Bus-only transit lanes may fuel drivers' outrage

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

The city's most ambitious public transportation project in decades, a $1 billion bus rapid transit system designed to whisk thousands of passengers around urban Honolulu in a matter of minutes, shifts into high gear this week.

City officials are preparing to hear public testimony on proposed rapid transit intended to improve today's system. The plan would replace many vehicle lanes with bus-only lanes. The city hopes the plan will reduce traffic. Critics predict that the prospect of losing driving lanes will generate mass opposition. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

When completed in 10 years, a network of quiet, non-polluting electric/gas hybrid buses will move an increasing number of people on bus-only and mixed-traffic lanes every two to four minutes during peak periods from Kapolei and to Kapahulu Avenue, city officials say.

The first phase of the project, which could be operating in three years, will be a 5.6-mile route that will go from downtown Honolulu to Waikiki via Aloha Tower and the Kaka'ako waterfront area.

"We've got real traffic problems and this is our best attempt to deal with them," said Cheryl Soon, city transportation services director. "This is (the) best way we have to move the most people. There's just no more room for cars. We've got to find alternatives."

Although the program has been in development for four years and discussed at dozens of public meetings, critics say most people have no idea of how much disruption the bus system is likely to cause.

Opponents say the project will cause the loss of some car-only lanes on busy corridors, cause construction delays, disrupt view plains and create unsightly bus stops and transit centers, cause financial hardship for businesses along the routes, and result in a minimal increase in the number of people riding the bus.

"We don't want to kill rapid transit; we just want it done right," said Dick Stephenson, a retired retailer who has been at the forefront of the opposition coalition with a group called O'ahutrans4all. "Realistically, we'd just like the current City Council to back off and let the new City Council make a decision next year on such a far-ranging plan."

Soon, however, says the time is ripe for action. The city has waited more than a decade since the last mass transit proposal, a light-rail system, was killed by a single vote on the City Council. Officials also have considered and rejected nearly every other option to build O'ahu out of its ever worsening-traffic congestion.

Bus rapid transit systems have proved an increasingly popular alternative to more highways and fixed-rail mass transit systems in the nation's urban centers, according to recent report by the congressional General Accounting Office.

At least 17 cities, including Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and San Diego, are using federal money to develop the systems, which often feature "fewer stops; faster service; and cleaner, quieter, and more attractive vehicles" than regular bus systems, according to the report.

The biggest flashpoint in the Honolulu system in coming months is likely to be the loss of some traffic lanes to the buses.

"They literally want to make traffic worse to force people onto the buses," said Cliff Slater, a businessman and longtime critic of Honolulu public transit plans.

Soon makes no apology for that approach: "Traffic just keeps getting worse on its own. If you want to sit in your Cadillac and be stuck in it, be my guest, but we're going to create an alternative for those who want to jump on the bus and get somewhere quickly."

Slater and others say the bus rapid transit system has been developing below the public radar for months, but that will change when drivers see their options more limited at the expense of bus riders.

"This has been sneaking up on people, but when you tell them that the city wants to reserve two lanes of Kapi'olani Boulevard for buses, or that Dillingham Boulevard will be reduced to one lane in each direction, you get their attention real quick," he said.

City engineers see a bigger traffic picture, using something called screenlines to watch how traffic moves. For instance, a driver heading past Ward Avenue from downtown Honolulu to Waikiki isn't limited to Kapi'olani Boulevard; instead that driver can choose between Ala Moana, King Street, the H-1 Freeway and several other east-west roads to get there.

"In fact, there are 22 lanes of traffic going past Ward Avenue in each direction; we're going to reserve just one of those lanes for buses that can move up 45 or 50 people at a time."

Jim York, head of York and Company, a commercial real estate firm, says many retailers along the proposed BRT routes are worried about losing parking and business. The supplemental draft environmental impact statement for the bus project says 912 parking spaces will be lost as a result of the bus lanes.

"For better or worse, most businesses rely on car traffic to survive. People are going to avoid areas where the bus has priority," York said.

Soon said buses deserve priority over parking in almost any traffic planning scenario.

"Which is more valuable: one bus moving 45 or 50 people every few minutes or one empty car parked all alone for an hour?" she said. "I'll give the bus priority anytime."

Soon also argues that in four years of planning, traffic engineers have given every consideration to alleviating community problems caused by the bus routes. For every lane being given to buses, other changes have been implemented to move traffic more freely along nearby routes; for every parking space lost on main roads, others are being developed just around the corner, she said.

"We went block by block talking to residents and business people to create opportunities for moving traffic better," she said. "I'm not going to be swayed now by a lot of Johnny-come-latelies who are raising questions for only political reasons."

Many of the changes that will be aired in today's hearing at the Hawai'i Convention Center were made in response to an initial environmental impact statement for the project. The changes include the addition of the Kaka'ako route, building a bus-only on-ramp to H-1 Freeway near Aloha Stadium, moving a section of the University of Hawai'i route from Ward Avenue to Pensacola Street and rerouting some lines from Richards Street to Bishop and Alakea streets.

When it is completed in 10 years, the new bus system will use an extended zipper lane to move buses from Kapolei to Middle Street, where they can transfer to routes that extend to the University of Hawai'i or Waikiki. The rapid transit lines will be coordinated with a revamped hub-and-spoke program for regular buses and the City Express bus lines to cover most areas of urban Honolulu.

Regional transit centers, patterned somewhat after train and bus stations in Europe, will be developed in Kapolei, Kunia, Aloha Stadium and Middle Street to accommodate those who want to drive to those locations, Soon said.

More than half of the estimated $1 billion in costs will come from federal sources and will be spent largely on purchasing hundreds of buses; the city is not asking for any new taxes to help pay for the system, Soon said. The city has scrapped, for now, an earlier, more expensive plan to use a more expensive embedded-plate electro-magnetic system to move the buses, but might consider it later if the technology improves.

Join our discussion on the city's planned bus rapid transit system. Visit the.honoluluadvertiser.com/board.