The phrase remains a punch line to hundreds of jokes told by traditional Maine storytellers: "You can't get there from here."

The expression is no joke, though, for anybody trying to run a business that needs to move people or merchandise from one locale to another, in this increasingly globalized economy. Besides, talented workers want to live somewhere that makes it easy for them to travel to conferences, business meetings or vacation destinations.

With that in mind, Maine has recently experienced several pieces of good news. Increasingly, you can get there from here.

Most recently, Cape Air began scheduled air service between Owl's Head and Boston, with a flight last Saturday. The company plans three round trips a day between that midcoast town, which is an hour and a half drive away from Portland on a good-traffic day, and Beantown, where travelers can access the world's air network, including JetBlue, which has direct connections with Cape Air.

Cape Air replaces Colgan Air as the provider of scheduled service from the small airport.

Northern Maine also has a new provider, with New England Air Transport carrying passengers between Portland and Frenchville, with requested stops in Augusta and Presque Isle, since Sept. 30. It represents the first regular service between the northern and southern halves of the state in years.

The Portland International Jetport, meanwhile, has been thriving despite the turmoil in the airline industry. The presence of JetBlue and AirTran, with their discount air fares, have helped the state's largest airport achieve record passenger counts.

And, if you don't want to fly, the Downeaster train service will be there for some time to come. It announced yesterday # in a release that got less notice than one about a fare increase # that ridership is trending up about 30 percent for the fiscal year, compared to the same period in fiscal 2008. It is well ahead of ridership projections for this first quarter of the fiscal year.

Riders will be paying more for the service, but there's also no doubt that increasing ridership will allow Amtrak to maintain, if not increase, the number of runs made between Boston and Portland. Heavy ridership also helps supporters make the case for pushing rail service to the northern suburbs.

Finally, there are fewer people on the roads, with gas price still much higher than a year ago. This makes it easier on those people who need to truck goods or take themselves somewhere by car.

For a state at one corner of the map, it's good to see that transportation links with the western 49 appear to be as strong as they've ever been.

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