Howard Transit was the primary public transit system in Howard County,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

, which grew from the former ''ColumBus'' bus system in

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

, Maryland.

First Transit First Transit is an American transportation company. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, First Transit operates over 300 locations, carrying more than 350 million passengers annually throughout the United States in 39 states, Puerto Rico, Pan ...

replaced

Veolia Transport Veolia Transport (formerly Connex and CGEA Transport) was the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia until the 2011 merger that gave rise to Veolia Transdev. Veolia Transport traded under the ...

as the operating company in July 2007. Howard Transit was replaced by the

Regional Transportation Agency of Central Maryland Regional Transportation Agency of Central Maryland, locally referred to as the RTA, is a transit organization developed to establish a more effective and efficient public transportation system across Central Maryland. The RTA is made up of multi ...

in 2014.

History

In 1975, the Howard County Council announced plans to create a subsidized bus system for Columbia. Councilmembers Ruth Keeton and Virginia Thomas introduced legislation for Howard County to manage public transportation with a nine-member board.

Routes

Howard Transit operated eight routes designated by colors to various parts of Howard County and surrounding areas: Notes: *Transfers: **Blue Line =

Baltimore Light Rail Baltimore Light RailLink (formerly Baltimore Light Rail, and also known simply as the "Light Rail") is a light rail system serving Baltimore, Maryland, United States, as well as its surrounding suburbs. It is operated by the Maryland Transit A ...

(operated by MTA Maryland) **CRT =

Connect-a-Ride Central Maryland Regional Transit was a bus system serving the greater Laurel, Maryland area and parts of the neighboring Anne Arundel, Prince George's, and Howard counties. Former service into Montgomery County ended in January 2010 due to ...

**HT = Howard Transit **MARC = Maryland Area Regional Commuter (operated by MTA Maryland) **Metrobus = Metrobus (operated by

WMATA The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA was created by the United States Con ...

) **MTA =

Maryland Transit Administration The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is a state-operated mass transit administration in Maryland, and is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation. The MTA operates a comprehensive transit system throughout the Baltimore-Washingto ...

or MTA Maryland *All routes except ''Purple Route'' have connection to the

Mall in Columbia The Mall in Columbia, also known as the Columbia Mall, is the central shopping mall for the planned community of Columbia, Maryland, Columbia, Maryland, United States. It has over 200 specialty stores and the anchor stores are AMC Theatres, Lidl ...

. The ''Purple Route'' meets the ''Gold and ''Silver Routes'' at the Maryland Food Center. The ''Red, Silver, and Brown Routes'' all meet at Snowden Square shopping center in east Columbia.

Defunct routes

*Blue Route -- traveled from Clarksville to the

. Service eliminated as of July 9, 2010.

References

External links

Howard Transit websiteVideo of Howard Transit Bus activity
Bus transportation in Maryland Howard County, Maryland {{Maryland-transport-stub