On June 23rd, the Charm City Circulator will have a new route that connects Cherry Hill to the Inner Harbor, with stops along the way at MedStar Harbor Hospital, Middle Branch Park and Federal Hill.

The iconic green and purple buses connect parts of a handful of fairly affluent Baltimore neighborhoods to downtown and the Inner Harbor. Originally created for tourism, the free bus system now shuttles tourists and Baltimoreans alike to work and play.

“Many residents and businesses alike see the route as an opportunity for enhanced connectivity, greater economic mobility, and a more reliable commute,” wrote a representative for the City of Baltimore in a press release.

Advocates have long been pushing for better transit services into the area — nearly half of residents do not have access to a household car.

“My community needs those types of opportunities to get to the grocery store, to get to the thriving business community, whether they be in South Baltimore or main Baltimore, [they need buses] to get their children to school on time,” said District 10 Councilmember Phylicia Porter earlier this year during an interview with WYPR about transportation equity challenges.

The expansion is part of a years-long push. In 2022, the city announced plans to expand routes into lower-income neighborhoods but Senate President Bill Ferguson threatened to withhold state funds if those plans included cuts to existing circulator lines in Federal Hill and Riverside. Earlier this year, a spokesperson for Ferguson’s office confirmed that the senate president supports expanding the routes as long as that doesn’t mean cuts for other lines of service.

Reliable transportation is a problem for many in Baltimore but especially in the city's southernmost neighborhoods like Brooklyn and Curtis Bay, which are served by two Maryland Transportation Authority bus lines. While the circulator won’t serve those neighborhoods directly, Porter said further expansions are “in the conversation phase.”