While the Brunswick Explorer bus service will continue to run under Western Maine Transportation Services next week, it may be a little while before residents see the familiar blue and green vehicles again.

Starting Monday, the Auburn-based organization will be servicing the area in place of Coastal Trans with white, wheelchair-accessible Mountain Explorer buses until further maintenance can be done on the Brunswick vehicles.

In a press release on Tuesday, general manager Sandy Buchanan said WMTS’s buses will be used to assure “reliability and continuity,” as “needed maintenance for the … Brunswick Explorer buses won’t be complete in time for our start on Monday due to delays in the vehicle titling process.”

“Using these buses will provide us the time we need to perform equally thorough maintenance on the Brunswick Explorer vehicles before returning them to service,” she added.

In late March, it was revealed that WMTS would replace Coastal Trans after the organization announced they would be discontinuing their services in the Midcoast region after 33 years. The company had been Maine Department of Transportation’s designated regional transportation provider for Knox, Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties and the towns of Brunswick and Harpswell, serving hundreds of low-income and disabled individuals.

Last month, Coastal Trans Executive Director Lee Karker said changes in the state’s MaineCare transportation system had contributed significantly to some of the challenges with service upkeep. Other affected services included the company’s Transportation Coupon Program and the Brunswick Explorer bus service.

WMTS Community Relations Director Craig Zurhorst said on Tuesday that the organization will be taking steps to establish a full bus schedule in Brunswick, which was originally cut back in February.

“We’re looking forward to re-establishing that as soon as we’re able to and that’s going to be based on a variety of factors including funding and manpower,” he said. “We don’t want to promise something we can’t deliver any more quickly than we can. We’re just going to go in as it was and work back to where we’d like it to be.”

The transition has been smooth so far, Zurhorst said, and drivers from Coastal Trans have also been able to continue to serve with WMTS and “will largely be the same as it’s been.”

“The time frame is short, but everyone is cooperating very well,” he said. “Things are coming together quickly and we’re looking for as few hiccups as could possibly be expected. It’s really going very well.”

dkim@timesrecord.com

• IN LATE MARCH, it was revealed that Western Maine Transportation Services would replace Coastal Trans after the organization announced they would be discontinuing their services in the Midcoast region after 33 years. The company had been Maine Department of Transportation’s designated regional transportation provider for Knox, Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties and the towns of Brunswick and Harpswell. 

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