City deal honors
old bus passesThe tentative plan allows
the disabled and seniors to
keep using their current passes
In a victory for more than 20,000 senior citizens and disabled people who ride TheBus, the city has offered to honor their existing bus passes until their expiration date.
"We've got a deal, but it ain't over until we sign the final papers," said Jack Schweigert, an attorney representing five bus riders who sued the city last month in U.S. District Court.
"For now, justice has prevailed," he said.
A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 25 in U.S. District Court, when the city's offer may be made final.
City Transportation Director Cheryl Soon said the city "voluntarily agreed" late Thursday to honor the unexpired passes because "we don't want to put seniors and the disabled through any more long lines or uncertainty."
The city is still trying to figure out how to deal with an additional 25,000 bus riders who turned in their unexpired bus passes and bought the new passes. Technically, when those bus riders relinquished their old passes, they waived the right to have the old one honored.
Sam Perri waited in line at the Neal Blaisdell Center for more than five hours Oct. 6, the first day for senior citizens and disabled riders to buy new annual passes after the city bus strike. The 74-year-old Kailua resident turned over a pass that would have expired late next year.
"You have to kind of chalk it off to bureaucratic stupidity," he said. "They should have let us use the old ones until they expired, and then we would've avoided all this trouble."
Waikiki resident Mary McGuire, who waited in line for more than four hours Oct. 6, agreed. Her bus pass would have expired in June 2005.
"I just think it's ridiculous," she said. "I just feel it was really poorly done in the beginning."
Soon said the city still feels that it properly followed city ordinances when it increased the fares and scheduled the cancellation of existing passes. "But the judge felt differently," she said.
In a lawsuit filed last month in federal court, five bus riders argued their constitutional rights were violated when the City Council decided to increase their fares and cancel their existing unexpired passes.
As a result of the month-long bus strike late this summer, the city raised bus fares, in part to pay for the bus workers' new contract.
The biggest increase was among seniors and the disabled, who saw fares rise to $30 for a one-year pass for unlimited rides from $25 for two years.
"It's a heavy thing when government passes a law to break a contract they hold," Schweigert said. "And when they do that, the court scrutinizes them closely. And saying you need money isn't a compelling reason to break a contract."
Deputy Corporation Counsel Gregory Swartz, who has represented the city in the suit, has repeatedly argued that the city needed the estimated $1.3 million it expected from raising the bus fares for seniors and the disabled to keep the bus system running at full service.
"Clearly, we will not raise the revenues the Council anticipated," said Soon, adding, "We just have to hope that we are able to make up for it somewhere else."
On Nov. 7, U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor granted a 10-day restraining order to the five and an additional person later included in the lawsuit, allowing them to continue using their passes until this Monday.
Previously, the city had said all unexpired bus passes for seniors and the disabled would be honored only through today.
Gillmor's ruling applied only to the six involved in the suit, but the city quickly extended the additional two days to an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 others who still held onto their unexpired bus passes.
Gillmor was scheduled to hold a hearing Monday to decide about a longer, 28-day injunction before making a final decision. Her decision, which effectively said what the City Council did was unconstitutional, put pressure on the city to move.
In discussions between the city and lawyers representing the six passengers, the city offered yesterday to honor existing unexpired passes. In response, Gillmor canceled this Monday's hearing and scheduled a new one for Nov. 25.
In the meantime, both sides will continue meeting to determine how to resolve the problem.
Star-Bulletin reporter Mary Vorsino contributed to this report.
