History
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.
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.
Read more about this topic: Casco Bay Lines
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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