LEWISTON — Lisbon Street bus riders will notice their route changing temporarily in August as drivers test running a spur out to the new veterans’ health clinic near turnpike Exit 80.
“We’re just testing it for timing,” Marsha Bennett, transit coordinator for the Lewiston-Auburn Transit Committee, said. The LATC manages Citylink, the Twin Cities bus system.
Bennett said Citylink will test the spur from Aug. 8-19. Riders have been warned, with signs posted in the Lisbon Street bus for the past two weeks.
“It shouldn’t change the schedule, but we want to be sure,” she said. “There is a period of down time built into the schedule, about 10 minutes each run when the driver has to stop and wait.”
Transit officials are hoping there will be room to add regular stops at the clinic and at Pleasant View Acres along the way.
Work on the clinic, at 15 Challenger Drive, began in March and is expected to wrap up in December. The clinic is meant to augment the Togus VA hospital, located outside Augusta, bringing in patients from the Twin Cities and beyond.
“There is a potential to be a good number of patients using the bus,” Bennett said. “But for now, the drivers are going to keep track of the time they spend going to and from these areas, then they’ll report back to the committee. If the committee feels there is room in the schedule, we can make it a permanent part of the schedule.”
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