PORTLAND, Maine — Proponents of Amtrak’s Downeaster had predicted that the new train service would lure its passengers from automobiles rather than buses, the Portland Press Herald reports. As it turns out, that counter-intuitive idea has proven to be true, at least for Concord Trailways.
Concord Trailways officials say bus ridership between Boston and Portland is up about 5 percent this year. The bus company, which shares a new terminal with Amtrak, has benefited from the infrastructure at the new Portland Transportation Center on Sewall Street and also the new attention the train service has brought to the area, company officials say. Concord and Amtrak are also sharing customers, as some people are taking a bus one way and are returning by train.
“The train has brought such pizzazz to the area that it has brought more awareness to our company,” said Ken Hunter, vice president of transportation for Concord Trailways.
Officials at Concord Trailways and the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority share the common goal of getting people to take public transportation, says Dana Knapp, the Maine division manager for Concord Trailways.
“That’s what we are fighting against — the automobile,” he said.
Officials with the bus company and the rail authority this summer are discussing proposals that would link the two transportation modes even closer. One proposal would allow riders to buy a single ticket that would allow them to take one leg of their trip on a bus and another on a train.
That kind of cooperation would be bad news for Vermont Transit, which also offers bus service between Boston and Portland. The bus company has seen ridership fall by 5 to 10 percent, company officials say.
“It has taken a big hit on us,” said Richard Afuma, assistant to the manager at Vermont Transit’s Portland terminal. “Ridership has dropped quite a bit since the train started.”
Vermont Transit, located at the junction of Congress and St. John streets, has only a handful of parking spaces, while Concord Trailways has a large, new parking lot it shares with the Downeaster. The state has also built a new exit off I-295 that leads straight to the Portland Transportation Center.
Concord built a $1.5 million addition to the terminal, expanded the waiting area and ticketing area, and added office space for people operating the train. The rail authority pays enough rent to offset the construction debt payments, Hunter says.
The bus trip between Boston and Portland is cheaper and usually more than 45 minutes faster. A same-day round trip by train is $35. On Concord Trailways, a same-day round trip is $26. Vermont Transit’s same-day round trip, on a weekday, is $18.75.
Friday evening, most of the Boston-bound bus riders at the Portland Transportation Center said they preferred the bus because it was cheaper and quicker. Some said they liked the video that is played on every trip. Many of the riders were in their 20s.
Jeff Barnum, a Westbrook resident who has taken both the train and the bus to Boston, said the train offers better scenery and a more comfortable ride.
“It takes longer and it’s more expensive,” he said. “The train is a nice ride, but you have to pay for it.”
Concord also offers direct service to Logan International Airport, while Vermont Transit and the Downeaster do not.
But the Downeaster offers many more destinations, with stops in Old Orchard Beach, Saco, Wells, Dover, N.H., Durham, N.H., Exeter, N.H., Haverhill, Mass. and Woburn, Mass.
The final destination can make a difference for some riders. Concord Trailways and Vermont Transit stop at South Station. Hunter says some riders are taking the bus to South Station and then boarding the high-speed Acela Express to New York City.
The Downeaster stops at Boston’s North Station, which abuts the Fleet Center.
Concord offers 11 round trips daily, while the Downeaster offers only four. As a result, Hunter says, some people are riding the train for one portion of the trip and riding the bus for another portion.
Hunter says Downeaster passengers tend to be older and more affluent than bus passengers. Some of the people riding the train never would have taken the bus anyway, he says.
“The train passengers are very, very upscale,” he said.
For some train passengers, the Downeaster is a destination in itself. Riding the train Friday, for example, was the Parsons family from Newfoundland. Vacationing in southern Maine this summer, the family decided to take the train to Boston because they have never ridden a train before. Passenger trains in Newfoundland disappeared decades ago.
“We wanted to see what it feels like to go on a train,” Lorraine Parsons said.
The ridership for the Downeaster is meeting expectations, and revenues are exceeding projections, says Nate Moulton, the rail authority’s deputy director.
He says there are more riders than expected traveling the entire trip between Boston and Portland, and the average ticket price, projected to be $10, has turned out to be $15. The Downeaster has also added a business class, which costs $8 more and has proven popular.
Moulton says revenues this year, projected at $3.3 million, are on pace to reach or exceed $4.5 million.
The Downeaster’s busiest month so far was April, when it carried 29,628 passengers. Passenger volumes dipped somewhat in May, traditionally a slow month in the transportation industry, and climbed again in June. So far in July, about 900 passengers are riding the Downeaster daily, similar to the volume seen in April, a school vacation month.
Vermont Transit, a subsidiary of Greyhound, carries about 11,000 passengers between Boston and Portland each month. Concord Trailways declined to say how many passengers it carries. Afuma, of Vermont Transit, says Concord Trailways has more passengers than Vermont but fewer than Amtrak.