FREEPORT, Maine — The Greater Portland Transit District has revised its plan for METRO bus route north of Portland with the hope the change will convince towns to pay for service.
The new proposal would eliminate service to Cumberland but would increase the frequency of buses traveling to Yarmouth and Freeport.
“We’re looking to broaden the scope of the project,” METRO General Manager Greg Jordan said Tuesday. “I think it’s responsive to the concerns that we heard.”
The original project, proposed at a Freeport meeting in June, was intended to be a commuter-centric, rush-hour service with morning and evening routes serving Cumberland, Yarmouth and Freeport as an extension of the existing bus service between Portland and Falmouth. The project would have started with a three-year pilot program.
Participating towns would have been required to provide $27,000 in annual pilot funds and $80,000 per year if the program were to become permanent. Another $675,000-$700,000 in federal funding also would have been required.
Yarmouth supported the proposal, but it ran into resistance in Freeport and Cumberland.
Freeport Town Council on Aug. 5 postponed a vote on the original proposal until after a public hearing Sept. 16. Cumberland Town Council narrowly rejected the proposal Aug. 11.
In response, Jordan said METRO redeveloped the plan and is proposing hourly, weekday bus service from about 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
The new service would coordinate with the Amtrak Downeaster schedule, which was a concern of Freeport Councilor Scott Gleeson. Gleeson wasn’t present at the Aug. 5 meeting, but a letter he submitted to the council indicated he didn’t know why Freeport needed bus and train service.
Jordan said METRO understood this concern and looked at the train schedule when creating the new bus schedule. He said because of the train schedule, the bus wouldn’t run exactly every hour but would work in conjunction with Amtrak.
Also, the last stop in Portland would be changed to the Portland Transportation Center. Jordan said this would give riders the option to take the train or another bus from the transportation hub.
The bus fee also has been changed. Instead of the original zone-based pricing, riders would be charged a flat $3.
“We want to make the service as simple and accessible for riders as possible,” Jordan said.
Jordan said not having Cumberland on the route would speed up travel time and save money, because the bus could stay on Interstate 295 longer and avoid sections of U.S. Route 1.
The service would save money in other ways, too, because METRO would only need three buses instead of four.
It is not known whether the originally projected annual cost of $80,000 per town would change under the new plan.
Yarmouth in July agreed to be a part of the service, but the new plan would require new approval from the town.
If Freeport rejects the revised proposal, Jordan said, METRO still wouldn’t “totally abandon” the plan. He said a new plan would be created to extend service only to Yarmouth.
Freeport Town Council is expected to hold a public hearing and vote on the new METRO proposal 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16.