It's Portland, Maine vs Boston in Best Bus Stop in America Finals

Editor's note: This article was written by a Townsquare Media Northern New England contributor and may contain the individual's views, opinions or personal experiences.

A wicked amazing bus stop in Portland has made it all the way to the final round for Streetblog's Best Bus Stops in America. The bus stop is on Congress Street in front of Mechanics Hall. Our beloved Portland Bus Stop has already beaten out bus stops in Juneau, Alaska, Norwalk, Connecticut, and Baltimore, Maryland. Pretty impressive, right?! But now it's a true David vs. Goliath contest as we take on a multi-million dollar bus stop in Boston. Boston has a population 10 TIMES that of Portland. Are we intimidated? HECK NO! We say bring it on, Beantown.

Streetblog

VOTE HERE FOR PORTLAND FOR BEST BUS STOP IN AMERICA

Creative Portland, the city's official non-profit arts agency, recently upgraded several bus stops around town. The one that is nominated from Portland was created for Creative Portland by Maine resident and Ghana-born Ebenezer Akakpo, who uses patterns composed of his native country’s Adinkra symbols in his design. Akakpo came to Portland to attend the Maine College of Art and Design, which is right across the street from our top-notch bus stop.

Here's the artist himself, at the Portland bus stop he designed. Amazing!

Find out more about Creative Portland's Bus Shelter Art Initiative

“The reason that we started this whole initiative is that Portland doesn’t have a lot of public art by local artists,” said Dinah Minot, executive director of Creative Portland, w. “At the same time, we wanted to reduce the stigma of riding a bus, as well as attract and increase ridership…In Portland, the people who ride transit are basically people who don’t have cars. We want to change that.”

Creative Portland

VOTE HERE FOR PORTLAND FOR BEST BUS STOP IN AMERICA

Why a best bus stop in America contest? The voting site at Streetblog says it best:

"An artful bus stop can transform a wearisome wait into an inspiring visit to a micro-museum — and these stops are true masterpieces."

Creative Portland

IT'S PORTLAND VS BOSTON IN THE FINALS...VOTE NOW!

Creative Portland

IT'S PORTLAND VS BOSTON IN THE FINALS...VOTE NOW!

Find out more about Creative Portland's Bus Shelter Art Initiative

Creative Portland

The best bus stop contest is in the "March Madness" bracket form. We've beaten some of the best stops in America...but there's one more town to beat....BOSTON! We've come so far, we can't lose now. Let's go!!