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Gathering Place
 Galen Fox |
City’s greatness demands
rapid transit that worksThe city's proposed Bus Rapid Transit system is an idea whose time has passed. The BRT's good part -- it offered a cheaper way to move people along a popular route, and came along when people thought "cheap is good." But BRT, as applied to Honolulu, has a fatal flaw: It proposes to create "exclusive and semi-exclusive" bus lanes on heavily traveled roads, thus denying these lanes to the rest of us.
As both common sense and the careful analysis of University of Hawaii professor Panos Prevedouros tell us, BRT's "exclusive and semi-exclusive lanes" will have a disastrous impact on traffic along major arteries such as Dillingham, Ala Moana and Kapiolani boulevards. State Transportation Director Rod Haraga said his mainland colleagues are unanimous in recommending against creating "exclusive and semi-exclusive" bus lanes on heavily traveled roads. Such lanes make sense only on little-used roads.
Fortunately, the city has modified the BRT proposal's first phase. The worst of the "exclusive and semi-exclusive" bus lanes are gone, and the BRT's initial phase no longer threatens gridlock. Yet these changes mean BRT now looks like just another bus system, not the "rapid transit" originally promised. Once again, Honolulu is without plans for an efficient, fast public transit that makes a city great.
Rapid transit, in practical terms, faces a huge, uphill battle anywhere in the United States. We Americans love our automobiles, and we will continue to use them for most trips. Yet Honolulu remains a defined city with a central core that daily attracts large numbers of commuters who would move faster in rapid transit than in cars. And unlike most mainland cities, Honolulu is laid out along a single line. We provide a good geographic fit for rapid transit. A Honolulu system, like all U.S. public transit, would depend upon public subsidies. But a true rapid system from Pearl City via the airport to UH-Manoa, with limited stops to speed transit and a spur connecting all of Waikiki to include tourists, can attract the ridership needed to make the line work.
Honolulu almost built such a system twice before. The previous systems were grade separated, as they should be. Unlike BRT, they spared vehicles from traveling along existing road lanes or from being caught in traffic. Politicians who lacked the vision of Honolulu as a great Asia-Pacific city killed the grade-separated systems.
It costs money to build grade-separated rapid transit. One way to raise money is to sell the development rights around the planned stations, since stations become desirable locations for offices, residences and retail businesses. Development rights can involve land condemnations, development density bonuses and the easing of parking requirements. In exchange for city help, the developers finance the station and even part of the rapid transit line. Washington, D.C.'s metro offers several examples of stations that have triggered massive redevelopment. Why not? People find it attractive to live, work or both live and work within walking distance of a mass transit line.
Those who think in terms of limited solutions get what they seek -- small changes. We can instead think big and commit the resources inevitably required to reach greatness. Gov. Lingle and Mayor Harris provide Hawaii two leaders with the needed imagination and vision. They could work together on a rapid transit solution that lifts us beyond the BRT's gridlock-producing "exclusive and semi-exclusive" bus lanes.
We are fortunate Gov. Lingle and Mayor Harris are talking together now and jointly addressing transportation solutions. Let's hope the talks lead to a truly imaginative solution that brings a new era of greatness to our island and state.
Rep. Galen Fox (R, Waikiki-Ala Moana-Kakaako) is Republican leader of the state House of Representatives.
