The Bangor-area bus system will offer two free training programs with the goal of hiring enough drivers to bring back service on Saturdays.
Bangor city councilors on Monday approved accepting a roughly $322,000 grant from the Maine Department of Transportation. The grant will allow the Community Connector, the regional bus system that serves Bangor, Brewer, Orono, Hampden, Old Town and Veazie, to offer two different training courses.
One training course will teach people how to drive a city bus and guide them through the licensing process. If students complete the training and pass the state tests to become a certified bus driver, they’ll be guaranteed a job with the Community Connector, according to Laurie Linscott, superintendent of the Community Connector.
The goal of the training is to eventually hire more bus drivers and ease staffing shortages, which have plagued the Community Connector for years and forced the system to reduce service. Those cuts force many passengers who rely on the bus to get to work, school or run errands to lean on family members and friends, or pay a pricey cab fare.
The bus system announced in September that it would temporarily stop running on Saturdays because there weren’t enough drivers. The bus previously paused Saturday service in June 2022 before bringing it back in June 2023. Saturday was chosen because ridership was typically lowest on that day.
Linscott has 35 bus drivers now, but needs another five to seven employees to reinstate Saturday service. She hopes the upcoming training will produce at least that many.
“If we’re successful and this works like it did last time, I’d like to get Saturday service back before June,” Linscott said.
When the system last offered a driver training program in 2022, 10 students signed up, but only five graduated, Linscott said. Those five new drivers, however, allowed the bus to reinstate Saturday service.
“We will take anybody,” Linscott said. “Hopefully, you’ll walk away with a job with the city, driving a transit bus and a license that’s yours.”
Some people don’t complete the course, can’t pass the state exams or get denied due to failing a drug test, a MDOT physical or other background check.
“With every one of these prerequisites, we will lose contestants or participants because we always do,” Linscott said.
The other course will guide students through the training and licensing process to become a commercial drivers license instructor, which means students who successfully complete the course will be able to train future bus drivers, Linscott said.
This course is especially necessary, Linscott said, because there are no licensed instructors in the Bangor area, which led Eastern Maine Community College to stop offering a bus driver training program.
The state’s only licensed instructor is based in Waterville, Linscott said.
The five-day instructor training has 12 available spots and will take place later this month, Linscott said. Once students complete the course, they’ll be guided through the process of getting a license from the state to be a driving instructor.
Both courses will be completely free for students, including the cost to take the necessary exams, and participants will be paid for their time in the classroom, Linscott said.
Those who are interested can find more information on how to enroll in either training program on the city’s website.
