ROCKLAND – Reddish passenger vehicles are multiplying in the Rockland area, and because of them, many locals are gaining independence.

For the first time in years, a fixed, hourly route is allowing the shut-ins, the license-less, the sick, the disabled and the fully-capable the ability to get out the door and down the road.

Midcoast Public Transportation, an organization already serving Waldo County for 30 years, is opening its doors to the general ridership “on behalf of many, many voices in Rockland who have asked us to do so,” said Michael Hallundbaek, director of Midcoast Public Transportation and Midcoast Connector – a MaineCare nonemergency transportation brokerage, during a March Rockland City Council meeting.

For about a month now, the transit has been quietly conducting runs between Rockport’s Penobscot Bay Medical Center and Thomaston’s Walmart. Along the way, they’ve identified stops, fares, and public needs.

Now, schedules for the hourly Downtown Area Shuttle (DASH) are popping up in various lobbies and waiting rooms.

The fixed route consists of eight stops between Walmart and PBMC, between 7 a.m. and 4:50 p.m., Monday through Friday, from both locations. Currently, fares are listed as $2 per boarding, $5 for a day pass, $20 for a 12-punch ticket, and $50 for a monthly pass. Senior and youth discounts are available. To purchase tickets, call (207) 338-4769.

For travelers unable to get to or from the stops, personalized transportation may be arranged with a few days lead time. This service, called Demand Response, has been an option for Rockland residents for some time, according to Community Engagement Facilitator Steffanie Pyle, during a January Rockland City Council meeting

“Anybody in Rockland can call us with two business days advanced notice and say ‘hey, I need to go from __ to Walmart, Rite Aid, Pen Bay.’ We can do that, given available resources that we have,” she said.

Fares for the personalized service cost anywhere from $3 to $8 each way.

The company also contracts with Child Development Services, Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Aging and Disabilities.

“Why are you going to succeed after so many failed at attempts to get public transportation in Rockland?” Mayor Valli Geiger asked Pyle during the January meeting.

“Transportation is not easy, and it’s expensive,” Pyle said.

A 2014 study estimated startup costs, from scratch, at half a million dollars, according to her.  

However, the organization has already been shuttling Rocklanders around for years. They just didn’t have a fixed route.

A lot of the funding comes the Maine Department of Transportation, which is a recipient of the Federal Transportation Administration fund, according to Pyle.

In Waldo County, representatives from the public transit appeal to each town they service to request the matching funds needed for some FTA grants.