Casco Bay Lines

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Casco Bay Lines (also known as the Casco Bay Island Transit District, CBITD) is a publicly run transportation company that services the residents of the islands of Casco Bay. These islands include Peaks Island, Little Diamond Island, Great Diamond Island, Long Island, Chebeague Island and Cliff Island.

The company has a fleet of five vessels. Schedules to the islands vary seasonally. During the summer months, many more ferry trips go back and forth to the islands, while there are significantly fewer trips during the winter.

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[edit] History

The Casco Bay Lines ferry Maquoit II, passing Peaks Island on the mail boat run down the bay.
The Casco Bay Lines ferry Maquoit II, passing Peaks Island on the mail boat run down the bay.

The Casco Bay Steamboat Company began proving permanent year-round service to Casco Bay Islands in 1878. In 1881 the Harpswell Line began providing regular service to the outer bay islands. The lines merged in 1907 as the Casco Bay and Harpswell Steamboat Company. The company shut down in July 1919 as a direct result of World War I. A smaller company named Casco Bay Lines was formed that winter.[1]

CBITD is a non-profit organization that was established through emergency State legislation in 1981. CBITD acquired CBL assets through bankruptcy proceedings to ensure the continuation of transportation service between their primary terminal hub in Portland, Maine and the islands of Casco Bay. CBITD is governed by a board of 12 directors, 10 of whom are elected from the island communities. One is appointed by the City of Portland; another is appointed by the Commissioner of the Maine Department of Transportation.

Many workers from the island communities depend on CBITD to get them to work every day and to take them home. All school children who live on the islands have to use CBITD service to get back and forth to school (this applies to 6th grade and up.) There is a car ferry that services Peaks Island and a freight ferry that services all of the "down bay" islands (Long Island, Chebeague Island, and Cliff Island.)

The signature color patterns of the Casco Bay Lines fleet is (from bottom up): black, yellow, white, and red. Casco Bay Lines was once located at Custom House Wharf but was moved in the 1980s to its current location on the Maine State Pier. When the company was first established it used steamboats to transport its cargo. Some of the more famous steamboats included the Aucocisco, Maquoit, and Machigonne. Its first ferry was the Abenaki, which operated on Casco Bay for nearly five decades.

[edit] Fleet

The newest ferry in the Casco Bay Lines fleet, the Aucocisco III, which replaced the Island Holiday in 2006.
The newest ferry in the Casco Bay Lines fleet, the Aucocisco III, which replaced the Island Holiday in 2006.
Casco Bay Lines Island Romance ferry docked in Portland
Casco Bay Lines Island Romance ferry docked in Portland
  • Aucocisco III
  • Maqouit II
  • Machigonne II
  • Island Romance
  • Bay Mist

[edit] Retired Vessels

  • Machigonne
  • Maquoit
  • Quickwater
  • Abenaki (now a charter boat on the Hudson River in New York City named the Half Moon)
  • Aucocisco
  • Aucocisco II
  • Emita II (now a canal boat on the Erie Canal)
  • Sunshine
  • Gurnet
  • Berkeley
  • Island Adventure
  • Rebel
  • Island Holiday (sold on 11/15/06 to Chattanooga Water Taxi, LLC and has been renamed the Fat Cat)
  • Narmarda
  • Admiral
  • Tourist
  • Sabino (now a tour boat at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT)
  • Emita
  • Joan
  • Edward B.
  • Sebascodegan
  • Pilgrim

[edit] External links

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Casco Bay
Major Islands