Midterms week has arrived, and your course loads have probably grown substantially with additional exams, papers, reports, or projects. Temperatures keep teasing us, threatening to drop below freezing only to bounce back up to a moderate fifty by the end of the day. Thanksgiving break is about a month away, and after that the countdown to the end of the semester will begin. If you haven’t been properly acquainted with Biddeford during your time at UNE, now’s a perfect opportunity. Luckily, if you don’t have a car or don’t want to drive, UNE has the solution for you!
The Silver Line, run by Biddeford Saco Old Orchard Beach Transit (BSOOB), makes the trek from Main Street Biddeford to the Alfond Forum and Campus Center around every hour-and-a-half to two hours, making its first stop at 6:25 in the morning and its last at 8:55 in the evening. The bus, which is styled like one of the classic street trollies which used to be prevalent throughout New England, is completely free for UNE students with their UNE IDs. The trolley makes a complete circuit of downtown Biddeford and Saco, making it a terrific opportunity for UNE students—with or without a car—to get to explore both Biddeford and Saco.
Realizing that students might know about the Silver Line but not what to do in Biddeford, the Bolt has decided to make a weekly “Silver Line Saturday” schedule. This schedule, which is centered around the Silver Line’s UNE stops, gives you something to do to get off campus with your friends and experience a slice—this week literally—of Maine life.
You’ll start by hopping on the Silver Line at either lunch or dinner time. The times the Silver Line stops around lunch at UNE are 11:10 or 12:40, depending on whether or not you like an early or late lunch. The Silver Line stops at UNE for dinner around 6:10 or 7:10.
You’ll hop off the Silver Line at the North Dam stop, and make the trek up to Pizza By Alex, your first stop of the night. Pizza By Alex is a Biddeford staple, which had been downtown for over 60 years, since February 1960. It has stayed in the original owner’s family for three generations.
From Pizza By Alex, you’ll head to SLICE, another pizza restaurant. It has a menu which rotates daily, bringing something new and different to try every single day. Their most recent post on Facebook highlighted a feta, spinach, onion, olive “Greek” pizza. I recently passed by their store while taking photos of all the possible Silver Line Saturday locations, and it oozed the most delicious pizza smell.
From SLICE, you’ll head down the street to Peng’s Pizza Pies, your third and final pizza location. Peng’s is named after the owner’s father, who apparently walked—or rather waddled—like a penguin.
To get back to UNE, busses run from the North Dam at 12:30, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, and 9:31. 9:31 is the last route to UNE, so make sure you’re on it if you’re staying that late.
