Doesn't the city have a facility to fuel and maintain its vehicles? If not, why can't workers pump their own gas like the rest of us? Today, March 3, I saw a city truck getting gas at a station in Kaneohe using the full-serve service, which costs about 80 cents more per gallon. Since that truck took 14 gallons, that's an extra $11.20. If they fill that truck once a week for 40 weeks, that comes out to almost $450 for one truck. Since the city has hundreds of trucks, well, do your own math. State drivers can't always
get to state gas facilitiesThe city does have its own facility, but in this case, with the license number you provided, it turned out to be a state vehicle that you saw.
And what you saw was allowed, said Harold Sonomura, head of the state Automotive Management Division. But his office is in the process of establishing a uniform gas credit card system, self-service, for the state's 3,000-plus vehicles. He hopes to have bids sent out by July 1.
The state has its own gas facilities, but if they're not convenient, drivers can go to a commercial station, Sonomura said. There is no facility in Kaneohe, he noted.
But what drivers do also depends on the state agency involved. For the motor pool branch, vehicles go to certain stations, Sonomura said, while other departments have credit cards for drivers to use at any station.
Currently, the state purchases gas either by bulk, for its facilities, which amounts to roughly $1 million a year in cost; or by drivers at commercial outlets, at a cost of about $500,000, Sonomura said.
Depending on how the bids come in, the state may save a "couple of hundred thousand dollars" under the new system.
More Kokua Line
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- Plastic bag, packing material giveaway
- Mahalo
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