MTA Advances Nearly $35 Million to Speed Baltimore's Fifth Bus Division

The Maryland Transit Administration will move up nearly $25 million in its multiyear capital budget to acquire real estate sooner and is allocating $10 million to begin design work for a new fifth bus division, Maryland Transit Administrator Holly Arnold told the Baltimore Regional Transit Commission on March 6, 2026. Banner reported the two actions were announced at the commission briefing and were not included in the agency’s previous budget.

Arnold framed the new site as central to the BMORE Bus overhaul, with Banner noting, "Creating a new, fifth bus division is the linchpin for the BMORE Bus plan." Hoodline described the facility’s intended functions as storing additional vehicles, expanding maintenance capacity and creating improved transfer facilities downtown, elements MTA officials say are necessary to increase bus frequency on core routes.

Banner reported the funding moves as two distinct line items: "moving up nearly $25 million in the multiyear budget to allow her team to acquire the real estate for a new bus depot sooner," and, "That includes $10 million for the facility’s design, neither of which was included in the previous budget." Taken together, the accelerated capital and the design allocation approach the nearly $35 million figure cited by agency communications and supporters as the immediate push to keep the project on schedule.

The move comes against a backdrop of state budget omission and legislative scrutiny. Banner and Hoodline both note that funding for the broader BMORE Bus package was not included in Gov. Wes Moore’s proposed state budget released in January. About a week before Arnold’s March 6 briefing, Senate President Bill Ferguson requested a hold on confirming Acting Transportation Secretary Kathryn "Katie" Thomson, citing concerns about budget priorities for regional projects including BMORE Bus. According to Arnold and Banner, Thomson met with Ferguson and Baltimore-area state senators the morning of the announcement and announced the funding moves in that meeting.

MTA and planning documents place a key milestone in mid-2027: "If all goes as planned, the MTA should have the location for the future bus division and its preliminary design done by mid-2027," according to the Original Report and Banner. The new division itself is currently estimated to cost roughly $650 million, "more than half the total of the BMORE Bus plan," figures shared at the commission briefing underscore the scale of the project and the financing decisions ahead.

Operational context from MTA shows the agency continues day-to-day service management while planning capital work: an MTA press release dated January 26, 2026, announced expanded local bus service effective Jan. 27, 2026, and MTA staff remain the media points for follow-up. MTA media contacts listed in agency materials are Courtney Mims, Office: 410-767-8367, Cell: 667-392-0157, cmims@mdot.maryland.gov, and Paul Shepard, Office: 410-767-3935, Cell: 443-622-4181, pshepard@mdot.maryland.gov, and the agency maintains public information at mta.maryland.gov and on social platforms facebook.com/mtamaryland and Twitter @mtamaryland.

MTA officials say the upfront land purchase and design funding are intended to clear a chokepoint that could delay bringing more buses and higher-frequency service to Baltimore, but the agency expects to refine the full cost and financing plan for the roughly $650 million facility once site selection and preliminary design are complete by mid-2027.