Service at College Park began on December 11, 1993. An incident on October 4, 1997, saw a single-engine plane crash into the Metro right-of-way west of College Park airport, injuring its six occupants and damaging the Metro fence and railing. In March 2012, the station became the first Metro station to feature a Bike & Ride facility. A mesh enclosure built into the adjacent parking garage, the facility can hold up to 120 bikes and has 24-hour access. The facility hopes to increase transportation to and from the station by bike. As of 2013 the daily MARC ridership was 152. On June 25, 2017, Yellow Line trains stopped serving the station due to the elimination of Rush+, which is part of major changes to the Metrorail system. In May 2018, Metro announced an extensive renovation of platforms at twenty stations across the system. The platforms at the College Park–University of Maryland station would be rebuilt starting in mid-2020. On May 20, 2019, Metro announced that Yellow Line trains will be re-extended from Mount Vernon Square and Fort Totten to Greenbelt at all service hours beginning May 25, 2019. From March 26, 2020 until June 28, 2020, this station was closed due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
Station layout
The station's bus terminal is host to several Metrobus lines, the 14 and 17 lines of The Bus, and the G Route of the LaurelConnect-a-Ride, as well as the University's complimentary Shuttle-UM running from the station to the Stamp Student Union on campus, connecting residents and passengers to Prince George's County, the University, and to Washington, D.C. The 104 bus shuttles students from the Metro to Stamp Student Union. A multi-level parking garage on the east side of the island-platformed station containing 1,345 parking spaces opened on June 25, 2005. MARC trains, on the Camden Line, stop at this station on a set of tracks that are parallel to the Metro tracks. These tracks are accessible from the west side of the station and also via a pedestrian tunnel that passes under the Metro tracks. The station is unstaffed, but has an automated Ticket Vending Machine that riders can use to buy tickets. Since the TVM was added, riders that choose to purchase tickets onboard the train must pay an additional $5 fee.