Routes of Baltimore Transit

The Downtown Subway Surface Streetcar System. An intensely interesting and engaging idea, the envisioned subway-surface system for Baltimore never really made it off of the first few pages of paper. Regardless, this setup is entirely worthy of a page all to itself. Please click here to find out more!
Route 13 - Sinai - Canton Bus line. In the early 1990's, MTA sought to combine routes 13 and 91 into one gigantic route from Sinai Hospital to Canton and Fells Point (similar to the former Sunday route), as a part of it's light rail coordination program (interesting, since neither route has much similarity to the Light Rail line). Immediate negative reaction to the change caused the proposal to be silently dropped.
Route 14 - Rolling Road-Downtown Bus Line. BTC originally looked at converting the 14 Streetcar to a bus line that mirrored the original rail line. However, the city's insistence on converting Charles Street to a Northbound thoroughfare led BTC to explore other options in its conversion of the line. The decision was ultimately made to merge the line with the existing #23 bus line, while merging the 4 and 15 rail lines.
Route 17 - Wolfe Street - Gorsuch Avenue Bus Line. An idea to be fused from two soon-to-be-abandoned streetcar segments, the #17 line was envisioned in November of 1945 to operate from Old York Road and 33rd Street to Wolfe and Aliceanna along the northern end of the #17 streetcar, down Harford to Bonaparte, and across North Avenue to resume along the Wolfe and Aliceanna branch of the #13 car line. This branch of the #13 would be retained, thus leaving only the northern segment to be served for years by shuttle route #57.
Route 18 - Pennsylvania Avenue - Canton Trackless Trolley Line. In the last days of World War II, in April of 1945, BTC, in conjunction with the pending conversion of the #29 and 30 lines to Trackless Trolley, also looked at converting the #18 line to Trackless Trolley. This plan would have also shifted displaced PCCs onto the #1-11 and 16 lines, thus offering a comprehensive modernization to the fleet. Route #18 persisted as a streetcar line until 1952, when it was converted to bus, although the PSC still insisted an option for Trackless conversion, should the trail of buses prove inadequate.
Route 26 - West Carney - Rodgers Forge - Downtown Express. In 1998, MTA looked to combine its #11 Express and #19 services into a new bus line with improved service. After the initial notice, nothing more was ever made of the idea. It's uncertain wether the riders or the company were the ones who defeated this idea.
Route 29 - Roland Park Boulevard - Trackless Trolley Line. Upon conversion of Route 10 to trackless in 1940, BTC eyed converting the #29 rail line to trackless by 1942, and purchased some of the equipment to do so. The U.S. entry into WWII stymied this idea, and the line was converted to motor bus in 1947, while supplies were used to convert other lines to Trackless Trolley, although the idea for electric buses persisted until mid-1945.
Route 32 - Linden Avenue Streetcar Subway. In the mid-1950's, the state's acquisition of a large section of land near Howard and Preston Streets for an office complex led officials to look for a way to reroute the soon to be displaced #32 rail line. Among the proposals was to route the line through a short undrground subway under the complex. The idea did not have to be developed too far, however, as BTC converted the #32 line to bus in 1955.
Route 36 - Northern Parkway - Riverview Bus Line. In 1998, MTA looked to combine the Southern end of the #11 line with the #36 bus line, leaving the Northern end to be its own seperate line (likely to be at a wider headway). Unfavorable response to the proposal led to its dismissal.
Route 41 - Cromwell-Patapsco Bus Line. As the Light Rail line progressed closer to its Southern end in 1993, MTA looked at splitting the long #14 bus line into two routes, both to serve as Light Rail feeders. Route 14 would run from Cromwell to Annapolis while the #41 would run between Cromwell and Patapsco stops. While the #14 was made into a feeder line, the two step idea was not adopted.
Route 66 - White Marsh Mall to Towson Courthouse. In its continuing search to grow, MTA wisely decided to look at a cross-county line designated #66 to operate across Joppa Road, linking the #35's new end, with central Towson. After two tries to get the line through, community groups used the hollow logic of the route having a negative impact on traffic and safety to defeat the idea. Bah!!!
Route 82 - Cherry Hill - Baltimore Highlands - Westinghouse Bus Line. Another idea resulting from Light Rail's encroachment on the South was the #82, which would replace the lower end of the #28, and combine it's to Southern branches into a single line, with a peak extension to Westinghouse. While the #28 was cutback due to the rail line, the branches were served by two seperate lines: #29 and #30
Routes OC1, OM1, MM1, and MM2 Feeder Bus Lines. As phase II of Metro construction proceeded, MTA planned to extend its Station based designation system to the Old Court, Owings Mills, and Milford Mill Stations. Transfers had long since had the OC, OM, and MM spaces added for the change. However, the designation system would be dropped before the routes had a chance to start, and in August of 1987, All Metro Connection feeder bus lines were simply given a universal "M" prefix, now meaning "Metro" instead of "Mondawmin."
BUSWAY - Touted by then Mayor William Donald Schaefer in the late 1970's as a fast and efficient mode of transit, the Busway was not to be. Using the rights of way of the Northern Central currently used by the north end of the Light Rail Line, the Busway would have likely been similar in layout to that used currently in Pittsburgh. Community concerns and objection caused a lack of political support for the idea, and the plan made it no futher than the poster board.
The Metro System. Baltimore's sole subway line was actually intended to be the starter line of a far larger system. The ambitious plans for Metro called for routes fanning out to Timonium, Perry Hall, Sparrows Point, Glen Burnie, and Catonsville. In addition, the Northwest line was envisioned to terminate at Randallstown instead of Owings Mills. The initial route was envisioned to include the current line with the extension to Glen Burnie. Community resistance squashed the southern leg of the line, leaving only the bulk of what exists today.
More Light Rail Lines. Often gossipped about is the extension of Light Rail service to other areas. The most substantial evidence of an expansion of the current Light Rail network is over a decade old however, when in 1988, then Governor Schaefer envisioned additional routes fanning out from the Downtown area to Woodlawn, White Marsh, and Dundalk, with a shuttle line between Towson and Lutherville. The idea received much press at the time, but the Central Line's budget woes caused them to be shelved. The recession of the early 1990's did nothing to revive the idea, although talk continues to persist of the possibility of the White Marsh line. Governor Glendenning has insisted no new lines will be funded until the current route is double tracked.