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Bus plan’s goal:
Persuade motorists
to take transit

The proposed system would
take away lanes from cars

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By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

A city report released today all but concludes that a $1 billion bus rapid-transit plan -- which would include an electric or diesel-type bus system running through urban Honolulu -- would be the best way to deal with Oahu's traffic through 2025.

The proposed system would take away lanes along Honolulu's major avenues and make it more difficult for motorists to get around. But taking drivers off the road and forcing them onto public transit is the city's goal, according to a draft environmental impact statement by the Department of Transportation Services.

"The delay to motorists is expected to accelerate a switch in travel behavior from automobiles to transit," the report states.

The bus rapid-transit plan is one of three alternatives proposed by the city administration. The others are to expand bus service in growing neighborhoods (the no-build alternative), or to convert existing bus routes to a hub-and-spoke system (the transportation-system management alternative) that the city, in reality, began incorporating this week.

The City Council must hold public hearings and choose one of the alternatives or come up with its own version. It is expected to do so by the end of the year.

Cheryl Soon, transportation services director, said she will not make a formal recommendation until midway through the public hearing process, but she made it clear how she is leaning.

"In comparing the environmental measures, of which there are almost three dozen, the bus rapid-transit alternative proves to be superior or equal to the other alternatives in almost every category," Soon said, "including cost-effectiveness."

Costliest to build, operate

The $1 billion plan is more expensive than the no-build ($317 million) and transportation system management ($519 million) approaches, Soon said.

Annual operating costs for the bus rapid-transit plan would also be more ($176 million) than the transportation-system management ($137 million) and no-build ($125 million) scenarios, according to the report.

"But the value for your dollar is greatly enhanced," she said.

Soon noted that the city had initially considered light rail as a potential traffic solver, but that the idea was scrapped after 1998's series of Oahu Trans2K hearings.

"We're not going to go forward with something that tears up the community," Soon said. "We're going to be building an alternative that reflects what people say they want."

The city's study of transit alternatives begins with the premise that the vast share of travel on the island occurs between Kapolei to the University of Hawaii-Manoa and Waikiki -- what is known as the primary transportation corridor.

Includes more hubs, spokes

Under the bus rapid-transit plan:

The conversion of the bus system in rural areas to a hub-and-spoke concept, begun this week, would continue. Neighborhood circulators feed passengers into "hubs," or area transit centers, where frequent express and limited-stop buses would take them along the primary transportation corridor to farther destinations such as downtown.

An afternoon version of the state's Zipper Lane would be created along H-1 heading from Middle Street to Kapolei, and the morning Zipper Lane would be expanded from its Waipahu-airport route. There would also be a series of new express lanes and special ramps for high-capacity vehicles.

A high-capacity transit system would run through major Honolulu thoroughfares from Middle Street to UH-Manoa and Waikiki, in some areas on transit-only lanes. Two types of low-floor electric buses are being considered -- one using "touchable embedded plate" technology that could run for a time off the embedded strips, the second using on-vehicle diesel and electric technology. Neither would require overhead wires.

No rise in taxes or fees

"The BRT alternative would not necessarily improve automobile movements through congested intersections," the draft EIS states. It would, however, increase the amount of people traveling through a major city street by an average of 10 percent, according to the report.

The plan also says vehicular travel in urban Honolulu in 2025 would be equally as congested under the two alternate proposals without moving commuters choosing to use mass transit.

The bus rapid-transit plan, the city says, would not result in higher taxes or fees for Oahu residents because the planned improvements could be done in phases and therefore costs could be more easily absorbed.

The project is also expected to be financed largely through federal transit sources.

The report eliminated a proposed Sand Island Scenic Park and Marina Road from the study. That portion of the BRT plan was roundly criticized.

Soon said transportation officials at all levels concurred that the project would be better off as a separate proposal.

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City & County of Honolulu