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Doubling of
school bus fares
faces resistance

In March, the BOE will
reconsider a fare hike and
look at alternatives

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By Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin

Raising the school bus fare from 25 cents per ride to 50 cents per ride isn't turning out to be a popular idea.

Focus groups of parents, school and district administrators from the seven school districts gathered in October and November to comment on proposed changes the Department of Education is seeking on rules governing student transportation.

In May, school officials said they would have to consider ways to balance the transportation budget because of rising operation costs.

The groups didn't like the fare increase, saying it was too much at one time and would be a burden on families with multiple children -- who would have to pay $1 per round trip per day per child.

The hike in fares could also lead to increased traffic around schools, more demand for student parking at schools and attendance problems, the groups told education officials.

Neighbor island students would be hit hard because public transportation is not available, and many who live in rural areas have no way besides school buses to get to school.

But the focus groups weren't the only ones with objections.

Members of the Board of Education's Support Services Committee yesterday said they think the hike is too high.

"I'm a little concerned about raising it to 50 cents, as well," Winston Sakurai said.

"Doubling (the fare) to me seems really burdensome," Karen Knudsen said.

Sakurai and others suggested the department look at how much revenue could be brought in with a smaller increase, such as making the fare 35 cents.

Board member Denise Matsumoto suggested the department explore with the groups the idea of cutting costs by deleting school bus routes in areas of urban Oahu where city bus routes are plentiful.

Matsumoto said it's cheaper for students to buy a $12.50 monthly student pass to ride the city bus than it is to ride the school bus, which would cost more than $20 a month at the proposed rate.

The department took over the bus transportation program from the Department of Accounting and General Services last year.

The program had been running in the red since 1996 and had dipped into other funding to make up for the shortfalls.

A $1.5 million deficit is projected for the next fiscal year.

The DOE is attempting to get the program financially sound by either increasing revenues or reducing costs.

Other proposed changes that were met with a lukewarm response included:

Increasing the qualifying distances so that fewer students would be able to ride the school bus. Neighbor island students again would be impacted, the groups said, and they suggested having a different policy or shorter qualifying distances for these areas.

Providing a 5 percent discount for prepaid school bus fares so the department gets money and commitment up front. Schools didn't like that they may have to do the paperwork involved in collecting the payments, and parents were split as to whether they like the idea.

Establishing a policy for schools of choice and other programs that have no attendance zone. These would include Hawaiian language immersion and charter schools.

Comments were squarely against allowing transportation for children whose parents choose to send them to a school outside their home district.

The committee is scheduled to take up the matter again in March. It could vote at that time on whether to send the proposed changes out to public hearing.