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Don't be fooled, BRT will
get you there faster

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Opponents of Honolulu's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) proposal like to say that the project's time savings will amount to only 1.9 minutes. That leaves the traveling public with incomplete information and ends up being part of the back and forth of the mayoral campaign.

Let's take a closer look at the benefits of the system by examining how people ride a bus. The vast majority of passengers board midway along a route and get off somewhere else midway along a route. Very few passengers get on at the first stop and ride all the way to the end.

BRT, which is set to open later this year, will be the fourth limited-stop express line offered by the city bus system. It starts at King Street/Aala Park and goes to Kapahulu Avenue/Zoo. There are 10 stops in each direction along Hotel, Bishop, Aloha Tower Drive, Ilalo, Auahi, Ala Moana, Kalia, Kalakaua and Kuhio.

So what time savings can travelers expect?

» If you are going from the Waikiki Trade Center to Harbor Square (Alakea Street), the BRT Limited Express Line will take 21 minutes, saving passengers 12 minutes over any other route.

» If you are going from Ward Centre to Waikiki Beach, the BRT Limited Express Line will take you 18 minutes, saving you 15 minutes.

» If you are going from Union Mall to the new University of Hawaii Medical School in Kakaako -- which is a totally new stop -- the BRT Limited Express Line will take 8 minutes, saving you 8 minutes over other routes and eliminating the two-block walk from Ala Moana Boulevard.

» If you are going from Aala Park to the zoo you can take the BRT Limited Express line through Kakaako, or you can choose a different Limited Express Line called Route B, with a different routing along King Street. You'll get there faster on BRT Limited Express by 1.9 minutes.

Not only will the system save you time, we're also pleased to note that the BRT hybrid buses will use less energy, will be quieter than the diesel buses used now and will cause less pollution.

For the record, during the past year, BRT rapid lines have opened in Las Vegas, Los Angeles (seven lines), Oakland, Phoenix and several East Coast cities. BRT express service with limited stops is fast and frequent service, branded for easy identification, and runs all day, not just during peak travel hours.

Please save this useful information and pass it along to others to help dispel myths about the BRT.

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