Diverse-City Fuel’s errand BY SHAY STEWART-BOULEY

Maine is many things. A place of amazing natural beauty. A place where the hectic pacing and out-of-control consumerism that wracks this country is still the exception rather than the rule. A place where you can often leave your vehicle unlocked — though as a "city person" I still don’t like the idea — and probably come back to find that your belongings are right where you left them.

But there’s something it doesn’t have a lot of, and as long as I’ve mentioned vehicles, I might as well get right to it: Maine stinks in terms of having a variety of travel options.

And don’t tell me, "Shay, we have plenty of options. Our family can choose from the sedan or the truck, and in the summer we have that nice Harley, too." Anyone who tells me that has multiple drains on their insurance and fuel budget, not an array of choices.

Maine lacks something I consider pretty essential to civilized living in the modern age: public transportation. Yes, I know it exists. I know there are bus lines in the cities, and some in smaller towns as well. I know there is a commuter bus that links me here in York County with the city of Portland, something I’ve availed myself of often.

The problem is that the network of public transportation isn’t very wide-reaching, people often show disdain for public transportation in this state if they are middle-class or higher on the socioeconomic ladder, and there isn’t a ton of civic support to nurture such transportation systems.

This is quite foreign to me, coming from Chicago. I know that having dozens of bus lines and several subway and elevated train lines I can ride from dusk till dawn is a pipe dream here. Short of God Himself stepping in, Maine just doesn’t have the resources for that. But as with all change, it needs to start somewhere, and I think that the state and its various communities aren’t doing enough to grow the public transportation system. I’ll settle for itty bitty baby steps. But what I see right now is no forward progress and the constant threat of cutbacks to an already too-small system.

But maybe I can have some hope that will change — all over the country these days the price of gasoline is skyrocketing, with three bucks a gallon starting to look like a reality very soon. Personally, I’m not about to let gas prices ruin me, even without a plethora of buses to ride. While we do own a car in my household, and my husband does drive, I choose not to drive myself. I only learned to drive when I moved to Maine three years ago. Frankly, my skills will get me to the emergency room in a pinch and that’s really all I want.

Many Mainers cannot understand how I get around without a car. Well, for starters I use these fabulous inventions called my feet. And when we were looking to buy a house we chose a location that allowed me to walk to things like the grocery store, the coffee shop — even the eye doctor.

The downside is that my house does not sit on several acres like the folks who live farther away from in-town. Fine with me. It's not like we have the time for that kind of yard maintenance anyway, particularly since the baby arrived.

As gas prices soar, it’s nice to know that I can get to the store without burning an ounce of gas, and also get some much-needed exercise.

I still want to see more effort put into public transportation. I still want to see more Mainers stop thinking that they have to have multiple cars to get around with the family. But at the same time, I say that we don’t have to be as helpless to the whims of the OPEC and oil refineries as we think in the meantime.

Feet don’t fail me now.

Shay Stewart-Bouley can be reached at shaybouley@msn.com