School bus fare hike mix-up cleared
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer
After months of delay because of a technicality and poor communication, the lieutenant governor's office has cleared the way for the Department of Education to go ahead with a 10-cent increase in the school bus fare.
But students won't see higher fares right away. It'll be several months before the DOE can take care of a number of administrative details.
Education officials had hoped to have the increase in place this fall, but said they learned only last week, because of an Advertiser inquiry, that further action was needed — though the measure had been signed.
The earliest the increase could take effect would be in the spring semester, said Cynthia Kawachi, acting DOE student transportation services manager.
Once the new fare is in place, a one-way ride will cost 35 cents.
The fare increase was adopted by the Board of Education in November and sent to Gov. Linda Lingle's office in December. She signed the amendment to the administrative rules March 18 and sent it to Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona's office, which duly filed the measure the next day, said George Lindsey, Aiona's chief of staff.
But it was discovered that there was no space to note the date the rule was to take effect. Lindsey said Aiona's office made three calls to tell education officials about the oversight, first to the Board of Education chairman, whose assistant referred the office to the DOE. Two more calls had no results, he said.
"Nothing went wrong in terms of the process," Lindsey said. "The department knew this was important to them, but nobody called us back."
Education officials have said they made several attempts to learn the status of the measure, also with no response.
Lindsey said there were many opportunities for education officials to bring up the issue to the governor or lieutenant governor, but it didn't happen.
"It's unfortunate this thing happened," he said.
The mix-up was cleared up within days of being brought to the attention of the lieutenant governor's office last week. Tom Yamashita, director of the Civil Rights Compliance Office, who would have been the person to contact about the problem, said he learned in the last couple of days that the lieutenant governor's office had tried to reach him in March.
"Because of some miscommunication or failure in communication, that rule was just sitting there in the lieutenant governor's office," Yamashita said. "It was such a minor thing, and it just got out of proportion."
The amendment was corrected by computer. A space was added where the effective date could be stamped, he said.
Provisions of the fare increase would create an alternative payment system — using tickets, for example, instead of cash — and would tie eligibility for free rides to participation in the free and reduced-price lunch program, all of which could take several more months.
A draft of the plan to start the fare increase still must be approved, DOE's Kawachi said. Issues still to be resolved include the payment system, eligibility for free rides and the time frame for imposing the fare increase. Then all public schools must be briefed and will need forms to fill.
A 50-cent fare had been proposed, but the BOE compromised on the lower amount. The increase is expected to generate $486,000 a year and partially offset a deficit in the DOE's transportation budget.
The fare increase and other changes in bus service will affect as many as 18,000 public school students, some of whom ride for free.
The last school bus fare increase, in 1995, was 10 cents. The fare went to 25 cents a ride.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
