Schools plan for bus strike
| • | Bus negotiations set for Monday |
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
In response to a threatened bus strike next Tuesday, O'ahu's colleges and public schools are scrambling to put together contingency plans to assure that the tens of thousands of students affected can get to class.
- At the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, where classes begin Monday, officials are combing nearby areas for extra parking space in case students turn to private vehicles.
- The Department of Education is asking schools to make special accommodations, from opening earlier to help parents needing to drop off children, to encouraging additional participation in the breakfast program and expanding hours for the A-Plus after-school program.
- Chaminade University of Honolulu, whose classes also begin Monday, is trying to match students and staff in car pools and is tossing around the idea of having a "Bike to School Day," greeting bikers with hot coffee, doughnuts and VIP parking.
- And Hawai'i Pacific University has been contacting tourist services to see if minivans or buses will be available to make daily shuttles between the downtown Fort Street Mall campus and Waikiki, where hundreds of students live.
"We'll be meeting on this in the next couple of days," said E. Rick Stepien, vice president for administration for HPU. "We certainly hope this thing settles because the impact is going to be devastating."
It's virtually impossible for the DOE to create any systemwide alternative, said spokesman Greg Knudsen.
"We don't run a fleet of buses that we can reassign," Knudsen said. "It's not that we have sufficient funding even for what we have now, let alone expanding on service."
He also said it would be impossible to find additional qualified bus drivers.
Instead, the DOE is asking schools to help find solutions for their students and parents. The department is sending each school a list of coping suggestions, including opening up more areas where bicycles can be locked up and encouraging carpools and information exchanges.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
"We'll suggest some ideas, but it will be left to the schools," said Knudsen.
Commuters board TheBus at the transit center in Kapolei. With a possibility of a bus strike, O'ahu schools are making contingency plans to assure that the tens of thousands of students affected can get to class.
Almost 60 percent of O'ahu's 180 public elementary, secondary and high schools have begun classes for the new school year and most of the others will be open by next week.
Approximately 10,000 to 15,000 of O'ahu's 124,000 public school students depend on public transportation to reach school, Knudsen estimated.
Schools have yet to feel the impact, but officials know there's a growing sense of urgency regarding the potential strike.
"I'm sure it's a concern not just for the kids but for parents as well because a lot take the bus to go to work," said Farrington High School vice principal Arnie Kikkawa.
"Our community is not a biking community," Kikkawa said, addressing one possible alternative to the public bus system. "We don't even have a bike rack (on campus.) Generally our kids walk (most live within a mile), catch rides or drive their own cars. I suspect they're going to be catching rides with parents, or auntie or uncle."
Very few families are calling, said Farrington office staffer Sharon Toyama.
"Maybe the parents aren't panicking yet," said Toyama.
At UH, plans are in the works to accommodate its thousands of students who would be affected by a bus strike.
"There's nothing definitive, but we're working on plans that include parking, and whether we can open up additional sites," said Carolyn Tanaka, UH associate vice president for external affairs.
However, for the 140 students housed on seven floors of the 'Ohana Reef Towers hotel on Lewers Street in Waikiki several miles away, UH Housing director Darryl Zehner has made plans for a private school bus company to make pickups at 7 and 8 each morning and returns at 4 and 6 p.m. each afternoon if a strike occurs.
HPU's Stepien said if a strike occurs and HPU needs to arrange extra shuttles, the cost would most likely be picked up by the school, not passed on to students. The school has about eight shuttle vans it operates between the downtown and Windward O'ahu campuses, and perhaps one of those buses could also be diverted for a Waikiki run, he said.
While HPU's fall semester doesn't begin until Sept. 2, students will be registering for classes and buying books next week, and a strike would disrupt that process.
At Chaminade, based in Kaimuki, a van pickup will be made available for the 20 students housed in the off-campus Date Street apartment complex nearly 2 miles away, but the 128 other students housed off campus are within a mile of school.
Meanwhile, the campus is going to attempt to match the 470 students who live beyond walking distance with staff or employees in carpools and will encourage students to bike to campus if they can.
"Everyone will be affected by the increased traffic on the freeways and along Wai'alae Avenue. Saint Louis traffic is also likely to increase," said spokeswoman Sara Platte. "Given our Marianist-guided mission, we consider this an opportunity to ask 'What can we do?' to make a positive contribution to our community and our environment. Walking, biking and carpooling are great ways to reduce pollution and congestion."
Only Brigham Young University-Hawai'i is unconcerned. Those students of the 2,400 total who don't live on campus in La'ie are within a few minutes walking distance, said spokesman Joel Kongaika. Therefore, no contingency plans are needed.
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
