New commuter bus service between Portland, Lewiston-Auburn starts Monday

Kelley Bouchard, Portland Press Herald, Maine
·2 min read

Jul. 21—The LAP, a new commuter bus service between Lewiston-Auburn and Portland, will begin operating Monday, the Maine Department of Transportation announced.

The pilot bus service will include several runs daily from 4:30 a.m. to midnight Monday through Friday and from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on weekends.

While the focus is on workforce transportation, the service will be open for all trip purposes, said Paul Merrill, department spokesman.

The service will make six stops: Bates College, 56 Campus Ave., and the Oak Street Bus Station, 11 Bates St., in Lewiston; the Auburn Transportation Center, 24 Great Falls Plaza, and the park & ride lot at Maine Turnpike Exit 75 in Auburn; Monument Square, 480-486 Congress St., and the Portland Transportation Center, 100 Thompson's Point, in Portland.

Riders must download the Token Transit app to buy tickets in advance and see a detailed bus schedule. As of Friday, the department was still working to make The LAP visible on the app, Merrill said.

Once the app is working, riders must select "Buy Passes" and search for "The LAP." Riders also may pay the driver in cash in the exact amount when they board the bus. A one-way fare is $8. A weekday schedule is available on the department's website at maine.gov/mdot.

The pilot bus service will operate for at least two years and serve as an indicator of the latent demand and potential market for enhanced public transportation between Portland and Lewiston-Auburn.

The new service is expected to attract some of the hundreds of workers who are traveling that route daily, according to a planning study. A majority of riders are expected to come from the Lewiston-Auburn area, with about one-third originating from the Portland area.

The contractor selected for this $2.8 million project is RTW Management Inc. of Salt Lake City.

Concord Coach Lines ended service between Portland and the Twin Cities in June. Company officials said the state's plan for a pilot bus service wasn't a factor in its decision. Concord charged $12 for a one-way ticket between Portland and Auburn.

The distance between the first and last stops on The LAP is about 44 miles and will take about 62 minutes, according to the department's request for proposals.

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