TheBus offers trip
plan service

A custom guide will be mailed on
request to free up phone lines

Higher fuel costs are driving more people to hop on the bus, and the city is offering a new service to get even more people on board.

Bus riders will be able to request a customized trip plan by going online or calling TheBus via the "At Your Service" program. The plan will be mailed to the requester within three working days.

"It will include a map of your neighborhood with ... the best place to get on and off the bus," said Roger Morton, senior vice president with Oahu Transit Services, the company that runs TheBus. The packet will also include route maps, a "How to Ride the Bus" brochure, a list of locations where bus passes are sold, and a systemwide map.

"The more specific you are about your request, then they really tailor it for your specific needs," Mayor Mufi Hannemann said. "This is, I think, a major new addition to making the bus ridership more attractive, especially for those that haven't used the bus, don't use it as frequently, used it before and then became very dependent on their vehicle."

The Web site is www.thebus.org. Click on the "At Your Service" icon. The phone number is 852-6000.

Morton said bus ridership is now up by 12,000 trips a day compared with the same time last year, reaching ridership levels that were in place before the bus strike two years ago, after which ridership dropped.

As a result, bus information lines are jammed with people trying to find out which buses to catch. Morton said the average volume of calls a day was 2,400 last year, but since August they have had between 3,000 and 4,000 calls a day.

The new service is aimed at new riders and former riders who have not caught the bus in a long time.

"We can take that group out and give them a real personalized service, the kind of service they need, because we need to free up the lines for our regular information," Morton said.

Hannemann said he is also expanding the discounted bus pass for university students to those who attend the four community colleges.

The U-Pass charges students from University of Hawaii, Chaminade University, Hawaii Pacific University and now the community colleges $100 a semester, which would save them about $60 off the cost of a monthly adult bus pass.