The Island Explorer is a seasonal

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

system that provides fare-free transportation on and near

Mount Desert Island Mount Desert Island (MDI; french: Île des Monts Déserts) in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the 52nd-largest island in the United States, the sixth-largest island in the contiguous ...

in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

state of

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. It is operated by Downeast Transportation, and largely intended to serve visitors to

Acadia National Park Acadia National Park is an American national park located along the mid-section of the Maine coast, southwest of Bar Harbor. The park preserves about half of Mount Desert Island, part of the Isle au Haut, the tip of the Schoodic Peninsula, and ...

as a means to reduce area traffic within the park and in area communities, including the

Schoodic Peninsula The Schoodic Peninsula is a peninsula in Down East Maine. It is located four miles (6 km) east of Bar Harbor, Maine, as the crow flies. The Schoodic Peninsula contains , or approximately 5% of Acadia National Park. It includes the towns of ...

. It typically runs from mid-June through the beginning of October, departing from Kennebec Street, to the west of Bar Harbor's Village Green. Operations began in 1999, and in 2019 the service carried over 647,000 passengers.

Operations

The service began operations in 1999. Regular operations are funded from a variety of sources, including a dedicated portion of

entrance fees from the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

, the

Maine Department of Transportation The Maine Department of Transportation, also known as MaineDOT (occasionally referred to as MDOT), is the office of state government charged with the regulation and maintenance of roads, rail, ferries, and other public transport infrastructure in ...

L.L. Bean L.L.Bean is an American privately-held retail company that was founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean. The company, headquartered in the place in which it was founded, in Freeport, Maine, specializes in clothing and outdoor recreation equipment. ...

, municipal governments, the group Friends of Acadia, as well as local businesses directly served by the service. L.L. Bean's contribution totals $4 million since 2002. To reduce pollution, the bus fleet is powered by

propane Propane () is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used a ...

. 21 new buses were purchased in 2019 to replace a portion of the fleet of 36, the purchase funded by the National Park Service and State of Maine. The service also has four vans and two bicycle trailers. The service typically hires 110 drivers a year. Buses carry 30 seated and 13 standing passengers. Service is typically offered from June 23 through the beginning of October, with service on the Schoodic Peninsula beginning slightly earlier on

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

. Since 1999, the service has carried 7.7 million passengers. It has prevented 41 tons of smog-causing pollutants and 27,000 tons of greenhouse gases from being released.

COVID-19

The service was cancelled in 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, due to the difficulty of complying with social distancing measures imposed by the State of Maine. Those measures would have limited bus capacity to 12 people. Downeast Transportation, the operator, plans to resume limited service on fewer routes in 2021. Capacity will be limited to 12 people with every other row of seats vacant and only the members of the same group permitted to sit in the same row.

References

{{Maine transit agencies Bus transportation in Maine Transportation in Hancock County, Maine Mount Desert Island 1999 establishments in Maine