December 6: Visit BTS at Winter Wonderland

Holiday fun comes to downtown Bethesda on Saturday, December 6, as Winter Wonderland takes over Norfolk and Cordell Avenues from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Enjoy Santa Claus, live ice sculpting, live music, face painting, games and more! Please bring a new toy for Toys for Tots.

Organized by Bethesda Urban Partnership, the event also features a Holiday Market with URBNmarket and 50 artisans. URBNmarket is a curated marketplace celebrating the art of creating.

Stop by the BTS tent for a turn at the prize wheel and information about mobility options.

IRS Boosts Commuter Benefit Pre-Tax Limit for 2026

Heads-up for employers that subsidize employee transit passes, vanpool fares, and/or qualified parking: The Internal Revenue Service announced its updated annual inflation adjustment for those benefits.

The IRS raised the 2026 monthly limitation for the “qualified transportation fringe benefit” (section §132(f)(2)(A)) and “qualified parking” (section §132(f)(2)(B)) to $340, up $15 from 2025.

For more details, see page 19 of this IRS publication: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-25-32.pdf.

Note: Employer-provided commute or parking benefits that exceed the pre-tax limit are considered taxable employee income.

Discover how this tax policy can benefit employees who ride public transit or commute via vanpool. Contact Kristen Blackmon at BTS (301-656-0868 x119 or KBlackmon@bethesda.org).

This Month: If part of your commute to or from Bethesda involves Metro’s Green Line, please be aware of the construction work affecting that section of the system from 10 p.m. Monday, December 16, through Tuesday, December 30.

No stations will be closed, but the Green Line will single-track through three stations: U Street, Columbia Heights, and Georgia Av-Petworth. All stations will remain open, with Green Line trains running every 16 minutes and Yellow Line trains running every 8 minutes on both weekdays and weekends.

Summer 2026: Metro is planning major track work that will affect our section of the Red Line next summer. The Red Line between Friendship Heights and North Bethesda will be closed from July 6 through September 6. Closed stations will include Grosvenor-Strathmore, Medical Center and Bethesda.

BTS will issue frequent reminders of the Red Line station closures next year, and will offer assistance and guidance for anyone affected — but please plan ahead well in advance.

More Details: See Metro’s press release for more information, and check the latest track work schedule before heading out.

Contact Allison Kemp at BTS (akemp@bethesda.org or 301-301-656-0868 x121) if you need help making other mobility plans during these projects.

If you frequent the U.S. Route 29 corridor, be on the lookout for the five Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) decorated Flash Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) buses. They will be cruising along Colesville Road/Columbia Pike (U.S. 29), framed in colorful winter lights and featuring a neon sign reading “Happy Holidays” along the side.

MCDOT encourages everyone to snap a picture of a Flash Lights bus when they see one and post it on their Bluesky, X, Facebook and Instagram account (use hashtags #FlashLights and #MontgomeryCountyMD) and tag @MCDOTNow for a chance to win a $35 Amazon gift card in a weekly, random draw. The contest will run from Monday, December 1 until Monday, January 5, 2026. 

“Our Flash Lights buses help brighten up this festive time of the year,” said Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich. 

“All Ride On buses, including the Flash BRT buses, are currently zero-fare, so we encourage anyone who has not yet tried Flash to take advantage of the holiday buses to do so,” added MCDOT Director Chris Conklin.

Commuter Connections, a program of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, invites commuters and employers from around the region to join in its 2nd Annual goDMV Commuter Competition.

The competition uses the CommuterCash app to engage participants in logging their trips so they can climb the leaderboard and earn points redeemable for cash and prizes.