Help Design New and Updated Bus Services for South Portland and Scarborough - Promote the Survey and Workshops

[Zoe Miller]

Greetings Friends,

I'm reaching out wearing my Zoe Miller Strategies hat (my small consulting firm). We're helping Greater Portland Metro with public engagement for this project. Please weigh in and help us get the word out! 

Greater Portland Metro is seeking feedback from people who live, work, and visit South Portland and Scarborough to help design new and updated bus services. You may have heard that new funding has been secured to bring enhanced public transit service to Scarborough. At the same time, Metro is ready to reevaluate bus service in South Portland. This is an exciting time to provide input that can shape the new and updated services! 

Next Stop South Portland & Scarborough is Greater Portland Metro's initiative to update bus service in South Portland and also to design new bus service for the town of Scarborough. The effort includes a survey and three public workshops.

Please take the survey and consider attending a workshop! 

If applicable, help to spread the word by sharing the information below in your newsletter, on your website, and in your social media.

Newsletter/Website Blurb

Attention South Portland and Scarborough Residents and Workers: We need your input to help bring enhanced bus service to your communities. There are two ways to tell us which routes and locations are most important to you.

Take the Survey online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MetroNextStopSPS 

or 

Attend a Workshop! 

• In-Person: Saturday, Nov 1st from 2-4pm at the Main Library, South Portland 
• On Zoom: Wednesday, Nov 12th from 6-7 on Zoom
• In-Person: Saturday, Nov 15th from 2-4pm at the Public Safety Building, Scarborough

Visit https://forms.gle/JbsXVGYqePfbgNLr7 to register for the workshops. 

Your feedback will be used by Greater Portland Metro to determine route updates, stop locations, and microtransit operations that will help ensure transit access for everyone. We also encourage you to also ask your friends, family, and neighbors to take the survey.

We especially want help reaching people unlikely to take the survey online, or who need translated versions or interpreting. Printed copies of the survey – with versions in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Somali – are available at Scarborough Public Library, and South Portland Public Library’s Main Branch. Printable surveys can also be downloaded at gpmetro.org/nextstop

Social Media

Facebook: Share our post on your account: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Co8acG31q/

Instagram: Share our post on your account: https://www.instagram.com/p/DQH8-ppEQ5V/?igsh=aGpudWw5bWFlYmlw

Use the text below to post on other social media platforms: 

Attention South Portland and Scarborough Residents, Workers and Visitors: Metro is launching Next Stop South Portland and Scarborough -- an effort to design new and updated bus services. There are two ways to participate: Take the Survey and Attend a Workshop! Visit gpmetro.org/nextstop to take the survey, register for the workshops, and learn more. Your feedback will be used to determine route updates, stop locations, and microtransit operations that will help ensure transit access for everyone. We also encourage you to also ask your friends, family, and neighbors to take the survey.

Thanks so much and please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions! Best, Zoe 

Zoe Miller (she/her), MPH
Principal, Zoe Miller Strategies, LLC
207-838-8382

[Scsmedia]

I am disappointed the survey has the gender question.  It has no relevance to transportation.

Steven Scharf

207-415-4662

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[Zack Barowitz]

While gender might not matter to public transit per se, to the extent that collecting demographic information is useful, gender is a relatively important. For example they might look for correlations in terms of who is using the bus at night. 

Thanks,

Zack

207-838-6120

917-696-5649
ZacharyBarowitz.com

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[Lucy Climer-Kennedy]

That’s exactly right Zach. I would also add that collecting survey responses which represent the general/affected population is important to quality planning. So if Zoe’s firm notices the survey wildly over represents one demographic group, that should be noted in the analysis and efforts for more equitable outreach should be pursued in the future. Like you don’t need a bunch of rich car owners influencing a bus schedule that will never effect them, but without recording this information we have no way to see these things as issues. 

Best,

Lucy

Lucy Climer-Kennedy ENV SP (she/her)

Northeastern University | 2025

Business Administration – Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship

climerk...@northeastern.edu

(206) 313-1958

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From: pb...@googlegroups.com <pb...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Zack Barowitz <zbar...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, October 31, 2025 9:29:26 AM
To: PB...@googlegroups.com <PB...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [PBPAC] Help Design New and Updated Bus Services for South Portland and Scarborough - Promote the Survey and Workshops

 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/PBPAC/CAE741VCZcAj8U%2BmPRgLzEyVv%3DaRne8iOesEdjWZv%2BajW8x%3DW1A%40mail.gmail.com.

[Myles G. Smith]

Steven,

Your statement is incorrect. Gender is correlated to many aspects of public transportation, as evidenced in study after study. Women are more likely to rely on public transportation than men. The primary earner in the home, typically in our society this is a man, is more likely to use the only car the household owns, leaving others in the single-vehicle household (women, youth, elderly parents, etc) to rely on public transportation, walking, or biking. Statistics show that women are less likely to bike than men, limiting their mobility options if public transport is not available. Women are also more likely to be the victim of crimes while walking or riding public transportation, which reduces their likelihood of using those services. You can find this kind of data here and here and here. And, it just plays out in our lives - I have heard and seen all of these behaviors in my daily commutes, almost always without a car, over the last 2 decades. How well the survey correlates to the demographics who rely on public transport is thus critical to the success of the survey and any planning decisions that are made as a result.

I ask everyone using this listserv to refrain from making assertions about people's identities and the associated behaviors without a basis in facts. Those kinds of comments are unnecessary, can be hurtful, and may discourage participation from others. Our goal as a community is to accomplish the opposite.

I completed the survey, Zoe. Thank you for sharing it!

Myles Smith

PBPAC Chair

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/PBPAC/2012475083.2803239.1761881826252%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Zoe Miller]

Hi Steven, 

I hear this concern occasionally and would like to explain the rationale for asking about gender - along with other demographics. 

First off, it enables us to know how well we are doing in getting a representative sample. With that info, we can make additional efforts to obtain responses from a particular group. For instance, if we found that men made up only 20% of responses, we would focus on hearing from more men. 

Beyond that reason is the fact that people do have very different experiences of transportation related to gender. Experiences of physical safety and caregiving responsibilities, in particular, are quite different depending on your gender. 

Considering these makes for better transportation planning. 

Best, Zoe 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/PBPAC/2012475083.2803239.1761881826252%40mail.yahoo.com.

Zoe Miller

207-838-8382