My children don’t have driver licenses for personal reasons and the Brunswick Explorer has been a godsend. It allows them the ability to get to appointments, shopping, jobs, even meet friends for lunch or dinner, all without having to ask for a ride or take a very expensive cab ride, which used to be the norm.

I have to assume that Fred Blanchard has a driver’s license and his ride on the Explorer was for observation purposes only. If this, or the Downeaster, was his or his family’s only means of transportation, I’m sure he would have conveyed a different opinion. For someone in a wheelchair, this mode of transportation is especially helpful and offers a feeling of independence. How many people does Blanchard know who have a wheelchair-accessible vehicle that can drive friends or relatives?

I agree that everything costs money and maybe, as Blanchard points out, the Explorer wouldn’t break even in eight years, but look at all the people that would have been helped and gained some independence, in those eight years.

I hope that anyone that read Blanchard’s letter doesn’t form a negative opinion and keeps an open mind. The Brunswick Explorer and the Downeaster can only benefit all the people and businesses of Brunswick.

Diana Costa
Brunswick