ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, Maine — With the help of a $1.3 million federal grant, the park is planning to improve bus stop facilities for the free Island Explorer bus system later this year.
The $1,324,518 grant will fund construction of and improvements to nine Island Explorer bus stops at park locations on Mount Desert Island, according to Acadia Deputy Superintendent Len Bobinchock.
“All of these are very popular areas in the park,” he said. “The whole intent is to make it easier for people to use the Island Explorer [system] so people will use it.”
One such project entails building a new bus stop at the northern end of Cadillac Mountain’s North Ridge Trail at the Park Loop Road, where there is no bus stop now, Bobinchock said. Another entails building a stop for northbound buses at the Acadia Mountain parking lot on Route 102, while a third will result in a bus stop at Echo Lake that does not require buses to drive through the entire parking lot.
“When the parking lot [at Echo Lake] is busy, it often comes to a standstill,” Bobinchock said.
Other major improvements are expected to be made at the Parkman Mountain, Bubble Pond and Bubble Rock parking areas, while minor improvements are anticipated at the seasonal visitors center in Hulls Cove, at Sand Beach and at Thunder Hole, according to the deputy superintendent.
He said the park is hoping to issue contracts this summer and to have work get under way this fall. The goal is to have all the work completed by the spring of 2013.
“We’re hoping to complete this [overall] project below the cost estimate,” Bobinchock said.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, members of Maine’s congressional delegation announced the grant award in prepared statements that indicated the projects will improve the overall visitor experience at Acadia and will help protect the park’s resources.
The Island Explorer, which also serves communities surrounding Acadia on and off MDI, has provided rides to more than 4 million passengers since it began operations in 1999. Officials have said it has eliminated nearly 1.4 million private motor vehicle trips and has prevented emissions of 13,000 tons of greenhouse gases and more than 20 tons of smog-causing pollutants during that time.
Come on! Lets hear what an abomination this waste of taxpayer dollars is, in the estimation of the super visionary and intrepid backwards oriented time travelers in areas endangered by, or cursed with, an NP.
While I have used this service and like it I will say that I do believe that the funding for these projects should be found some other way. It costs nothing to ride these buses. I see the shuttle in Trenton pick up the employees of a major hotel company in Bar Harbor every morning and afternoon. This is saving that company the cost of transporting its own employees. Do they contribute to the funding of this service in anyway? Should they? From my house in Trenton I can drive to the Trenton IGA in a three mile trip and then ride the next 16 miles to Bar Harbor free. Do the math and that if I worked in Bar Harbor and lived off the island I could ride at least 150 miles a week to work without contributing a single dime to the cost.
When they stop to pick up passengers, the buses should have to totally be off the road and not be in the driving lane. These buses stop whenever and wherever they please and hold up traffic. Riders should have to pay even if it is $1. Each town pays for these services which comes out of taxpayers pockets. I don’t see much of a difference in the amount of cars of MDI even with the buses