The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) joined the Greater Baltimore Committee, the region's most famous group of business and civic leaders, to support a plan intended to eliminate 6 commuter bus routes, diminish the number of rides on other bus routes, as well as to cut back on the prominent MARC train service, an integral component of Maryland's transportation system.

The O'Malley administration announced Thursday that these measures will be taken because of serious revenue shortfalls.

The routes between Baltimore and Columbia, Laurel and Bel Air, as well as between Annapolis and New Carrollton Metrorail, are on the list of MTA’s targets. Besides them, there are also two routes leading into the Washington Metro system, one from Waldorf to Suitland, and the other one from Annapolis to New Carrollton.

According to Maryland Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari, the cuts would be short-term.

Not everybody seems to be contented with the cutback plan. Central Maryland Transportation Alliance President Otis Rolley admitted to have been “upset and annoyed” when hearing about the decision. He thinks the O'Malley administration should have looked for cuts in other fields. "To force more people into their cars when everyone's belt is just about as tight as it can get just doesn't make sense," Ottis said.

Likewise, Ed Cohen, a spokesman for the Transit Riders Action Council of Metropolitan Baltimore, said the plan of eliminating the routes is coming just when an increased number of people need the transportation services. It is definitely “counterproductive in trying to develop a transit system that is essential to a functioning 21st-century urban economy," Cohen said.