March 29, 2024
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More residents boarding BAT buses

BANGOR ? Robert Woodbury guesses he must ride the Bangor Area Transit bus system at least 12 times a week ? which comes to twice a day on the bus’s Monday through Saturday schedule.

“I go everywhere,” the Bangor resident said as he waited outside the Pickering Square bus depot in Bangor on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. “I can get to places in town, and I can meet lots of people. I’m heading out to my doctor’s right now, and I don’t have any other way there.”

For Woodbury, as with thousands of other people living in Bangor, Brewer, Hampden, Veazie, Orono and Old Town, taking the bus is a way of life.

A recent count conducted by the Bangor Area Comprehensive Transportation System, also known as BACTS, showed that in March 2005 alone the bus carried 58,000 passengers. A projected total for the year estimates that 640,000 people will ride the bus in 2005 ? that’s a 10 percent increase over 2004.

“Since 1996, ridership has continuously been going up,” Don Cooper, BACTS transit planner, said Wednesday. “In 1997, we introduced the monthly pass, which is just a flat fee, so you don’t have to worry about exact change and can hop on and hop off. A lot of senior citizens have taken to it, since they just buy a pass at the beginning of the month, and the more you ride the less it costs.”

A bus ride costs only 85 cents, with free transfers. Rising gas costs may be contributing to the recent surge of new riders. With gas hovering between $2.10 and $2.25 for regular, some people may find it more advantageous to leave their cars at home and let the BAT take them to where they need to be.

The bus started running in the 1970s. Joe McNeill, BAT superintendent, recalled the early days of public transportation in Bangor.

“We started out with school buses, with the noses painted white so people wouldn’t think they were real school buses,” McNeill said Wednesday. “We only ran in Bangor back then, though we expanded out to Old Town a few years later.”

The BAT now operates eight routes, including Brewer, Capehart, Center Street in Bangor, Hammond Street, Hampden, the Mall Hopper, Old Town and Stillwater-Mount Hope.

“In the early 1980s, we got our first 30-foot transit buses,” McNeill said. “Since then, we’ve added several 32-foot buses, and recently we added seven 35-foot low-floor buses.”

The low-floor buses, which feature a ramp instead of stairs, have been helpful for residents who use wheelchairs.

“It’s really been a lot easier for people with disabilities,” Linda Easler, a BAT rider from Bangor, said Wednesday. “The regular wheelchair lifts are pretty loud and slow, so with the ramps it’s a lot easier. You can get on and off without having to worry.”

The BAT has changed the lives of many disabled people in the area, especially low-income disabled people. Without transportation to shop, visit friends and family or receive medical care, many would be homebound. The BAT gives them an inexpensive way to get around town.

The University of Maine also has used the BAT; first by allowing students to ride the Old Town route for free with their student ID, and then expanding that free service to include the entire BAT system.

Riders and operators agree, however, that a few changes need to be made.

The BAT now runs from approximately 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“One thing that there’s a lot of interest in is extending the hours of service into the evenings,” Cooper said. “There’s a little interest in Sunday service as well, but evening service is the one people would really like to see. I would think that within 10 years we’d have evening service until 9 p.m.”

Equally important is increasing the frequency of stops on the Old Town route, which runs hourly. Cooper would like to see that increased to half-hour service.

“We can come up with lots of great ideas,” Cooper said. “But we need to be realistic about how we’d fund and implement changes.”

Other typical complaints from riders include being forced to wait in the cold of winter for buses running late and the occasional grumpy bus driver, but overall the sentiment among riders is positive.

“I’m definitely thankful for the transportation,” said Janis Smith, a veteran rider from Veazie. “I do wish the bus would come by more often, but the simple fact is that people depend on the bus to get around. I don’t know how I’d run all my errands without it.”

Woodbury not only is thankful for the cheap transportation, he also likes the social life that comes with it.

“You meet people from all walks of life on the bus,” he said. “You’ll see a mom with two kids, and then an older guy, and then some teenagers. You just meet everyone. I like that.”

Fares and schedules can be found at www.bgrme.org.

The BAT

Bangor’s pub lic buses started running in 1972.

There are 15 red buses in the BAT fleet.

One bus pass costs 85 cents, with free transfers.

A monthly pass costs $34.

Penquis CAP provides monthly passes free of charge to qualified residents.

Every bus can carry bicycles on the front.

The BAT participates in “Commute Another Way Day,” sponsored by the state of Maine, to encourage people to reduce traffic and pollution. Commute Another Way Day this year is June 15, and BAT fare will be free to all riders that day.


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