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It was a record year for the The Bangor Area Transportation (BAT) system, and the numbers are only expected to increase. One thing is clear to riders, drivers and administrators of the system: More buses are needed.
“Oh absolutely,” said Sue Wagner, who has been a BAT bus driver for almost two years, when asked if new vehicles were a pressing need. “We need a lot of new buses.”
Joe McNeil, superintendent of the BAT system has an eye on the well-being of its vehicles. He said six of the system’s 18 buses are past the age where they should be replaced.
The BAT system is popular with University of Maine students and residents of the Greater Bangor area, with ridership exceeding 800,000 in 2008.
“We have buses that are meant to last 12 years or 500,000 miles and others for 10 years or 300,000 miles. Right now there are three 12-year [buses] . that have over 700,000 miles and three 10-year buses that are over 500,000 miles,” McNeil said.
While McNeil said the buses are safe and inspected regularly, the increasing need for repair means more must be taken off the road more frequently. This causes not only route delays, but also the need to use buses that are well past the federal criteria for replacement.
“We have one bus, [meant for 7 years of use] from 1997 that we had to pull out from the dust balls once this year because I had a bus break down on the road. I haven’t been able to liquidate it because I might need it.”
McNeil is hopeful. The recently passed $787 billion federal stimulus package includes $11 billion for train and bus public transportation projects across the country. Some of that money is expected to come to the aid of Maine’s four major bus systems, all of which are in need of upgrading. The six buses would cost $600,000 each to replace, and while McNeil was hesitant to speak too soon about how much funding the BAT system would be receiving, he could “safely say that some of the six [buses] will be in the stimulus [package].”
Though stimulus funds cannot be used toward new projects, the BAT system, in collaboration with the Orono Town Council and the University of Maine, plans to implement a new shuttle route. The service will run between campus and downtown Orono on a half-hour loop, and will be free for all riders. A Feb. 9 meeting of the Orono Town Council unanimously approved the route “without hesitation,” said McNeil, who spoke at the meeting to explain the proposed plan.
Its pilot program, which includes implementation and running costs, is expected to cost a little less than $120,000 a year over a three-year period. State funding will cover $30,000 for every year of the program, with the Town of Orono and UMaine each contributing $45,000.
In addition to the Town Council’s approval, the new shuttle service is getting a warm reception from BAT riders.
“I think the new shuttle service is great,” said Ruth Hanselman, a fourth-year English student. Ross Tabor, a fifth-year philosophy and history student who rides the bus to get both to campus and Bangor, was “very excited about the new loop.”
Many patrons of the Old Town route of the BAT system, which loops from Old Town through Orono and down to Bangor, had praise for the system. Nicol Miller, a fourth-year studio art and anthropology student, said the bus is vital to his schedule, and “it makes things a lot easier.”
Ross Tabor felt driven to defend the bus system, expressing incredulity that many people fail to use the bus. When asked why he thought that was, he said, “they like their cars, they’re lazy, they don’t care about the environment, they’re a——-, they don’t care about their fellow human beings.”
Still, in spite of the popularity of the BAT system, riders were quick to express a particular desire: more hours of service.
“If there wasn’t someone to carpool with at 8:30,” said Charity Harmon, a psychology student, “I would be sleeping on couches.”
Most riders mentioned a need for later service hours, but some riders wished for Sunday service, and Hanselman wished that buses came by more often on certain peak hours. “More bus times would be helpful . during noon to later afternoon hours, around 3 or 4.”
The need for later hours will be partially addressed for downtown Orono riders by the new shuttle service that will be put in place this fall. The service will run until 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
The other rider suggestions are less likely to be addressed. Aside from the Orono shuttle service, no new routes are planned in the near future because they would require stretching a bus fleet already in need of upgrading.
As McNeil and driver Sue Wagner both pointed out, most of the system’s problems could be mitigated by having more buses available – including issues of buses being late or off-schedule. When there are buses that break down, it is necessary to have replacements that sometimes are not available.
The BAT system is considering a schedule alert system. McNeil’s office is working to implement an instant messaging system that could notify riders of schedule changes. The major drawback, he said, is that many riders are not on their computers at all times, especially at the bus stop, and as of yet, there is no way of instantly bringing information to riders.
McNeil said another BAT system pilot program called MODES will launch soon, which would allow a commuter to go online, click on their bus route and receive information about possible roadblocks, detours and other important details that could affect their trip. AMTRAK in Boston actively uses the system, and Bangor will join Portland and South Portland in launching MODES in the near future.
Bangor Daily News