At the Jan. 16 meeting of Gorham’s Capital Improvement Projects/Economic Development Committee, Town Councilors Gagnon, Lavoie, Siegel and Simms took up the questions of how, and why, to increase ridership of the Metro public bus system in Gorham.
Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak gave background on the interconnected interests and history of the bus service provider, University of Southern Maine, and the Town of Gorham. He noted that the town established a relationship with Metro in 2017, driven by the company’s interest in raising ridership, recognizing that USM was paying significantly for the Husky Line bus to run to and from their campuses in Gorham and Portland. Since then, Metro has expanded service to two additional sites in Gorham, and the town has become a paying member of the service, which also grants them a seat on the Metro Board of Directors, currently filled by Councilor Siegel.
Mr. Paraschak noted that changing adult behaviors is hard, but increasing ridership with youth may be more effective. Councilor Simms stated there have been conversations with Gorham School Superintendent Heather Perry about giving kids access to the Metro system, much like students in Portland Schools have, and tapping into the opportunities to learn about public transit. But Simms repeated concerns that the bus stops need to be convenient to where people are, including students. Councilor Lavoie questioned if youth were heading into Portland or Westbrook regularly after school, and if adding a stop would be beneficial or a waste. Discussions about possible bus routes and stops led Gorham Director of Community Development Tom Poirier to note that asking for additional stops is a lot easier than asking for new bus routes.
The group discussed working with major employers along the bus route to offer incentives to their staff for using the bus line, but many shared stories of family members who work in the healthcare fields and hospitals who do not have a reliable and set schedule, and the lack of bus frequency making it a time consuming option that few would choose. They also discussed that Goodwill Industries wanted a bus stop by the industrial park, however a lack of crosswalks and sidewalks make it an unlikely, and possibly unsafe option.
Conversation went back and forth on whether Gorham should ask Metro for suggestions to boost ridership, or if the town should propose changes and make requests to which Metro would have to respond. Councilor Siegel noted that as a member of the Metro Board, they had reviewed many requests from communities served, but Town Manager Paraschak shared that Gorham’s experience had been more about reviewing and less about making any actual changes, citing the request for a change in how the Metro line accesses the USM campus as an example of an unaddressed request.
While Councilor Siegel shared the Metro has significant data and analysis on ridership that would be beneficial to the conversation, he also noted, for example, that the increases in ridership seen by Metro since 2020 are from those who are using the service for recreational activities, such as going into town for dinner or a show, and not for daily work commuting. The group agreed as a whole that more information was needed. They determined that Tom Poirier will reach out to Metro for additional information, and will look at the Economic Development analysis. He will bring all of this back to the committee during their next meeting to determine next steps such as surveys of businesses and residents or incentive plans.
The CIP/EDC Committee will meet again on Thursday, Feb. 24 at noon in the first floor conference room at Town Hall.