July 21 – The LAP, a new commuter bus service between Lewiston-Auburn and Portland, will begin operating Monday, the Maine Department of Transportation announced.

The pilot bus service will include multiple trips per day, from 4:30 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Friday, and from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on weekends.

While the focus is on employee transportation, the service will be available for all travel purposes, said Paul Merrill, a department spokesman.

The service will serve six stops: Bates College, 56 Campus Ave., and the Oak Street Bus Station, 11 Bates St., in Lewiston; the Auburn Transportation Center, 24 Great Falls Plaza, and the P&R lot at Maine Turnpike Exit 75 in Auburn; Monument Square, 480-486 Congress St., and the Portland Transportation Center, 100 Thompson’s Point, in Portland.

Riders must download the Token Transit app to purchase tickets in advance and view a detailed bus schedule. As of Friday, the department was still working on making The LAP visible on the app, Merrill said.

Once the app is up and running, riders should select “Buy Passes” and search for “The LAP.” Riders can also pay the driver the exact amount in cash when they board the bus. A one-way fare costs $8. A weekday schedule is available on the department’s website at maine.gov/mdot.

The pilot bus service will operate for at least two years and will serve as an indication of the latent demand and potential market for improved public transportation between Portland and Lewiston-Auburn.

The new service is expected to attract some of the hundreds of workers who travel that route daily, according to a planning study. Most riders are expected to come from the Lewiston-Auburn area, with about a third from the Portland area.

The contractor selected for this $2.8 million project is RTW Management Inc. of Salt Lake City.

Concord Coach Lines ended service between Portland and the Twin Cities in June. Company officials said the state’s plan for a pilot bus service was not a factor in their decision. Concord charged $12 for a one-way ticket between Portland and Auburn.

According to the department’s request for proposals, the distance between The LAP’s first and last stops is approximately 44 miles and the crossing takes approximately 62 minutes.

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