AUBURN – A new Lewiston-Auburn bus schedule – complete with a free shuttle between downtowns – is on track to start mid-January.

A glitch in the federal funding request for the downtown shuttle forced the Lewiston-Auburn Transit Committee to delay the schedule in November. The problems should be ironed out and the schedule in effect before Jan. 15, said Transit Coordinator Marsha Bennett.

“As frustrating as it has been to wait, it has been the best thing to make sure it gets done right,” Bennett said.

The schedule creates two route systems, one in Lewiston and one in Auburn. The two systems are connected by the free downtown shuttle, which will run from the Lewiston terminal on Bates Street to Central Maine Medical Center, then to Auburn’s Great Falls Plaza before returning to Lewiston.

The current system has seven routes that all go through downtown Lewiston.

The shuttle is the most important part of the new schedule, Bennett said. It’s being paid for with an air quality grant through the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Authority.

The state Department of Transportation had listed the improvements as only a Transit Authority project in its annual plan. That kept the project from getting the grant payments.

Federal, state and local officials didn’t catch the error until the fall.

“That plan is several inches thick,” said LATC Director Don Craig. “It lists every transportation project in the state, from highways to the ports. So, missing one project isn’t a big surprise.”

Craig said it wasn’t easy to fix the error. Officials had to re-submit the applications and have the project evaluated for its impact on state air quality. They were able to have it included as part of a 20-year air quality plan that was already completed. A public comment period on the plan is scheduled to end Dec. 18.

A decision is due by Jan. 15, Craig said. “So, we expect to have that funding no later than that. And that means we can get started.”

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