Bangor residents will be able to ride a trolley to the polls on Election Day this November after a three-year hiatus.
The Community Connector purchased three “trolleys,” vehicles on wheels in the style of old electric streetcars, according to Courtney O’Donnell, Bangor’s assistant city manager.
One trolley is being repaired and repainted and will be on the road this fall. The second will act as a spare for the primary trolley, and the third will supply parts to keep the other two in operation for as long as possible.
The trolleys will receive a fresh coat of paint to match the rest of the Community Connector fleet, which serves Bangor, Brewer, Orono, Hampden, Old Town, Veazie and the University of Maine.
Once road-ready, the trolley is used to shuttle people during special events, such as Election Day or to fairs and festivals. Communities that fall within the regional bus service’s coverage area can ask to borrow the trolley.
The purchase revitalizes a beloved community tradition that hasn’t been in use since Bangor’s last trolley was involved in a crash in November 2021 that put it permanently out of service and sent three people, including the driver, to the hospital with minor injuries.
The new trolleys are known as “Molly Trolleys” because they’re manufactured by the Molly Corporation, a Wells-based company. The business launched in 1981 in Ogunquit and specializes in various models of aluminum trolleys, which are lighter, have better fuel economy, and are resistant to rust, according to the company’s website.
Bangor never used trolleys for tours of the city or regular bus routes and doesn’t plan to add those to the list of uses, O’Donnell said.
The trolley was bringing residents to vote at the Cross Insurance Center on Nov. 2, 2021, when the driver said the vehicle’s brakes failed on Main Street, forcing him to swerve in an attempt to avoid a truck stopped at a red light.
The runaway trolley then struck a flatbed tractor-trailer that was turning left from Cedar Street onto Main Street, and then veered into the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter’s parking lot, where it struck two parked cars, bringing it to a stop.
The city had another trolley before that, but did away with it when it needed extensive and costly repairs, O’Donnell said.
It took three years to get the city new trolleys because the Community Connector wasn’t “actively soliciting trolleys,” O’Donnell said.
“A transit agency in southern Maine had a few and reached out,” O’Donnell said. “We still get a lot of requests for trolleys after the last one went out of service.”
Now, the Community Connector is working to find bus drivers and workers to maintain the bus service’s routes and operate a trolley on special occasions, O’Donnell said. Candidates need to have a valid Class B driver’s license and the city will help new drivers get the necessary training to drive a city bus.
The Bangor region previously had an extensive electric trolley network for more than 50 years until the service ended in December 1945.
