On the Move: COAST Bus Connects the Seacoast

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with COAST Bus Executive Director Rad Nichols and Operations Director Michael Williams.

COAST operates both fixed-route bus services, connecting 10 communities, and demand-response services for older adults and people with disabilities across 13 communities in the greater Seacoast area of New Hampshire and Maine. The organization is primarily funded by federal government support and municipal contributions. Their fixed routes run from Farmington to Portsmouth, with branches to Somersworth and Berwick, operating Monday through Saturday from as early as 5 a.m. until 9 p.m.

Nichols and Williams discuss their technology offerings, including an app that shows real-time bus locations and a texting service at [phone] for immediate assistance. They provide updates on their facility expansion project, which is in the final design stage and will include indoor storage for their fleet.

Recent initiatives include "Fare Free Saturdays" sponsored by local businesses ($2,500 per day), which has increased ridership by 20-28%. Overall ridership has grown significantly, up 28% last fiscal year and an additional 15% so far this year, attributed to new residents, returning riders, and changing commuting patterns, particularly between Dover, Somersworth, and Rochester.

In This Week in Dover History, we learn about an 1885 scandal involving Peter Gagne, who abandoned his wife and children and eloped with Delia Thebeault to Dover. The couple sought work at Isaac Lucas's brickyard, presenting themselves as husband and wife, but were soon apprehended by an officer from Biddeford, Maine.