Ride On Adds Route to Tobytown

Pilot program connects Potomac community with schools, hospital and Metro

By Douglas Tallman

?Tobytown, a community founded by freed slaves in Potomac, will get its first Ride On route on Oct. 2, linking residents to the Rockville Metro Station and Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center.

Route 301 will operate daily between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. It will serve Wootton Parkway and Falls, Travilah and Great Falls roads.

In May, the County Council approved $407,000 for a one-year pilot program that would provide daily bus service to Tobytown, where many residents don’t have their own vehicles. About 60 residents live in the community, founded by freed slaves in 1847, near the intersection of River and Esworthy roads. The nearest existing Ride On stop is about 3 miles away.

Council President Nancy M. Floreen mentioned the community meetings that led to the route at her weekly press briefing Monday morning. In July, Montgomery County Ride On received written and oral comments about the proposed route, and held a public meeting at Travilah Elementary School in North Potomac.

“We funded that (route) and hopefully they can get under way,” Floreen said.

Ride On will not charge fares in October. Beginning Nov. 1, standard Ride On fares and discounts will apply; these include free fares for seniors and persons with disabilities from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday and Kids Ride Free from 2 to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The bus schedule is available online.

Riders will be able to reach Metrorail and other Ride On buses at the Rockville Metro Station. They can also reach Thomas S. Wootton High School, Robert Frost Middle School and Travilah Elementary School; Potomac Oak Shopping Center at Travilah and Glen Roads, the Rockville Library and the Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center.

The bus also will stop at the Nancy H. Dacek North Potomac Community Recreation Center, which opens Oct. 22 and includes a senior center.

For the first month or two, the new service will be operated with a bus that does not have the traditional Ride On paint colors. Riders will see a white bus with Ride On logos.