Editorial
Europe trip might be a bit premature

Paris is lovely in the fall. So the delegation of city officials, consultants and Council members should have a memorable trip next month as they investigate how Europe is handling the high-tech traffic business.

And while the delegation will get some knocks for its September sojourn to France, Germany and Italy, the trip — in fact — makes good sense.

If Honolulu is to adopt cutting edge transit technology, it makes sense to have the decision-makers take a look at systems that are already up and operating. For that, Europe has to be on the itinerary.

The truth is that if this trip deserves criticism, it is more on the matter of timing than it is about destination.

Before running their hands over the technology, the council members and other officials should get deeper into the basic planning decision involved: Does it make sense to chew up one or more lanes of congested urban Honolulu streets for the sole use of a tram system? Will the benefits gained be worth the additional congestion and traffic interference that such an at-grade system will inevitably create?

Now, it may turn out that the trade-offs are worth it. It may develop that the appeal of the tram system will be so great that masses of people will abandon their private cars for moving around town. It may be that perimeter parking and a feeder bus system will be so efficient and convenient that an in-town tram system will more than meet Honolulu's needs.

This is all interesting speculation, but at this point not much more than that. While the Honolulu City Council has signed off on this latest 25-year-long transit program in principal, the details are still largely unknown.

The next major decision comes late this year when a draft environmental impact statement will be submitted for Council approval. This statement — if done properly — should help answer many of the basic planning and urban design questions the high-tech tram system presents.

If those questions are answered satisfactorily, then the time will be ripe to begin shopping for hardware.

Further, by late this year or early next year, the city of Trieste, Italy, will have had a little more experience with the cutting edge embedded plate STREAM System Technology which has captured the eye of Mayor Harris.

At this point, that largely untested system has been in operation only a little more than a month.