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Dressed more for a formal dinner than an NFL game, Juan De La Cruz of Bethesda descended the escalator at the Landover Metro on Aug. 28 in a crisp black suit, searching for the shuttle he's taken to FedEx Field in years past when he could not get a ride for a Washington Redskins game.

Instead, De La Cruz was greeted by a station manager telling him how he could catch the A12 bus to the Addison Road-Seat Pleasant station to hop on the Blue Line, the closest line to FedEx Field.

If De La Cruz had driven to the station, which is on the Orange line, he would have seen the posted yellow signs and black capital letters reading "No Redskins Shuttle From This Station." De La Cruz said the news was a "big inconvenience."

"It just seems bizarre," De La Cruz said. "I don't know why they couldn't offer it anymore."

The change is a response to the Federal Transit Administration's Charter Service Regulation, effective as of April 30, which says public transportation agencies cannot provide shuttle services to sporting events if there are charter buses available to provide similar services.

Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said signs were posted and flyers handed out to riders prior to the first home exhibition game Aug. 9 asking riders to transfer to the Morgan Boulevard station on the Blue Line and walk about a mile from the station to the stadium. The Landover station is a little more than two miles from FedEx Field.

Taubenkibel said the shuttle averaged 3,000 to 5,000 fans on game days and cost $6 for a trip from the Landover Metro to the stadium and back. Taubenkibel said shuttle service to the stadium is still provided for the stadium's cash parking lots.

The FTA granted the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority a waiver to provide shuttle services to FedEx Field for the Redskins' first two exhibition home games, which included an Aug. 9 game against the Buffalo Bills and the Aug. 28 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the first two regular season home games, scheduled for Sept. 14 against the New Orleans Saints and Sept. 21 against the Arizona Cardinals. Taubenkibel said the Redskins declined the offer.

"They said if we accepted the proposal, it would not be in the best interest of customers, and if they did, the fare for customers using charter bus services would have gone from $6 to $20," Taubenkibel said. "So they thought it was in the best interest to not confuse people."

Washington Redskins spokesman Karl Swanson did not return phone calls by The Gazette's deadline.

Taubenkibel said shuttle service used to be offered at the Addison Road-Seat Pleasant station on the Blue Line and Cheverly Metro Station on the Orange Line in addition to the service at Landover Metro since 2000.

Shuttle service from Cheverly ended in the 2002-2003 football season. It was removed from the Addison Road-Seat Pleasant station at the start of the 2005-2006 season due to low ridership. Taubenkibel attributed the lower numbers to the opening of the Largo Town Center and Morgan Boulevard stations on the Blue Line in December 2004. The shuttle service from Landover Metro remained.

On Aug. 28, some fans in Redskins jerseys hustled to the bottom of the escalator only to trudge back up again to transfer to the Blue line, while those who exited the station either took the A12 Metro bus to the Addison Road-Seat Pleasant station or hopped in a taxi.

Shawn Jackson of Clinton expected to take the shuttle for the game when her husband initially told her he would be running late to pick her up from the station after getting off work. She received a call on the train that her husband would be on time to pick her up, but had no idea the shuttle service stopped, nor was she aware of the suggestion to walk from Morgan Boulevard.

"That would be the best place to walk from," Jackson said. "This [station] is definitely not close. I don't know what people are going to do. I guess there'll be even more traffic."

E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net.