STAR-BULLETIN / JULY 2004 Two of the Hanauma Bay trams, which cost $124,000 each, are parked on the roadside. They will be auctioned off.

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Broken-down
Hanauma Bay trams
headed for the auction block

Two broken-down trams that were intended to shuttle visitors at Hanauma Bay will be auctioned off instead.

"We could fix them, but then it wouldn't do any good because we couldn't use them," said Sidney Quintal, acting director of the city Enterprise Services Department.

The trams were built to the wrong specifications and are not able to shuttle Hanauma Bay visitors up and down the steep hill between the beach and the visitors' center, according to Quintal.

In 2002, the city paid $124,000 each for the trams. They began shuttling Hanauma Bay visitors in August 2002, but a month later they began breaking down. They have been in and out of service ever since.

"The units are not working. They were inadequate for their use," Quintal said yesterday. "Rather than repair them, we feel that it's best to auction them" and recoup as much money as possible.

Quintal said details of the auction have not been finalized.

The current trolley operator has been using its own trolley -- with a heftier engine -- to shuttle bay visitors. When the contract is put out for bid again, the new vendor also will have to provide its own equipment.

City Councilman Charles Djou, who criticized the purchase of the trams as an example of wasteful spending, said he is satisfied with the recommendation of the administration of Mayor Mufi Hannemann.

"I'm happy to see that Sidney Quintal and the Hannemann administration is trying to fix a problem that they were left with from the (Jeremy) Harris administration," Djou said.

Djou said he hoped any revenue from the auction goes to the Hanauma Bay fund and not the general treasury.