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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
City saves $200,000
each day of bus strikeQuestion: What happens to the money the city is saving by not paying the bus drivers? What did they do with that money way back when they had the other bus strike? Is it spelled out somewhere what happens to that money?
Answer: The "cost avoidance" money being accrued because of the strike by 1,300 bus drivers will stay in the bus revolving fund set up within the city Department of Transportation Services.
Mayor Jeremy Harris "has been very clear that this money (savings) is going to be needed to restore the system from this long, devastating bus strike and the money can't be used for raises," said his spokeswoman, Carol Costa.
The money is in the budget for the department, passed by the City Council and earmarked for bus operations, she said. The department then pays Oahu Transit Services, the private company managing the bus system.
Costa said the city is saving about $200,000 a day -- not the $250,000 quoted earlier -- by not having to pay for drivers, gasoline, etc.
The strike is now in its 30th day. Using the $200,000 figure, that comes out to $6 million in "cost avoidance" so far.
However, Costa said the city is operating vans and school buses, and paying 75 drivers who are working four to eight hours each to help transport the public during the strike. She said those expenses are still being tallied, although "they're very small in comparison."
The expenses include $300,000 to $500,000 to refund people who have purchased bus passes during the strike period; and $4,235 a week for buses leased for Leeward Oahu Transportation Management Association to run from Central Oahu.
Costa said 100 Handi-Van workers and 75 non-bargaining unit workers also are still being paid, and there are other costs "not yet fully determined," including the rising cost to run the shuttle program.
The city is forecasting a drop in ridership once the strike ends, as well as a lag before increases in bus fares take effect. The predicted drop is based on what happened in major cities that had bus strikes, where ridership dropped 12 percent to 29 percent after strikes that lasted 32 days to four months, Costa said.
"So we're going to need that money to keep the system running once we get back in operation," she said. "And we are going to have to do everything to educate the public on the new fares and get them back riding the bus again unless they have decided to stay with whatever they are using now."
Costa emphasized the savings will not go into the general fund and is not going to be used for other city projects.
As for what happened during the last bus strike, it didn't involve city funds. The last strike, in January and February 1971, was against the privately owned Honolulu Rapid Transit Co. The strike ended with the city taking over bus transportation on Oahu. OTS has been managing the city's buses since 1992.
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