Budget cuts hurt
bus servicesThe city eliminates bus runs
and increases time between
arrivals, upsetting some riders
City officials have started cutting TheBus services as they look for ways to offset a $6 million shortfall in the operating budget, said city Transportation Director Cheryl Soon.
And bus riders can expect more extensive reductions in service in August, cuts that will affect routes across the island.
"I had to find a way to cut $6 million in expenditures and I've gotten $5 million of them from service adjustments and $1 million from direct expenses," Soon said.
After June 8, a total of 21 weekday routes that include the majority of express buses were affected, with each having one canceled run in the morning and afternoon. The Saturday, Sunday and holiday runs on routes 8 and 56 buses increased the time between bus arrivals to reduce service by one bus.
Some bus patrons, including the mother of a city councilman, were not pleased with the changes.
"The people who do catch the bus are not happy with this situation," said Patricia Dela Cruz, who catches the Wahiawa Express to work each morning and afternoon. Her son is Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz.
"It doesn't make much sense where they increase fares and yet they're still cutting the service." said Darin Chinen, 37, of Mililani Mauka, who catches one of the express buses to his engineering job in downtown Honolulu.
Both Patricia Dela Cruz and Chinen had their usual morning bus runs eliminated. Chinen is now catching a bus on another route. "The bus is quite a bit more crowded. It's an inconvenience," he said.
Patricia Dela Cruz is catching an earlier bus, but she now ends up at work more than an hour early. "Today was terrible," she said yesterday. "The bus was full and the bus driver was so courteous because he didn't want to leave us behind. It was standing room only all the way into town."
Both riders said they would like to see routes restored.
The routes that were picked were ones that fell below the average seated passenger count of 48, Soon said.
Even with the elimination of the bus run, there were still enough empty seats on other bus runs for passengers to get seats, Soon said.
But Patricia Dela Cruz disagreed: "I'm sorry, there were no empty seats."
Donovan Dela Cruz, who represents Wahiawa and Mililani Mauka, said bus riders were caught off guard mainly because they were not given much notice about the changes and some had little time to make adjustments to their riding schedule.
He said he has received more than two dozen e-mail and telephone calls from constituents. "There are a lot of angry people."
Soon said her department also has heard from bus riders.
"They'll say, 'Why didn't you notify people?' and I think that's a legitimate question. And we say, 'We wished we could've notified sooner, but we were still in budget negotiations with the City Council,'" Soon said.
The August changes will mainly affect intervals of time between bus arrivals.
"It affects the schedule all day long. By the time you move from 15 to 20 minutes and you do it all day long, you might actually eliminate two runs," Soon said.
Budget cuts, falling bus fare revenue and increased costs in insurance, diesel fuel and homeland security are all factors in the bus system's budget woes, Soon said.
The City Council voted to increase bus fares with a proposal to raise the single adult fare by 25 cents to $1.75 and the monthly pass by $3 to $30.
