A Metro Connect vehicle that runs throughout select areas of Falmouth as part of Greater Portland Metro’s new microtransit program. Contributed / Greater Portland Metro

Instead of waiting at a bus stop and riding along a set route, riders in Falmouth can now summon public transportation that takes them directly to their destination, following the launch of the Greater Portland Metro’s pilot Metro Connect program on Dec. 9. The microtransit program aims to cover a reduction in the Route 7 bus service to areas in Falmouth.

Those seeking public transportation in Falmouth can use the on-demand rideshare service by summoning a Metro Connect vehicle to their location through an app, the Greater Portland Metro website or by calling Greater Portland Metro. The Metro Connect vehicle – a van that can carry nine passengers and a wheelchair user – will drop off and pick up riders from Falmouth town borders to the north and south, the Fore River to the east and Middle Road to the west, as well as additional zones at Falmouth’s schools and Town Hall buildings and Martin’s Point Health Care in Portland.

Metro Connect will service areas shown in blue on the map of Falmouth. Contributed / Greater Portland Metro

“We think that most people will use it as a way to get home after getting off the Route 7, or get to the Route 7, kind of a first-mile, last-mile connection,” said Mike Tremblay, director of transit development at Greater Portland Metro. “But I think a lot of Falmouth residents will find a way to use it for trips within Falmouth.

“Folks were saying, ‘Oh, it’s gonna be great for my teenager here who’s coming home from soccer practice, to just be able to get on this vehicle and come home,’” said Tremblay.

The new program will cover areas of Falmouth that are losing bus service later this month. After Dec. 29, the Metro Route 7 bus that runs from Falmouth through downtown Portland to the Portland International Jetport will no longer service the loops in Falmouth that connect the OceanView retirement community, Johnson Road, Town Landing Market and Route 88. Low ridership of the Route 7 bus in these areas prompted this change, according to Tremblay.

In June, Route 7 was expanded to connect to the Jetport and make more stops along its route through Portland’s West End and Congress Street. Its weeknight hours of service were extended as well, with the last ride at 10 p.m. instead of 6:30 p.m., allowing Falmouth residents to get in and out of Portland much later.

While Route 7 is critical to connecting Falmouth and Portland, ridership of the route within areas of Falmouth was low. The Route 7 bus stopped along the soon-to-be discontinued loops between once every hour to only three times a day, a schedule that contributed to low rates of ridership and an inconvenience to those who did ride the bus, said Tremblay.

“(Route 7 buses) are really not conducive to flexibility that we hope that our rest of the system provides, and so Metro Connect does provide a lot more flexibility for being able to get home. Nobody likes to be locked into a tight timetable to get all your errands done,” said Tremblay.

“So we recognize that our existing service is not working well for folks, and so we wanted to try this alternative type of service in Falmouth,” he said.

In addition to scheduling a ride, users can just walk onto a Metro Connect vehicle as it stops or flag one down, if a seat is available. A computer program alerts drivers to ride requests and provides the optimal route to best serve all riders. A Metro Connect fare will cost $2, the same as a Greater Portland Metro bus ride, though rides will be free through the end of January to encourage ridership in the microtransit’s early launch.

Greater Portland Metro selected Falmouth to pilot Metro Connect because of Route 7’s low ridership and the town’s enthusiasm for this program. For its pilot year, Metro Connect will be fully funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

“Looking at it kind of holistically, though, I think it just makes the whole system more convenient,” said Adam Causey, Falmouth’s long-range planning director, who helped coordinate the project.

This is the first time that Greater Portland Metro has run a microtransit program, and it hopes to expand to a similar program to Westbrook, Gorham and South Portland where fixed bus route service through neighborhoods is less efficient and convenient, said Tremblay. He also said that a microtransit option in Portland’s downtown in the late evening is being considered, as service industry workers leaving work at 10 p.m. or later are faced with limited public transportation and parking options.

In Falmouth, workers who took the Route 7 bus around town were hindered by its infrequent stops. Causey said that OceanView employees without cars would frequently just walk to work instead of waiting for the bus, or get picked up by supervisors. He said he hoped that Metro Connect would serve them.

“It’s just trying to … make transit a little bit more convenient for the workforce,” said Causey.

“There are people who work in Falmouth who take the bus, and I think that’s an important constituency,” he said.