PROJECTS

Electric Bus

BSOOB Transit will be taking delivery of two electric buses in early 2021. The buses will be manufactured by Proterra, a national leader in the industry. With the buses will come charging infrastructure for our garage depot and an on route Pantograph overhead charging station which will be installed at Saco Transportation Center.

The funding has been secured through a Federal Transit Administration Lo/No (low emissions/no emissions) grant as well as match dollars from Maine Department of Transportation.

Electronic Fare Collection

As of October 1, 2020, BSOOB Transit has implemented a new regional electronic fare system called DiriGo TouchPass. Electronic readers have been installed in all revenue generating vehicles. Smartphone mobile application and stored value smartcards will now to be used to collect fares.

Smartphone mobile applications can be downloaded and funded by riders who choose to use this technology. Stored value smartcards, branded as DiriGo TouchPass, will be available for riders to load at the Saco Transportation Center and other select outlets locally. The stored value smartcards are reusable and reloadable. Customers will be charged $5 for lost, stolen or destroyed cards.

A regional fare policy will allow riders to pay fares electronically on BSOOB Transit, South Portland Bus Service and Greater Portland Metro. All similar services will be priced in the same way.

A rewards program, technically named “fare capping”, will be available for those customers that choose to use the mobile app or smartcard. Frequent riders will have their fares capped after their third boarding of any day and 30 th boarding of any month. After these thresholds are met, all subsequent boardings for that day or month would be free.

Automated Vehicle Locator

BSOOB Transit has implemented an automated vehicle locator (AVL) web application. This application, hosted by UniteGPS, will allow riders to see the location of their bus by looking at their smartphone. In the near future, riders will be able to reference screens located in the Saco Transportation Center.

The goal of implementing this technology is to assist our riders with a way to find up to the minute information on their own without needing the assistance of customer service representatives.

Onboard Wi-Fi

All BSOOB Transit passengers will be able to access free onboard Wi-Fi during their trip.

Organizational Rebranding

We hope that you enjoy our back to basics rebranding effort. We felt it was very important that our organization be recognized for what we are and what we do and that is “to provide safe, clean, reliable and affordable local public transportation for all.”

Trolleys

BSOOB Transit has secured funding from the Federal Transit Administration and the State of Maine Department of Transportation to purchase eight (8) new trolleys. Our goal is to receive delivery of our new fleet of trolleys before the beginning of the 2021 season.