KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Driver Ale Padapat and passenger Scot Parry have become good friends since carpooling together during the bus strike.
Bus strike spurs
friendshipsNew social networks are
forming as people turn to pooling
as a way to get to their jobs
As commuters have opened their car doors to others in need of rides because of the bus strike, new friendships are developing in car and vanpools.
Strangers are now lunch buddies. Co-workers who were only acquaintances before the strike have become best friends.
And many won't return to the bus after the strike ends.
"There are three of us and we have a lot of fun coming in every morning," said Kapolei resident Mary Flores, a benefits supervisor at American Savings Bank, who offered up her ride to two co-workers.
During their hour-long drive to work, the three talk about everything from food to family. Flores has even converted one of her colleagues to country music.
"We've learned a side of each other that we didn't know before," she said.
When the strike ends, one of Flores' co-workers says she'll return to riding the bus, but another colleague will continue to carpool with her.
Scot Parry, a registrar at Hawaii Business College, started riding with a co-worker from the school's financial aid department shortly after the bus strike began.
The two, who live within three blocks of each other in Pearl City, were only acquaintances before the strike. Now, Parry and Ale Padapat are the best of friends.
Before the strike, "I wasn't aware that he lived right up the road," Padapat said.
"Now that I pick him up every day, I kind of know him inside and out," she added.
"We've met each other's families," Parry said. "Last week, I met her ex-husband and daughter. Two weeks ago, she came up and met with my wife and 16-month-old daughter."
Parry said he'll ride with Padapat even when the bus drivers return to work
"We have a lot more in common than I'd ever have thought," he said.
Elaine Wong, an analyst at Hawaiian Electric Co., began riding the bus two years ago. When the strike was imminent, she pulled together a carpool with two coworkers and another bus rider.
"I hate driving," she said. "But we're very fortunate that I do have a car and I can drive in."
Bill Lane, an account manager at HECO who rides with Wong, said carpooling has been "a pleasant experience."
"We're all in the same age group. But I'm a rooster riding with three hens," he said, laughing and adding that getting to know his colleagues better has meant a friendlier atmosphere at work.
Co-workers aren't the only ones riding together. Strangers are also sharing rides.
Steve Young, of Aiea, applied to be a Vanpool Hawaii driver after running up $100 in cab fares within days of the city bus strike. He invited a fellow bus rider, whom he later realized was a neighbor, and her two children to sign up as passengers.
"It's working quite well," he said, adding that he'll stick with the service once the bus strike ends.
"It's actually been quite fun. Everyone has been very nice and friendly and cooperative. I've made friends during the commute."
Vanpool Hawaii Executive Director Vicki Harris said her office fielded more than 500 calls on the day after the bus strike began, up from about 35 a day. Now the state-run service that provides vehicles to eligible commuters gets an average of about 100 calls a day.
It also has added 20 new vans to its fleet, bumping the total number of vanpools on the road to about 170.
Ann Tom, a project coordinator at the University of Hawaii Center on the Family, has been helping a political science graduate student and an exchange student from Japan get to their morning classes.
She said she enjoys talking to her new friends.
"I've definitely enjoyed the company. We discuss local politics. Or we're talking about the strike."
