BANGOR – The recent spike in gasoline prices is proving a boon for the BAT.

During a briefing Tuesday night for city officials, BAT Superintendent Joe McNeil said ridership for the regional bus system has more than doubled over the past 10 years, increasing from an estimated 400,000 rides provided to more than 800,000 by the end of the 2008 fiscal year, which ended June 30.

On some routes, including the Hammond Street and Capehart runs, demand is so brisk it has been standing room only, particularly during the first week of each month, he said.

Demand has been so high, he said, that 2008 was a record year for the BAT, which is operated by the city of Bangor but also serves Brewer, Veazie, Old Town, Orono and Hampden as well as the University of Maine on a contractual basis.

During Tuesday’s meeting of the City Council’s business and infrastructure committee, McNeil discussed a request to expand BAT services in Orono, where downtown merchants and University of Maine officials want to see service hours expanded into the early morning and evening hours.

Proposed is a small shuttle bus service that would run between downtown Orono and the UM campus at 20-minute intervals during UM’s busiest months, September through May. He said, however, that the proposed service “is not just a student shuttle.”

Being contemplated are evening hours Monday through Wednesday and service running up to midnight Friday and Saturday nights, McNeil said.

“It would be done at no cost to us,” McNeil said, adding that the town of Orono and the university would be responsible for the cost of the service, which he said is still being calculated.

He said, however, that the state Department of Transportation has indicated its support for the plan and has suggested a willingness to provide one or two small buses as well as $90,000 in operating subsidies over a three-year period, likely beginning next spring if all goes to plan.

“This is really good news,” said City Councilor Patricia Blanchette. As she saw it, the shuttle could be part of the solution for the Orono campus’s continuing parking crunch and also could help improve air quality, as has been the case with the Island Explorer, a shuttle bus service that serves Mount Desert Island, home of Acadia National Park.

Bangor writer Henry Garfield came to the meeting at City Hall to learn more about the proposed service expansion, which he would like to see include evening runs between Bangor and UM.

To date, Garfield said, he has ridden the bus 321 times.

“I gave up my car in 2007 for financial and also lifestyle reasons,” he said. Though having to live with bus schedules can be a bit of a hassle, Garfield said going car-free has been liberating.

“That’s the whole oxymoron,” he said. “I’m free from repair bills, I’m free from gasoline costs and I’m free from speeding tickets.”

According to Garfield, a taxicab ride from UM to Bangor costs about $20, but a BAT ticket costs $1.

McNeil said the BAT is even cheaper if riders buy books of tickets or monthly passes.

dgagnon@bangordailynews.net

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