Posted on: Tuesday, May 14, 2002

More Hawai'i drivers commuting alone

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

Despite years of talk about carpools and tens of millions of dollars spent to improve public transportation, more Hawai'i residents than ever drive to work alone, according to new U.S. Census figures.

Nearly 360,000 commuters, or 63.9 percent of all workers in the state, drive alone in their car, truck or van, according to the just-released 2000 census figures. That's up from 60.5 percent in 1990.

"It's a result of the suburbanization of our growth," said Cheryl Soon, city director of transportation services. "For a lot of people who live out in Central or Leeward O'ahu, the choice is pretty much to drive to work. It's part of the lifestyle."

The percentage of single drivers is even higher on Neighbor Islands, where there is little public transportation. Kaua'i County had the highest rate, 74.9 percent, followed by 71.1 percent on Maui and 68.6 on the Big Island. O'ahu had the lowest drive-alone percentage, 61.4 percent.

More than 107,000 Hawai'i residents, or 19 percent of drivers, reported doing some carpooling. Many of those probably involved just family members, Soon said.

"Nowadays, nobody just goes to work," Soon said. "We have a lot of trip-joining." That means combining taking children to school, shopping and other errands with the commute to work, she said. "The Census Bureau doesn't have a good category to include those kinds of riders."

The happiest drivers may be on Kaua'i, where the average commute is only 21.5 minutes. The longest commute is in Honolulu, where the average drive is 27.3 minutes.

Maui drivers reported an average commute of 21.7 minutes, while Big Island commuters averaged 26.1 minutes.