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Baltimore Bus System Gets New Look And New Name

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- More than 250,000 people take the bus in Baltimore every day.

Now their "ride" is getting a new look and a better connection.

The 40-foot MTA buses that operate in and around Baltimore, all 750 of them, are being rebranded as City Link and are eventually getting makeovers, too, in the form of new shrink-wrapping.

"All of this is a painstaking process," MTA CEO Paul Comfort says. "It takes about 8 hours to prepare and wrap each bus."

Ken Burns, of Axis Graphic Installations, says the Baltimore Link project is "one of the biggest" the company has undertaken.

"Governor Hogan got us $100 million to buy 178 new buses," Comfort says. "All of them are coming in, a few every week. And as they come in they're wrapped. Between now and June we're wrapping all the buses."

But it's not just about the new look -- although Comfort says the new buses are based on the "most beautiful flag in America," the Maryland flag, and are "getting rave reviews."

"The other cool thing happening with Baltimore Link and these buses is now they're all going to connect with light rail and with the subway. In the past our bus routes would never changes to link in with light rail, MARC and the subway and now they will with Baltimore Link. That's why we call it Baltimore Link, it's linking the transit system together."

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