From the beginning of their season, 23 June to 3 July, Island Explorer Autogas buses have carried 66,276 passengers around Mount Desert Island, the largest island off the coast of Maine, including cruise ship tourists visiting Acadia National Park, surpassing the passengers carried between those dates last year, said Paul Murphy, the service’s executive director.

Island Explorer’s Autogas fleet of 30 buses is funded by public and private entities, including Acadia, several Hancock County towns and L.L. Bean, which has given the service $1 million grants annually for the past five years. Acadia funds about 60% of the service’s $2.3 million budget, Murphy said.

Island Explorer is a seasonal, Autogas powered shuttle service, provided by Downeast transportation, Inc (DIT), a non-profit organisation that offers public transportation in Hancock County through a contract agreement with the State Department of Transportation, to mitigate summer months’ traffic congestion for transportation throughout Acadia National Park and the surrounding communities with a passenger hub located in Bar Harbor.

The clean LPG-powered vehicles offer Mount Desert Island visitors and residents free transportation to hiking trails, carriage roads, island beaches, and in-town shops and restaurants. For more information, please visit this link.