MTA has launched a new express bus to speed trips crosstown. So I rode it to see if it was faster.

Fall service changes from the Maryland Transit Administration went into effect recently, adjusting certain bus routes. Most notable was the addition of QuickLink 40 — a tweaked and rebranded version of the old QuickBus 40 — that connects Westgate and Essex through downtown. With plans for the Red Line — a future east-west transit line that Gov. Wes Moore officially resurrected in June — still unknown and years away, the express bus line will serve as the crosstown answer for the time being.