BIW will add bus route to get Lewiston-Auburn employees to work

FILE PHOTO / TIM GREENWAY Bath Iron Works is working with Western Maine Transportation Services to make it easier for residents of Lewiston-Auburn and Lisbon Falls to get to their jobs.

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By Laurie Schreiber

Development of a new bus route is underway to make it easier and more affordable for Lewiston-Auburn and Lisbon Falls area residents to get to their jobs at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works.

BIW said it’s working with Western Maine Transportation Services in Auburn to expand commuter bus transportation between Lewiston and Bath beginning Monday, April 24.

BIW is using a portion of a Maine Department of Transportation grant to lower fares for using the bus. Fares will be $5 each way, with discounts for buying tickets a week or a month at a time.

“Many of our employees come from the Lewiston-Auburn area and this bus will be a great option for them, helping them save money, reduce demand on parking, ease road congestion and have a positive impact on the environment,” BIW President Chuck Krugh said in a news release. “This a good example of the public-private partnerships needed to tackle the challenges facing workers as well as employers.”

The timing of the bus and the pickup and drop-off locations will be designed to serve first-shift shipyard workers. The route will have the capacity to serve the general public as well.

The new bus service is in addition to efforts already underway at the shipyard to reduce demand on transportation networks and parking.

BIW runs shuttles from remote parking lots, supports van pools with preferred parking and works with the state’s GO Maine program to promote shared transportation among shipyard workers.

BIW’s support for the new bus route was made possible in part by a $750,000 grant received in March through the Workforce Transportation Pilot Program, an effort by Gov. Janet Mills to support employers with workforce transportation solutions.

Other large employers around Maine have been working on transportation solutions. Portland-based workers' comp insurance providers MEMIC and Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor each have programs to relieve parking pressures and to subsidize a bus system for long-distance commuters.

Western Maine Transportation Services has been providing transit options in Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties for more than 40 years. It provides commuter buses serving Farmington and Brunswick and offers the Lewiston-Auburn Citylink bus service.

Bath Iron Works, which produces U.S. Navy destroyers, supported more than $1.8 billion in total economic output in 2021, including $980 million contributed to state GDP. Founded in 1884 and owned by General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), its 6,500 employees account for 12% of the state’s manufacturing workforce.

General Dynamics is a global aerospace and defense company that offers a broad portfolio of products and services in business aviation; ship construction and repair; land combat vehicles, weapons systems and munitions; and technology products and services.