories coming, people.)

At bus stop N, commuters can catch Ride-On’s route 8 up Georgia Avenue to Wheaton, the route 18 past Montgomery College’s Silver Spring/Takoma Park campus to Langley Park, the route 21 to the Briggs-Chaney Park and Ride, and the route 22 past the Food and Drug Administration’s White Oak campus to Hillandale. Hit that stop near the northwest corner of Dixon and Bonifant Street.

Bus stop O sits on the low end of the hill along Dixon’s east side. That’s where you can catch Metro’s Y5, Y7, Y8 and Y9 to Olney via Georgia Avenue. A few steps uphill, catch the Q2 to Montgomery College’s Rockville campus via Veirs Mill Road at bus stop P. Take another couple steps uphill to bus stop Q for the J5 bus to the White Flint Mall and the Food and Drug Administration’s Parklawn building.

On Bonifant Street, towards its northeast corner with Ramsey Avenue, bus stop R will hook you up with Ride-On’s routes 1 and 11 to Friendship Heights, route 3 to Takoma, DC, route 4 to Kensington, and route 5 to Twinbrook.

Bus stops S and U exist on the north side of Bonifant between Dixon and Ramsey, but nothing stops there. Bus stop T, sandwiched between S and U (duh), is where you can catch Ride-On’s routes 12 and 13 to Takoma, DC, and route 17 to Langley Park.

On the south side of Bonifant (closest to the former taxi pick-up), bus stop W is a vacant wasteland of concrete, where no bus driver dares to stop. Two steps uphill to the east, at bus stop X, hit Ride-On’s route 14 to Takoma, DC, route 15 to Langley Park, and route 19 to Northwood.

Two more steps uphill from bus stop X is bus stop Y, yet another black hole. And finally, just west of Dixon Avenue on Bonifant’s south side, is bus stop Z. It’s where Ride-On’s route 16 to Takoma, DC, and route 20 to Hillandale kick it.

Wait a minute — where’s bus stop V? That poor little bastard sits on Bonifant’s northeast corner with Dixon. Coeds looking for lifts to the University of Maryland or Montgomery College can hook up with shuttle buses there.

Metro and MARC rail service won’t be affected by construction.

For more information, visit the project’s website.

Map courtesy of Montgomery County’s department of transportation.