[2] The Purple Line, a light rail system currently under construction, will terminate at Bethesda, providing rail service to other inner Maryland suburbs such as Silver Spring and College Park, each of which has additional north–south connections by Washington Metro, and New Carrollton, which has Amtrak and MARC connections to both Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

In the direction of Shady Grove, it is the first station wholly within Montgomery County, as Friendship Heights straddles the border between Maryland and Washington, D.C.

The escalator site preparation, demolition, construction, installation and testing was projected to take approximately 42 weeks to complete.

[6][7] The station's construction has been a major boom to the area, with several office buildings being built on (in the Bethesda Metro Center complex) and around it.

[citation needed] Between January 17 and December 24, 2022, the Bethesda Plaza entrance escalator was replaced with stairs that lead from the bus station to street level.