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Maryland transportation officials said Friday they will speed up the development of a new bus division in Baltimore as part of a long-term plan to improve Baltimore’s sprawling bus network.

Maryland Transit Administrator Holly Arnold told members of the Baltimore Regional Transit Commission that her agency is moving up nearly $25 million in the multiyear budget to allow her team to acquire the real estate for a new bus depot sooner. That includes $10 million for the facility’s design, neither of which was included in the previous budget.

Creating a new, fifth bus division is the linchpin for the BMORE Bus plan, a long-term vision to expand and improve Baltimore’s bus service that has received a steady drumbeat of support from transit advocates and city politicians since its release last year.

Funding for the plan was not included in Gov. Wes Moore’s proposed state budget for the coming fiscal year, released in January.

Arnold’s announcement comes about a week after state Sen. President Bill Ferguson requested a hold on confirming acting Transportation Secretary Kathryn “Katie” Thomson over budget and priority concerns for regional transportation projects, including the BMORE Bus plan.

Earlier Friday morning, Thomson met with Ferguson and state senators from Baltimore where she announced the funding moves, Arnold said.

If all goes as planned, the MTA should have the location for the future bus division and its preliminary design done by mid-2027, at which point the agency will have a better sense of the facility’s cost and ways to finance it. The bus division is currently estimated to cost roughly $650 million, more than half the total of the BMORE Bus plan.

The additional funds should help people who rely on the MTA to get to work and school and will speed up system improvements. But with more than $1 billion left to find, the BMORE Bus plan faces a steep climb in the coming years.

In an interview on Friday, Arnold said her agency has identified a property and is moving as quickly as possible to acquire it. The budget moves will allow the MTA to shave at least two years off the BMORE Bus timeline, she added, which was originally envisioned to take as long as 10 years.

“There’s a great recognition from the [Moore] administration and the secretary to continue investing in transit, building on the base that we already have and looking toward future expansion,” Arnold said.

The funding represents a “significant victory for the Baltimore region,” wrote Del. Mark Edelson, who represents the city’s 46th District, in a statement. It’s not just a signal from Moore that he recognizes the importance of funding Baltimore transit, but a sign of a successful advocacy push that included packed City Council hearings and rallies in Annapolis.

“There is a lot more work to do,” Edelson wrote. “But today reflects a step in the right direction.”

The BMORE Bus plan, released in June, offers a step-by-step roadmap for how the MTA can increase bus service by more than 30% over the coming years, including new express routes and increased reliability on existing ones.

Robin Budish, director of the advocacy group Transit Choices, called the funds “critical to advancing better bus service for schoolchildren, workers and communities across our region.”

In a joint statement, Brian O’Malley of the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance and Jed Weeks of Bikemore welcomed the funding and urged Moore to include construction money in his next fiscal year budget proposal.

“Today we say thanks. But the bottom line for the kids, schools, workers and employers is when will improved service begin?” they asked.

Jon Laria, chair of the Baltimore Regional Transit Commission, thanked Arnold and the transit administration for fast-tracking the funding. He also acknowledged the challenges that bus expansion still faces.

“Now we have to figure out how to fund the rest of it,” he said.