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Log inConcord Coach to launch new service to Boston
Concord Coach to launch new service to Boston
by Outspoken on Mon Sep 29, 2008 3:58 am
Concord Coach to launch new service to Boston
BY CRAIG CROSBY
Staff Writer Morning Sentinel
AUGUSTA -- It would be fitting if the first passengers to board the bus at Concord Coach Lines' new Augusta terminal took a moment to remember Bennett Katz.
It was the former state senator's editorial in 2003, after all, that called for the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce to persuade Concord to add an Augusta stop.
Five years later, after a number of challenges that threatened to scuttle the project, Concord buses will begin service on Wednesday with five daily trips to Portland and Boston. Katz, who died last year, may well have hopped on one of those busses to go see his beloved Red Sox in the playoffs, said Peter Thompson, president of the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce.
"Were he still alive he would be quite pleased," Thompson said. "I give a great deal of credit (for the terminal) to good old Bennett."
The nearly $2 million Augusta Transportation Center at 9 Industrial Drive has been in the works for nearly three years. The project was initially approved by the Planning Board in 2005, but that decision was later appealed by neighbors and the issue wound up in court. The bus company subsequently worked out a design that satisfied neighbors.
The facility includes a building with amenities including rest rooms, ticket office and waiting area, and more than 200 long-term parking spaces.
The schedule includes five daily trips to South Station and Logan Airport in Boston that leave Augusta between 6:15 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. The trips take about three hours and a round-trip fare to Logan is $69.
Harry Blunt, Concord Coach Lines' owner, said the process was frustrating at times, but will be worthwhile for both the company and the central Maine region.
"We see it as a hubbing point for a lot of folks," Blunt said. "We're looking at it as a regional watershed area."
The terminal is opening when more people are looking to public transportation to reduce fuel expenses and help the environment, Blunt said.
"To be able to climb on a bus, work or read, or sit back and watch a movie, I think more and more people are seeing that as a good alternative to driving their own car (to Boston)," Blunt said.
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/5452240.html
Staff photo by Joe Phelan
BY CRAIG CROSBY
Staff Writer Morning Sentinel
AUGUSTA -- It would be fitting if the first passengers to board the bus at Concord Coach Lines' new Augusta terminal took a moment to remember Bennett Katz.
It was the former state senator's editorial in 2003, after all, that called for the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce to persuade Concord to add an Augusta stop.
Five years later, after a number of challenges that threatened to scuttle the project, Concord buses will begin service on Wednesday with five daily trips to Portland and Boston. Katz, who died last year, may well have hopped on one of those busses to go see his beloved Red Sox in the playoffs, said Peter Thompson, president of the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce.
"Were he still alive he would be quite pleased," Thompson said. "I give a great deal of credit (for the terminal) to good old Bennett."
The nearly $2 million Augusta Transportation Center at 9 Industrial Drive has been in the works for nearly three years. The project was initially approved by the Planning Board in 2005, but that decision was later appealed by neighbors and the issue wound up in court. The bus company subsequently worked out a design that satisfied neighbors.
The facility includes a building with amenities including rest rooms, ticket office and waiting area, and more than 200 long-term parking spaces.
The schedule includes five daily trips to South Station and Logan Airport in Boston that leave Augusta between 6:15 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. The trips take about three hours and a round-trip fare to Logan is $69.
Harry Blunt, Concord Coach Lines' owner, said the process was frustrating at times, but will be worthwhile for both the company and the central Maine region.
"We see it as a hubbing point for a lot of folks," Blunt said. "We're looking at it as a regional watershed area."
The terminal is opening when more people are looking to public transportation to reduce fuel expenses and help the environment, Blunt said.
"To be able to climb on a bus, work or read, or sit back and watch a movie, I think more and more people are seeing that as a good alternative to driving their own car (to Boston)," Blunt said.
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/5452240.html
Staff photo by Joe Phelan
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
