Service Alert Updates

Picture of Schoodic peninsula


Downeast Transportation

Hancock County's public transit provider offers shopping trips to Bar Harbor and Ellsworth, five-day-a-week bus service between Bar Harbor and Bangor, commuter service to the Jackson Laboratory, and midday shuttles in Bucksport, Bar Harbor, and Ellsworth. Downeast Transportation also operates the seasonal Island Explorer serving Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island towns, and Schoodic Peninsula.

Year-round buses offer new ways to save

Downeast operates commuter buses to Bar Harbor from Bangor, Brewer, Franklin, Milbridge, and Ellsworth. This service eliminates more than one million vehicle miles a year from local roadways. It means cash savings for area workers, new job opportunities for people without cars, less congestion, and a reduction in greenhouse gases linked to global climate change.

Click here for route and schedule information.

Downeast bus in front of Ellsworth City Hall

"I get to work safely and on-time, and I save gas and miles on my car."
-Jackson Lab commuter from Surry

"My driver is dependable and safe, and is better in the snow than I am. The commute allows me to rest to and from work."
-Jackson Lab commuter from Franklin

"I like it a lot because it allows me to get out and about on my own."
-Bucksport resident on the Bucksport Shuttle

"I might not go if I had to drive myself. Drivers are wonderful. The bus is clean and comfortable."
-Passenger from Bar Harbor on the midday bus to Bangor

"I like the friends, the ride, the drivers, getting out, the route, the passing countryside."
-Passenger from Sedgwick on the Stonington bus