Statement on Leadership Change at the Maryland Transit Administration

July 30, 2026

We want to congratulate Tony Bridges on his appointment as Administrator of the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA). He brings extensive experience to the role: service as Chief of Staff at the MTA, sponsorship of transit-related legislation as a member of the House of Delegates, chairmanship of the Baltimore Regional Transit Governance and Funding Workgroup, and roles at the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and in the Governor’s Office that give him an awareness of the agency’s value, potential, and challenges. He also brings a personal connection to the workforce: his father served as President of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1300, which represents many of the people who make the MTA run.

Mr. Bridges inherits an agency transformed under Administrator Holly Arnold. She rebuilt the MTA’s capacity to deliver major projects and assembled an experienced, talented team that is actively advancing the Red Line, the BMORE BUS plan, and the Light Rail Modernization Program. That team — and the momentum it has built — is the MTA’s most valuable asset, and retaining it is essential to delivering these projects on time.

This is a pivotal time for the agency. The FY 25-30 and FY 26-31 Consolidated Transportation Programs (CTP) finally bring down the backlog of the MTA’s state of good repair needs after more than fifteen years of chronic underfunding. However, this progress may be in jeopardy. Despite revenue increases passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 2024 and 2025, MDOT is rumored to be proposing funding cuts in the FY27-32 CTP, even as the DMV Moves Coalition seeks significant additional funding for WMATA, county governments and Baltimore City seek restoration of Highway User Revenues, and the roads lobby continues to push costly highway expansions despite a substantial backlog of maintenance needs. Baltimore’s transit riders have waited through decades of disinvestment. They must be prioritized first in the coming CTP.

The MTA’s initiatives cannot come soon enough. The Light Rail Modernization Program is urgently needed as the agency struggles to keep existing cars, tracks, and power systems in working order. The Red Line and BMORE BUS would bring real service improvements to Baltimore transit riders after decades of fighting simply to maintain what we have. Advancing the Red Line toward a full funding agreement, launching BMORE BUS improvements, and keeping Light Rail Modernization on schedule must proceed without pause during this transition.  We applaud Governor Moore for moving decisively to name Mr. Bridges as Administrator upon Administrator Arnold’s resignation. We will measure the success of this transition by whether these projects stay on schedule, whether the experienced team advancing them is empowered, and whether the coming CTP funds the work. Mr. Bridges knows this agency, and he knows its riders. We stand ready to work alongside him and to advocate forcefully on behalf of the people who depend on transit to get where they need to go every day.

Sincerely,
Jed Weeks, Executive Director
Bikemore

Brian O’Malley, President & CEO
Central Maryland Transportation Alliance

More News & Updates

Maryland Climate-aligned Transportation Bill Gains Momentum in Senate

April 3, 2026

Brian O’Malley, president and CEO of the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance, one of the groups advocating for the bill’s passage, said the new law would “make it more likely that we would consider alternatives, not just always widening highways.”

Another element of the proposed law would prohibit transportation planners from greenlighting a road expansion project unless they had determined the needs could not be met through improvements to highway maintenance and safety, modifications to the existing infrastructure, or the addition of more transit alternatives.

Edelson and O’Malley both pointed to Minnesota’s implementation of its law, including the state’s plan to upgrade a section of Interstate 94 between Minneapolis and St. Paul without adding lanes. The Minnesota Department of Transportation is weighing several options for the 7.5-mile corridor, including improved bus service, managed toll lanes and safety upgrades.

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Central Maryland Could Have World Class Transit, We Just Need Better Priorities

March 18, 2026

The United States once built big — and we built boldly. From 1956 to 1992, the Interstate Highway System stretched nearly 50,000 miles across the country, reshaping the US economy and our daily lives. Today, if we are serious about economic competitiveness, climate resilience, lowering costs, and giving people choices, we need to make a similar investment to build world-class American transit. And Maryland could lead the way.

World-class transit is not a luxury. It is a system that gets people where they need to go — frequently, reliably, and conveniently — without forcing them into a car for every trip. An ambitious, sustained investment in transit by 2050 would improve Maryland’s economy, health, and environment.

US and Maryland transit systems fall far short of world-class standards

Transportation for America (T4A) defines a world-class transit system as one that gets people where they need to go and is accessible, frequent, reliable, and convenient. T4A’s new report identifies 17 global cities that meet that standard. None of them are in the US.

In Central Maryland, which includes Baltimore City and its surrounding counties, we’re well behind. The Central Maryland Transportation Alliance (CMTA), where I am the president and CEO, gave Central Maryland’s transit system an average grade of D across 12 indicators in its 2026 Transportation Report Card, exactly what it was 10 years ago.

CMTA’s report card corroborates what T4A found across the country. On average, while residents of Central Maryland can drive to 100% of the region’s jobs in an hour or less, they can reach only 7.5% of jobs by taking public transit. Overall, transit in the Central Maryland region falls 43% short of the service needed to be world-class.

Transit is also critical for the environment and our health. Tailpipes are the largest source of climate emissions in the US. In our region, they cause ground-level ozone levels that are harmful to human lungs on multiple days per year. Faster, more frequent transit service makes it possible to reduce these impacts.

What would it take to get up to speed?

The Central Maryland region would need to spend 50% more on transit to achieve world-class service, comparable to investments made in Hong Kong, London, Montreal, and Sydney. That would mean adding 698 buses, 178 new rail vehicles, and 75 new miles of dedicated bus lanes, subway extensions, and light rail.

In similar analyses for all major US urban areas, T4A estimates that a total investment of $4.6 trillion over 20 years would give Americans the same freedom to choose high-quality transit that people enjoy in other highly developed economies. That number will raise eyebrows — but it shouldn’t.

Over the same period, the United States is projected to spend $6.3 trillion on highways. Since 1956, we have spent $9.6 trillion more on highways than on transit. The question is not whether we can afford world-class transit; it’s whether we will make it a priority.

Transit means more affordable travel, more innovation

Transit investments could save Americans trillions of dollars by providing alternatives to car dependency. When the government builds roads or highways, Americans spend on average more than $13,000 annually per household to use them.

By contrast, when the government builds a bus or train system, Americans travel much more affordably. T4A found that reducing the overall reliance on cars by just a fraction of a percent each year would save over $5.4 trillion nationwide. In Central Maryland, that savings would be about $52 billion in direct transportation users’ savings, in addition to government savings on road construction, health care costs from crashes, and more.

Beyond savings for households, transit makes it possible for cities to be hubs of innovation, job creation, and economic productivity. That helps explain why studies show that every dollar invested in transit generates $5 in economic benefits.

Just repeating the current pattern of investments guarantees continued poor performance. We built a world-class highway system because we believed it was essential to the nation’s future. It’s time to bring that same level of ambition to transit.

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