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V O L . X X V I I N O. X X I V L O G I S T I C S / T R A N S P O R TAT I O N C ollege students and professors. Parents taking children to day- care and then heading to work. Shoppers needing to get to the store. Patients on their way to doctors. Demand for public transit in Bangor serves many demographics. And downtown Pickering Square is the transit hub for many traveling throughout Bangor and surrounding areas to get to work, school, hospitals, department stores and more. "We have college students who go to the University of Maine and Husson who take the bus," says Laurie Linscott, bus superintendent for the transit sys- tem, which is called the Community Connector. "We have professors who take the bus. We have moms who take their child to daycare before going to work. I know a passenger who takes the bus to see her husband at the veterans' home." e system hits the region's many higher education institutions, health care sites and big-box stores on the city's outskirts. "People use the bus for everything," she says. "In public transit, it doesn't matter where you're going and why you're going. It just matters that you have the ability to get there." Now Pickering Square is undergoing a transformation to make the experi- ence, both for passengers and for drivers, even more accessible. Construction is underway on a new bus depot. e goal is to better define pedestrian, public transportation and private vehicle flow; add amenities like EV chargers and bike storage spaces; and create better connec- tions between the downtown and the waterfront. Permanent home "It will bring a nice facility to the down- town and put buses in a permanent home," says Linscott. "We'll have taxi spots and bike parking. And we want to invite other types and modes of trans- portation to use the center as well." Improved public transit is essen- tial for Bangor, says Tanya Emery, the city's director of community and economic development. F O C U S Laurie Linscott, bus superintendent for Bangor's Community Connector transit system, says the new Bangor Area Transit Center is important not only for the city but also regionally. P H O T O / F R E D F I E L D In public transit, it doesn't matter where you're going and why you're going. It just matters that you have the ability to get there. — Laurie Linscott Community Connector N O V E M B E R 1 , 2 0 2 1 14 BANGOR'S transit transition Bangor's new bus depot seeks to put transit on the map as a transport of choice B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r

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