Metro Services in Scarborough

Metro Services in Scarborough

By Bill Donovan, Town Council

The Town Council recently approved a public transportation proposal from Greater Portland Metro (“Metro”). This is an exciting expansion of roadway transportation in Scarborough that will begin implementation in just a few months. Naturally, the public will have lots of questions and I will draw on materials submitted to the Town by Metro to provide some answers.

When and Where?

Service expansion to Scarborough will begin in the summer of 2026. This service expansion is jointly funded using state, federal, and local dollars, on a pilot basis. The service expansion will include a traditional fixed-route bus service, with stops located approximately every ¼ mile; and an on-demand “microtransit” zone, serving much of the Town east of I-95.

What sort of transportation is proposed? Let’s talk about the bus service first.

Fixed Route Bus Service 

Metro’s new Route 25 bus service will operate between downtown Portland and Oak Hill in Scarborough, extending along Scarborough Downs Road to the Exit 42 Park and Ride plaza. In Portland, Metro plans to begin service at Metro's service office at 21 Elm Street, Portland, providing passengers with an easy option to ask questions, purchase passes and stored value, and receive other customer service. The route will serve the VA Outpatient Clinic on West Commercial Street before using the Veterans Bridge to access Main Street in South Portland, proceeding directly along Route 1 into Scarborough. Metro will directly serve the Scarborough MaineHealth campus on most/all trips while the campus is open, typically 7am-6pm on weekdays. Route 25 will serve stops along Route 1 between MaineHealth and the municipal campus. Finally, the route will serve Scarborough Downs Road and Market Street, and most trips will continue to the Exit 42 Park and Ride plaza.

How often will the buses run?

Metro plans to launch this service with a frequency of approximately every 45 minutes, from about 6:00am to 10:00pm, Monday through Saturday, with more limited hours of operation on Sunday. Over time the schedule will be amend to fit usage patterns.

Will there be established Bus Stops?

Metro will utilize existing Biddeford Saco Old Orchard Beach Transit (BSOOB) bus stops along US Route 1 in Scarborough. Additionally, Metro is planning to stop within the Scarborough MaineHealth campus, similar to BSOOB service does today, as well as along Scarborough Downs Road and Middle Road within The Downs development, and at the Exit 42 Park and Ride and/or Cabela’s.

We are proceeding with our engineering consultant to advance designs for several stops along Route 1 and Scarborough Downs Road in order to improve the access, safety, and operability of buses along the new service. Metro will continue to work with staff on the progress of these stop improvements over the course of 2026 and, if necessary, beyond. 

In Portland and South Portland, Metro will utilize existing Metro bus stops. A small number of bus stops will need to be added or modified to accommodate the service. 

Route Considerations for Bus Service

Several outstanding questions have yet to be resolved for the new fixed route service. These items include: 

• Interservice Transit Hub – Metro, BSOOB, and Town staff are working towards identifying one or more locations where transit users may comfortably, safely, and accessibly transfer between transit services.", including Metro’s new Route 25, Metro Connect microtransit service, and BSOOB’s Route 60 service. 

• Hannaford Drive service – Metro is considering providing more direct service to Hannaford Drive and possibly Gorham Road. Metro is seeking guidance from the Town’s Transportation Committee, the public, and Town staff before making this determination. It is possible that this deviation could be added at some point after the service is launched. 

• Level of Service to Exit 42 Park and Ride – Service to the Exit 42 Park and Ride is being considered. Again, Metro is seeking guidance on the value of this option.  

• Level of Service to MaineHealth Scarborough campus – As with all initial decisions time will tell how employing such stops will work into an efficient plan. 

What other public transportation is coming?

Microtransit Service 

Metro plans to launch its Metro Connect microtransit service ahead of, or simultaneously alongside, our fixed route service. Microtransit service is an on-demand, “curb to curb” service that has no fixed route, but is dispatched where rides are requested. Rides can be booked ahead of time or on demand, and riders can choose to be picked up as soon as possible, or arrive by a specific time. Passenger trips are grouped together when possible. 

The three primary factors in determining the capacity of a microtransit system are as follows: 

• Ridership – Unlike fixed route services, microtransit is particularly sensitive to ridership. Vehicles have a specific seated capacity, typically three to four times smaller than a fixed route bus, with no standees allowed. And, because passengers may be riding across a wide geographic area, the travel time of each individual passenger is affected directly by the number of other passengers using the service at the same time. While robust ridership is certainly a goal for microtransit, there are certainly scenarios where heavy ridership leads to worse overall service. For these reasons, Metro is committed to designing our Scarborough service to have as many people as practical use the fixed route bus route rather than microtransit, so that microtransit remains available for those trips that are not duplicated by the new Route 25. 

• Zone Size and Geography – The larger and more complex the microtransit zone, the more travel time that may be needed to complete a given trip or group of trips. This means small, compact zones will be easier to serve than large or sprawling zones. Metro does not size microtransit zones aggressively; instead, we will expand the zone size in the future if key performance indicators suggest that a larger area could be served efficiently. 

• Vehicles in operation – The more vehicles operating in a given zone, the larger the zone can be while providing good levels of service, and the lower the wait times and travel times for passengers. Vehicles in operation is also the primary driver of the cost of the service; adding more vehicles to a busy microtransit zone will typically require careful planning and budgeting. As such, Metro will strive to avoid a situation where the number of vehicles in operation are insufficient for the demand and the size of the zone in question. Metro plans to operate two vehicles during peak hours and one vehicle during off-peak periods.

Next Steps 

Ahead of the service launch, Metro is planning to provide at least one public meeting for Scarborough residents. We will also make ourselves available for “learn to ride” events and at existing Scarborough events to educate residents on the service and how to ride. 

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Scarborough Town Council.