Bus plan worries Hilo cabbies
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — Taxicab operators are concerned that plans to schedule public bus service to the Hilo airport will drive them out of business.
Tom Brown, director of the Mass Transit Agency for Hawai'i County, said bus service will begin in June or July in response to requests by residents and visitors to provide inexpensive transportation to and from the airport five miles outside of downtown Hilo.
The bus fare for the county's Hele On service would be 75 cents for a one-way ride.
Cab fares are about $10 to the downtown area and $9 to the hotels on Banyan Drive.
Brown said it is not the intent of the county to compete with independent taxicab operators.
Cab drivers disagree, and some say they intend to appeal Brown's decision to Mayor Harry Kim.
Along with being required to pay $5,000 annually for liability insurance, many cabbies work 16-hour days because most of the need for rides is in the early morning and late afternoon. The taxis are idle at other times.
Gene Garcia, who worked at the Ka'u sugar plantation before it shut down, is in a quandary because he is a part-time driver for the contractor that runs Hele-On, while operating a taxi service with his wife. He catches naps while waiting for planes to arrive.
If the bus comes to the airport, "we are out," said cab driver Bill Ifo. Ifo was working at the former Hyatt Waikoloa before it closed and was sold to Hilton.
There are only 32 licensed taxi operators in Hilo. For a time, there was an airport taxi association but it disbanded, leaving only the independent operators.
Brown said Hilo has few taxis compared with the 141 licensed cab drivers in West Hawai'i. He said taxi operators do not serve the airport on boat days, now twice a week or more often, when many cabs head to Hilo Harbor to provide service to passengers off cruise ships.
Ifo said there may be fewer taxis at the airport on boat days, but he denied that airline passengers are being stranded.
Brown said the decision to change bus routes does not require County Council consent.
The Hele-On buses would stop at the airport about every 90 minutes. No weekend or evening service is intended for now, Brown said.
