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Can public transportation address some of Maine's energy issues?
Jonathan Rubin, Economics Professor, University of Maine: "Since Maine is such a rural state, public transportation is much more challenging. Things that can work are, in the urban areas like Portland and Bangor, increased bus service, ride share programs, park n' ride, things to aggregate and get people from the rural areas to where you can effectively supply public transport. At the same time, people--when they make a choice to live in locations--they have to think about the transportation costs to and from jobs. Maybe more people will start to move in toward city centers, which again could be a good thing in some senses, because we all like to have vibrant city centers and to the extent that you have more people walking around and enjoying old-fashion downtowns--there can be some good coming from that, so it's not all bad. The bad thing is, of course, it's expensive, and as I mentioned, for lower-income folks and people on fixed incomes, the pain is going to be real. But to the extent that people come and enjoy their downtowns and move a bit closer in, there's some good there, too."
