CMTA Statement on the Red Line Project News Reported in the Baltimore Banner Governor Moore announced in June 2024 that the state’s preferred mode for the Red Line project is light rail. Yesterday, on March 17, 2026, the Banner reported that the Moore Administration is considering two additional options for the Red Line rapid transit project: phased construction of the light rail to build the western half with state funds and later seeking to build the rest, or build a 14-mile bus line. In 2023 when the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) evaluated alternatives for the Red Line, the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance supported Alternative 1 which consists of light rail as the mode and the Baltimore Street, Boston Street alignment with some tunneling. Our support was based on the MTA’s “measures of effectiveness” and an independent analysis we commissioned from TransitCenter, a national transit advocacy organization. Alternative 1 would achieve the best results. Other alternatives would also achieve some improvements. We are not wedded to any one mode (bus or train) or design element, but the entire point of building “the Red Line” is to add an east-west line to the regional rapid transit network. It must be significantly faster and move more people than the bus routes that exist today. Surface-running buses may be able to achieve that, but the public should be skeptical of promises. Look no further than the MTA light rail and MTA CityLink buses that move through downtown slowly due to traffic signals and cars and trucks in painted bus lanes. The Red Line is an opportunity to invest in capital infrastructure so rapid travel in a train or bus is less dependent upon Baltimore City’s day after day operations of traffic signals and enforcement of traffic laws. We look forward to hearing from Governor Moore and his administration how they will deliver on his promise to build the Red Line and when we can at last expect to ride it. 

The Transportation Alliance is deeply disappointed that the BMORE BUS Plan — designed to expand frequent, reliable bus service across Baltimore — is given only token funding in the MDOT six-year $22.1 billion budget. While the budget does include modernizing the Light Rail and getting new rail cars for the Metro Subway, these are long-overdue repairs and modernization to our existing transit system. Right now, that system leaves students struggling to get to class reliably and on time. It leaves workers cut off from most job opportunities. And many employers struggle to recruit and retain a reliable workforce. The BMORE BUS plan would unlock the potential of Maryland’s economic engine by better connecting people to schools and jobs with faster, more frequent bus service. We are disappointed that multiple highway expansion projects continue to receive full funding for design and construction, while Baltimore-area transit initiatives remain underfunded and stalled in the planning stage. This continues a 30-year trend of consistently prioritizing widening highways over improving Baltimore’s transit system, which was last expanded when the Light Rail was completed in 1997. This CTP is the largest capital transportation budget in state history. Maryland has the resources to build BMORE BUS – but only if state leaders make it a priority. The Transportation Alliance urges Governor Moore and MDOT to reconsider this funding disparity and instead commit the resources needed to fully implement the BMORE BUS Plan in 6 years.