AUBURN — Cold weather delays of the Twin Cities’ Citylink bus system Tuesday are the last straw, according to Mayor Jonathan LaBonte.
“If you ask commercial trucking companies and other bus fleet managers, they find ways to make sure their fleets don’t freeze up,” LaBonte said. “I get very frustrated with mismanagement and issues that need to be called out, especially when people’s lives are at risk.”
Subzero temperatures shut down the Citylink system for several hours Tuesday morning.
Phil Nadeau, chairman of the Lewiston-Auburn Transit Committee, said the problems were caused by ongoing maintenance problems with the Citylink fleet coupled with frozen air lines in the remaining fleet.
“The Auburn council is pushing for the state to get involved to assist and provide some objective review about what is in our contract with Western Maine and how our fleet is being maintained,” LaBonte said.
The committee is in charge of the Citylink system and routes. They pay Western Maine Transit Services to maintain the buses and drive the buses.
Citylink’s seven-route system depends on having at least seven out of its 11 buses operating to stay on schedule. Currently, five buses are out for repairs — two are at shops outside of Lewiston-Auburn, a third is waiting for parts and a fourth is awaiting regular maintenance.
One bus wouldn’t start Tuesday morning and the five remaining buses went out of service.
“When we get down to fewer than four buses, the problem becomes judging which route is going to be most important,” Nadeau said. “We can’t make that choice, and you are not going to please anyone with that.”
The service shut down about 8 a.m. and returned to partial service at 11:15 a.m.
Nadeau said the biggest problem is with the Bluebird buses that make up the bulk of the Citylink fleet. Ha said they are not well suited to driving in cold climates.
“Our goal is be fully operational at all times,” Nadeau said. “That’s what I’m shooting for, what the committee is shooting for and anything less than that is unacceptable, period. If there is anyone upset, I absolutely understand. They have every right to be upset.”
In a letter, consulting inspector for the Maine Department of Transportation Mike Merwin, disputed that, saying the Bluebird buses are equipped with driers and reservoirs to keep air lines from freezing but they must be maintained. That the freezing problem occurs is evidence the Citylink fleet is poorly maintained.
“Parking buses inside at night will not eliminate the Citylink freezing problem if the systems are not properly maintained,” he wrote. “This procedure will only serve to compound the problems by introducing a warm vehicle to cold temperatures. The warm bus entering temperatures below freezing will cause moisture to form immediately.”
LaBonte noted that Citylink was the only bus system in Maine to have delays caused by Tuesday’s temperatures. LaBonte also said Citylink or Western Maine Transit Services staff should have done more to let riders know the system was down.
“There were people out in the freezing cold waiting for a bus, and they didn’t even send someone around to let them know,” LaBonte said. “They just sent a press release at 8 o’clock.”
But Nadeau discounted both Merwin and LaBonte. Western Maine did send staff out to the bus stops to “warn waiting passengers.”
“People are going to say what they are going to say, but we have addressed their concerns,” Nadeau said. “Now we are dealing with what we need to do to restabilize the fleet and rebuild some of the trust we’ve lost. And we’ll go from there.”
Nadeau said the transit committee is looking at purchasing heaters and systems to keep the buses on the road.
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