My wife and I frequently have supper in Portland’s downtown district. I usually ask our server how she or he gets home after leaving work (late in the evening). While the answers are varied, it seems to be a problem for many. Those who don’t have cars or choose not to park downtown either have to walk, rely on a pickup by a friend or relative or take a taxi, Uber or Lyft.

There are somewhere around 200 restaurants in the downtown district, although no one has been able to give me a good number. That means there must be upward of 1,200 restaurant and hotel workers needing to get home on any given night.

Since there is no public transit currently running that would serve them after about 9 p.m., they are dependent on those other options. A nighttime shuttle service would serve many night workers better, while freeing up parking spaces for restaurant (and other) downtown customers.

Presumably, the shuttle(s) would circulate the Portland peninsula, including the eastern part of Commercial Street, passing the parking lot on that street and running possibly as far as the University of Southern Maine’s Portland campus. In order to keep costs down, the service might very well be integrated into existing shuttle services, such as those provided for Maine Medical Center employees and customers.

Robert Wagner

volunteer coordinator, Adopt-A-Stop.org

Portland

Copy the Story Link