A method and apparatus for faster monochrome printing in an in-line electrophotographic printer is described. The printer is configured such that it has more light emitting sources for use in an image transfer assembly for black than for image transfer assemblies for any other color in the printer. When printing a color print job, less than all of the light emitting sources in the black image transfer assembly are used. A print controller directs print data for a monochrome print job to all of the available light emitting sources in the black image transfer assembly and increases the print medium transport speed. The system and method may be configured to operate with dedicated data channels for each light emitting source or may share some data channels for monochrome and color print jobs.