Editorials
Wednesday, October 27, 1999City’s latest transit
plan shows promiseDESPITE the City Council's one-vote rejection of a light-rail transit plan -- and the tax to pay for it -- in 1992, the city under Jeremy Harris has continued to look at ways to improve the mass transit system. The latest idea is called CityTram and would consist of electric-powered, rubber-wheeled vehicles running on a rail embedded in the roadway.The issue: The city is proposing electric-powered, rubber-wheeled trams running on a rail embedded in the roadway.
The city says the cars would carry 50 percent more passengers than today's buses and would go faster than buses because they would get priority in traffic signals. The system would cost less than a conventional light-rail system with overhead lines.
The route would follow the current city express bus route through major thoroughfares -- from Middle Street along Dillingham Boulevard, King Street, Kapiolani and Ala Moana boulevards and Kalakaua Avenue. Routes would terminate at the University of Hawaii Manoa campus and the zoo.
The trams would mesh with buses serving other routes. Leeward and Central Oahu buses would link up with the trams at Middle Street, Windward and East Honolulu buses at the Alapai transit center. In time the tram could be extended to Pearlridge and Leeward Community College.
The proposal also includes building four access ramps in the H-1 freeway's center median to enable buses to enter and exit the freeway from the zipper lane.
The plan represents a return to an electric trolley but without the unsightly overhead wires. Electric power would be environmentally preferable to Honolulu's diesel-powered buses. Having no overhead wires would also be an environmental plus.
This would be an incremental -- not a drastic -- change and probably improvement in the transit system. Because the trams would operate at street level, they would be subject to traffic congestion like buses, although they would be somewhat less affected because they would operate on dedicated center lanes on some streets.
Only an overhead or subway system could avoid that problem entirely, and the 1992 defeat in the City Council -- Harris, then city managing director, was deeply involved in the rail transit plan -- seems to have drained popular support for such a system. It would, of course, be much more expensive than the current proposal, which is estimated to cost $590 million.
City Transportation Director Cheryl Soon said the city hopes 57 percent of the funding would come from the state and federal government. She said no new taxes would be required.
With an overhead system ruled out, only modest improvements seem possible. However, if the trams offered even marginally faster, more comfortable service than the bus system they might attract more riders. Buses are often crowded, uncomfortable and slow, which limits their appeal.
The whole point of mass transit is to lure people out of their cars and relieve traffic congestion. The CityTram could be a step forward -- and there is no denying the need to move forward if Honolulu is to avoid strangling on its traffic.
Modernizing the Dow
THE Dow Jones Industrial Average is supposed to reflect America's economic health. For it to be accurate, the 30 companies included in the average also must reflect the nature of the economy. The Wall Street Journal's replacement of four venerable corporations with upstart successes in its figuring is a sign of the country's embrace of new technology.
For Microsoft, the largest U.S. company by market value, and Intel, the third largest, it was about time. They become the first Nasdaq Stock Market companies to be chosen by editors of the Journal, which is owned by Dow Jones & Co., to join the elite list.
Home Depot and SBC Communications (Southwestern Bell), the country's largest local phone company, also are being added. Two years ago, the Journal included Travelers Group Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Johnson & Johnson and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Dropping out of the 103-year-old list are business institutions: Sears Roebuck, Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Chevron (initially Standard Oil of California or Socal) and Union Carbide. Their presence on the Dow Jones list dates to the early part of this century, a time of heavy industry.
While still economically sound, they no longer indicate the direction or health of the U.S. economy. Their inclusion and the exclusion of such modern-day giants as computer software manufacturer Microsoft and computer semiconductor supplier Intel put Dow Jones behind the times.
"Corporate America is changing," says Buck Newsome, managing director at Cincinnati-based Cambridge Financial Group Inc. "Years ago it was a completely different flavor, but now everything is tech-driven; that is what is being reflected."
It seems fitting that the only company of the original Dow Jones dozen that remains on the list of 30 today is General Electric Co., the high-tech company of a century ago.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
