About: History

In the early and mid-‘80s, businesses throughout the Baltimore-Washington corridor had a transportation challenge: how do we get more workers to the workplace? The Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber (BWCC) heard the pleas of the business community and created the Corridor Transportation Corporation (CTC) in May 1987 as a fledging public-private demonstration transit project.

A New Model for Public Transportation

Over the next two years, the BWCC and CTC boards of directors worked in tandem with elected officials to create the CTC model: A bus system oriented from suburb to suburb, traveling to jurisdictional boundaries. Then Prince George’s County Councilman Frank Casula, Maryland State Senator Arthur Dorman and the Prince George’s County Executive at the time—former Governor Parris Glendening—committed funds and lent their support to apply for a grant from the Federal Transit Administration.

In May 1989, Governor William Donald Schaefer donned a driver’s cap and ceremonially inaugurated CTC—then the only transit system in the United States managed by a chamber of commerce—into service. The first year was a fast success, serving 178,000 passengers on nine buses and five routes.

A New Name to Reflect a Growing Vision

Over the next two decades, CTC continued to expand regional public bus service throughout the Baltimore-Washington corridor. Our staff of one grew into a team of 18. Our fleet of buses increased from 4 to 60. Annual ridership rose from 178,000 to 2 million. And the service area spread from one city to four counties – Anne Arundel, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George’s.

On January 1, 2010, CTC adopted a new logo and name—Central Maryland Regional Transit (CMRT)—to reflect its incredible growth and continued vision for progress in the decades to come.