City's proposals include scrapping bus passes

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

City Council members last night considered a wide range of options to avert a city bus strike, including adding another penny to the tax on a gallon of gas and eliminating monthly passes completely in favor of a pay-as-you-ride plan.

Council members last night were leaning toward a flat fee of 75 cents for all passengers of TheBus except for senior citizens, who would pay 25 cents for every ride.

Backers said the fare plan would plug the $6.8 million budget hole at the center of a labor dispute that could lead to a bus strike as early as 12:01 a.m. tomorrow.

Even though the 75-cent fare is significantly less than the present $1.75 rate, only 15 percent of bus passengers pay full fare, Council Member Charles Djou said.

"That proposal is in the very, very early discussion stages," Djou said last night. "Everybody has been talking to each other fast and furious for the last several hours."

The council members' negotiating comes at a critical point as they consider a series of fare increases to avoid cuts in service and a strike.

The council will meet in special session this morning at 10. Then at 1:30 p.m., representatives for the O'ahu Transit Service and Hawai'i Teamsters and Allied Workers 996 will resume their contract talks.

Throughout much of yesterday, Councilman Mike Gabbard had been trying to find five council votes for his idea to increase the tax on a gallon of gasoline by a penny. Hawai'i has the highest gasoline tax in America and the extra cent would increase the 56.6 cents a gallon that O'ahu drivers pay in federal, state, county and general excise taxes.

The penny-a-gallon plan was criticized by some council members and also would have only generated about $1.9 million, according to Mayor Jeremy Harris' calculations, requiring some form of fare increases.

Then Gabbard said he rejected increasing the gas tax in favor of "a better plan" that he said would prevent a strike.

Eliminating passes — $30 per month for regular riders and $25 every two years for seniors — dramatically drives up revenue for TheBus, Djou said.

The system only averages about 27 cents per rider because the overwhelming majority use passes, Djou said.

"Seniors make up a huge percentage of our ridership," he said. "No. 2, you have a good number of commuters who buy a $30-a-month pass and that also brings the average down. Their costs are going to go up considerably."

Djou has concerns with the plan. It may not be attractive enough to keep large numbers of people out of their cars, Djou said. And he's reluctant to eliminate monthly passes, although there was some talk last night of selling coupon books.

"I don't like this," he said. "It's not the best plan. It could still use some improvement. It's not perfect. But it's certainly better than the idea of a gas-tax increase."

At the start of the negotiations, the union was seeking 10 percent wage increases for each of three years of the contract. The union says it has a new proposal that calls for annual raises of 40 cents to 60 cents an hour, which amounts to 2 percent to 3 percent increases.

The final offer will not be officially given to OTS until today's meeting.

According to OTS, after five years of employment, bus drivers earn $21.27 per hour, or about $44,000 per year. OTS said the bus system's budget is about $4.5 million lower than last year's and that the union's demands amount to about $30 million more in costs over the life of a new three-year contract.

The City Council has been struggling with proposals for more fare increases and service reductions to make ends meet. The union fears reductions in service will lead to layoffs.

"It's all coming bang, bang, right after another," Djou said. "This is a very, very fluid situation."

City Managing Director Ben Lee also used the "fluid" analogy last night.

"Hopefully we or our council members can come up with the support to adopt a fare increase," he said. "I'll be honest. I don't know what's going on at this point."

Gabbard said he abandoned increasing the gas tax because "we got a better solution."

Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, chairwoman of the budget committee, said earlier yesterday that she reluctantly supported increasing the gas tax.

"I wouldn't mind paying a little more, although now isn't a good time since the gasoline taxes are so high," Kobayashi said before the idea apparently was jettisoned. "We have the highest fuel taxes in the nation ... But I will support it, if it will help provide a better bus service."

Bill Green, the owner of Kahala Shell, said a one-cent-a-gallon increase would further hurt his business.

He said he only makes 2 cents on every gallon of gas he sells. And he loses 4 cents a gallon whenever a customer uses a credit card because of the fees involved.

"I find it almost incredible," Green said. "I find it contradictory and grossly illogical (coming) from the same politicians that stand around and scream because the cost of gasoline is so high."

Green said he makes money from the candy bars, soda and hot dogs he sells in his food mart, and from his car wash and lube service. He worries that customers with less money to spend because of higher gas taxes won't have as much left to spend on the profitable part of his businesses.

Like Djou, Councilman Rod Tam thinks raising the county's share of the gas tax makes for bad public policy — particularly since both of them were legislators during hearings where lawmakers expressed concerns about Hawai'i's high cost of gasoline.

"I'm more in favor of what we've done at the Legislature over my 20 years," he said. "Basically it's up to the executive branch to find the money within their executive budget."

Teamsters, meanwhile, painted picket signs yesterday at their Kalihi headquarters and vowed to strike if need be.

Officials from OTS made plans to shut down bus services early tonight, in preparation for a possible strike one minute after midnight.

They canceled trips after 11 p.m. Monday for routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 13, 19, 421, 432, 433 and 434. They also canceled trips after 10 p.m. for routes 40, 42, 52/62 and 55/65.

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.