Island-bound commuters board Downeast Transportation’s bus Monday morning at 7 behind Marden’s on High Street in Ellsworth.—STAFF PHOTO BY STEPHEN FAY

ELLSWORTH — Many commuters around Hancock County are turning to public transportation to avoid budget-breaking stops at the gas pumps.

"We’ve been seeing a lot more of them actually,” said Paul Murphy, general manager of Downeast Transportation. “They were always fairly well ridden, but now that we’ve seen gas prices sneak up a little bit, we’ve seen a proportional increase in ridership.

“In October of last year, we began new subscription service from Ellsworth, specifically for routes from Ellsworth to Bar Harbor each morning. They began very well in October, but with recent increases in gas prices, all of our commuter routes are fully subscribed.”

Commuters reserve seats on the commuter buses with monthly subscriptions.

Murphy said two early-morning routes that use 30-seat buses are fully subscribed, and two routes scheduled for later in the day are nearly full.

“We have waiting lists on both of those earlier routes,” he added.

Last December, a total of 1,700 passengers rode the bus from Ellsworth to Bar Harbor. That number increased to 2,402 this past April.

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