Posted on: Wednesday, June 19, 2002

EDITORIAL
On transit, erase doubts at the start

If experience teaches anything, it is that O'ahu will never successfully build a comprehensive transit system unless there is strong and broad community support for the plan.

That was a lesson from the last time Honolulu came close to building a rail transit system. While there was strong political support for the idea, there were also enough doubts in the community — both financial and practical — to kill it in the end.

While the project died specifically on the basis of a narrow vote over funding at the City Council, it was clear that broad political consensus for the project had been lost.

The city cannot afford to repeat that experience.The council is poised to approve $35 million to start advanced work on the latest plan: a Bus Rapid Transit system that would include feeder buses on dedicated lanes and an in-town surface transit system that would run on existing streets.

The latest proposal is in response to community demand for a less expensive project that would entail less disruptive construction.

That's all well and good. But despite years of meetings and discussion, it is likely that the critical mass of community support is still not there. One indication is a report from the University of Hawai'i Environmental Center, which says the environmental impact statement on the Bus Rapid Transit plan falls far short of acceptable. Key questions about the technology planned for the inner-city portions and about congestion when drivers and rapid transit use the same roadways have not been adequately answered, the center said.

It may be that the answers are out there, or at least will emerge as planning goes forward. But it is critical this time around to get questions answered and doubts erased before the project is poised to begin.