BANGOR, Maine — The City of Bangor will receive approximately $397,000 to fund passenger shelters and bus boarding areas for its Community Connector service.
"Throughout the Bangor region and throughout the whole bus system you should be able to see bus stops," Community Connector Bus Superintendent Laurie Linscott said.
Right now, Community Connector uses a "flag stop" hailing model with no designated bus stops.
With this funding, signs will be installed to tell passengers where to wait and catch the bus.
To determine locations for bus stops, this project will consider ridership, accessibility, and safety to make better connections to jobs, schools, and community services.
The Greater Portland Transit District will also be awarded funds, $821,00 worth, to replace aging buses.
That leaves $9 million to go towards building an intermodal welcome center at the Acadia Gateway Center in Trenton, near the entrance to Acadia National Park.
David MacDonald is the President of Friends of Acadia. He said this funding project has been in the works for years. Because of the increase in traffic in and around Acadia and Bar Harbor, parking is becoming hard to come by.
“We’ve got a variety of funding sources, but this was sort of the keystone," MacDonald said.
“It’s a good thing [Acadia is] so popular, but we’ve reached the point where we need to plan our visits a little bit more, we need to be thoughtful about where we drop our car.”
The new funding will also improve the welcome center at Acadia, and expand the Island Explorer bus routes. The free service did not run this season due to concerns associated with COVID-19.
“Usually if you came here in a day in August this place would be teeming with activity," Executive Director of Downeast Transportation INC. Paul Murphy added.
“We have 100 employees to operate Island Explorer, they’re family members and we miss them," he said.
Murphy went on to add that the increase in car traffic has caused congestion on Mount Desert Island and in Bar Harbor. The new and improved Acadia Gateway Center could increase the use of the bus system to reduce the number of cars in the area.
Maine Sens. Angus King (I) and Susan Collins (R) wrote to the U.S. Transportation Security in June to recommend this funding be awarded to the state.
“It will just make Going to Acadia and Bar Harbor and the rest of Mt. Desert Island a more pleasurable experience and one less thing to worry about," King said.
"Quite often when you go somewhere, parking is a big headache, and this is going to eliminate that.”
In a statement, Collins added:
"Acadia National Park is one of our country’s most popular national parks, drawing millions of people to Maine’s stunning coastline in typical years. As the Chairman of the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, I strongly advocated for this funding to construct the Acadia Gateway Center, which will significantly enhance the park experience for travelers as well as the safety of pedestrians and cyclists. In addition, by making it easier for visitors to use the Island Explorer buses that are powered by clean propane, the new center will help to reduce pollution and traffic congestion."
The new funding will also help reduce carbon emissions and create a smoother flow of traffic into and out of Acadia.