Silver Spring Metro Station

The Silver Spring Metro station was a small but important transfer point for the MD/​DC region. Was. Past Tense. Now, the Metro & Ride on bus station has made it HUGE.
This is a Rail and Bus sight where there are multiple areas where something can go wrong, yet they get it right.
The over all facilities are clean. No trash. No graffiti. No «What is that smell!» smell. The station staff includes a maintenance and cleaning staff that stay active. I’m not talking about the safety officer watching the supervisor watching the ground guide watching the guy emptying the trash can. I’m talking about maintenance being conducted; trash being picked up; the station managers helping commuters! It is refreshing to see customer service done right.
Any that complain about this station may have a limited experience with mass transit systems or really need to take a step back and see how lucky they are.

This station is dirty and a little ghetto. I don’t know why they cannot clean it up and have it look better. I can understand that it’s a busy station but not as busy as Metro Center! Metro center does it look dirty and ghetto. I don’t know… Yea. 2 stars.

Metro employees come in all shapes, sizes and attitudes. I’ve met some very nice metro employees however that was at every station expect for Silver Spring Metro stop! I’m not too sure why I only experience terrible Metro employees at this stop, maybe its just a terrible place to work?
Two different situations that happened here — a few days ago I was trying to exit the station from the handicap exit because I had my bike with me, the terminal was down so I tried to exit though the smaller terminal. After I scanned my card and tried to walk through, the doors closed on my bike. I was waving for the station manager to come over and help me; when she finally arrived she said «You need to use the handicap exit, what were you thinking?» As you could imagine, that grinded my gears a bit. When I responded «The handicap terminal is broken, otherwise I would have used it» she just stared at me and I carried my bike over the door flaps and left. What a terrible customer service experience on Metros’ part.
The other terrible experience was on a cold night about a month ago, I was trying to get downtown. The trains were delayed for some reason; after waiting for 30 minutes on the platform I went down stairs to ask the station manager when the train would arrive and he said «I don’t know». What was he there working for if he has no idea whats going on?
Not my favorite stop and I’m glad I’m moving soon.

It certainly gets the job done. And there’s usually adequate shelter.

Decent Metro station, and walking distance from a variety of services, such as restaurants.

Always something wrong with. the red line ugh… this Station been under construction forever

Under some major remodeling and engineering, Silver Spring is growing from a simple Metro and MARC station to include a huge bus stop too. It’s not there yet though.
In the meanwhile, the Metro station is above ground. At the ground floor are the automated ticket vending machines and a staffed ticket booth. An escalator takes you up to the platform level, which is an island between the two tracks. There are some windbreaks up there but on a cold and windy day like today, it wasn’t so nice.
Umm… where’s the famed parking? I’d like to leave a car there all day and the spots I found with meters don’t allow me to add enough time.

All functioning escalators WOW! Walk sucks if you’re walking from parking garage to station due to Marc train construction.

Under construction but still running. It’s small, convenient, and seemingly in a safe lit part of town.

Pretty cool station. Don’t usually have to wait too long here.

Escalators are almost always functioning! WOW!
The platform is terribly windy, and the floor awfully slick when it rains/​snows, etc.
Would have gotten 4 stars but the ceiling leaks, and whenever it rains, I ALWAYS get dripped on when I walk in the station.
It’s also very difficult to find this station from the south side of the tracks if you’re new in town.

I love the Silver Spring Station, even if the platform is as slippery your bathroom floor after a soapy romp.
Sure it only has one line (Red) but the red line is truly a lifeline into the heart of DC. Eventually it will be incredible if they ever finish the depot it is suppose to become, but that seems like a generation away.

You are a cold, weathered stone of a station.

Ahh yes, Silver Spring Metro! My old stomping grounds!
Even though it services only the red line, Silver Spring Metro serves as a major transport hub for the Ride On Bus, Metro Bus, as well as the MARC trains. If the red line is misbehaving, as it is wont to do, there are buses that will take you to downtown DC. Taking the bus in most cases is not as fast as taking the train, but it is only $ 1.25 for SmarTrip users and $ 1.35 for those who pay cash. The S2 and S4 stop at Metro Center and continue onto to Federal Triangle, and the 79 stops at the Archives. I haven’t ridden the 70 bus, but it goes all the way the SW Waterfront and also stops in Chinatown.
If you need to go to Frederick or Baltimore, you can take the MARC, which is $ 6 one-​way (it only runs on weekdays, though). If you want to go to Bethesda from Silver Spring, the J2 and J3 will take you up there faster than riding the Metro. There are also shuttle buses to UMD and Montgomery College (Rockville campus). Many buses also go to other stations on the red line, such as Wheaton, Twinbrook, and Rockville.
Although it is an above-​ground station, trains tend to run frequently (except in the evening, where they run every 10 – 15 minutes). If there is single-​tracking on the red line, usually they’ll have the last stop be Silver Spring, and then have every other train going to Glenmont, which is only inconvenient for people who live in Forest Glen and beyond. In the morning, it is also hilarious to see people running to catch a train to Shady Grove and have it be standing room only. Those in the know (and now you do, too) usually wait 2 minutes, and then an empty train to Grosvenor pulls in, and we get have a nice seat all the way downtown.
Nearby there are lots of tasty food options, including Oriental East for dim sum on the weekends, Sabroso Grill for delicious Peruvian chicken, steak at Ray’s the Classics, as well as the crummy but good food at Tastee Diner, which is open 24 hours. Downtown Silver Spring and the Discovery Channel building are but a short walk away. There is also a Commuter Store if you need to buy a SmarTrip card or weekly bus pass for Metro bus or Ride On.
The only downside to this station is that they are building a transit center, which won’t be completed for a few years. While construction is going on, they have moved all the bus bays to Wayne Avenue, Dixion Avenue, and Bonifant Street, which is a short 5 – 10 minute trek. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve hustled my ass from the station to catch the Z8, only to have it pull away as I’m waiting to cross the street, then I have to wait 20 – 30 minutes for another bus! There are also homeless people and occasionally the Church of Scientology will set up camp outside the entrance. To balance that out, the Girl Scouts sell their cookies here in the spring.
P. S. To go to downtown Silver Spring, catch a bus or cab, exit at the South escalators. Going down the North exit will put you closer Metro Lost and Found, Tastee Diner, or the post office on Second Avenue.

What is up with the people who run Metro? What happened on Monday, Jan 4 that I had to stand out on the Silver Spring platform for over 20 minutes waiting for a *?!@#% train? It’s close to freezing outside and half a dozen trains went by going the other direction when the whole world is going to work towards DC !!! It’s like the morons at stations who decide to keep the escalators running against rush hour but shut the rush hour ones off! In freezing weather, you cannot have people standing outside for more than 7 minutes. There is no excuse unless someone commits suicide on the tracks and even then, I know these trains can switch tracks. The incompetence and mismanagement have gone far enough!