Express Bus Service Eliminated in Suburban Baltimore

The failure of suburb-to-suburb bus service run by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) offers lessons in regional transit planning.

1 minute read

January 21, 2018, 5:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Maryland Transit Administration

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"The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is eliminating [pdf] three suburb-to-suburb express bus routes around Baltimore due to low ridership," reports Drew Ackermann. "The routes were introduced in 2016 to give people commuting to suburban job centers a transit option that avoided downtown congestion."

Ackerman performs a post-mortem, of sorts, on the idea of suburb-to-suburb bus service in the Baltimore region, identifying challenges in balancing ridership and coverage as the main culprits for the demise of the routes.

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