Groups: Idling is no idle threat

Portland Press Herald
June 9, 2006

FREEPORT — After depositing tourists at L.L. Bean, buses head straight for a spot right off the main drag. Up to a dozen buses can fit. For Joan Saxe, that's 12 too many buses that could end up idling their engines and releasing toxins into the air.

"I've seen drivers reading a book with engines running, and that seems excessive," said Saxe, a Freeport resident and volunteer with the Maine chapter of the Sierra Club.

The Sierra Club and other environmental groups are urging the town to post anti-idling signs outside public parking lots. The same coalition, which includes the Maine Council of Churches and the American Lung Association of Maine, convinced Freeport schools in 2004 to place "Turn Off Your Engine" signs in school parking lots and drop-off areas.

The parking lot signs would seek voluntary compliance, as is the case at schools. Even without enforcement, environmentalists say the signs will raise awareness about freshening the air in Maine, which has one of the worst asthma rates in the country.

Bar Harbor was the first in the state to develop an anti-idling policy, banning tour buses and RVs from idling longer than five minutes. Portland has a no-idling rule for city vehicles.

In Freeport, signs have been proposed for a bus parking area near the fire department, curb loading zones on Main Street around L.L. Bean, parking lots around town-owned buildings and the South Freeport wharf.

That's fine by Colleen Reardon, a driver with New York-based Yankee Bus Lines, who says she turns off the engine whenever she can.

"I don't even look for signs," she said. "It's an automatic thing for me."

Reardon said in major cities such as Boston, she'd be slapped with a fine for idling. Her bus only idles while passengers disembark or before they board. Reardon said she needs to build up air pressure in the brakes and rev up the air conditioning if it's a hot day.

She said idling is not a big problem among bus drivers. Neither is it very noticeable to Tracy Hanna, who works at Harraseeket Lunch at the town wharf. Occasionally, during inclement weather, customers who order takeout wait in their running cars, she said.

"But it's here and there - not enough like we're passing out from exhaust fumes," Hanna said.

Just 10 seconds of idling, though, is using more fuel than if a motorist were to turn the car off and on again, said Ann Burt, environmental justice director for the Maine Council of Churches.

"It's wasting gas, it's not improving your vehicle's performance or longevity," Burt said. "So why would you idle?"

Town Manager Dale Olmstead said the town is sympathetic to the environmental groups and has invited them to return with design ideas for the signs.

The signs are just part of a larger plan of turning the entire town into a "Clean Air Zone," according to the groups' representatives.

They will request a local resolution supporting clean air from the Town Council and ask councilors to sign onto a clean air resolution by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. They also hope to organize a task force made up of residents and merchants who would study the most efficient uses of energy.

The environmentalists want to bring everybody on board with the idea of reducing greenhouse gases, starting with the bus drivers who idle. Saxe said she'd like to find a way to accommodate buses on hot days so they won't feel they need to keep the air conditioning on.

"We thought of giving them a coupon so they can go somewhere to get a cold drink," Saxe said.

Staff Writer Josie Huang can be contacted at 791-6364 or at:

jhuang@pressherald.com