The trudge report: Stranded bus riders taking the sole train to work

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hoofing it during the bus strike? It may help to reflect that at least you're burning calories and getting exercise. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser Share commute woes with The Advertiser Day 1 of the bus strike has forced some riders into scrambling for other means of transportation. Some people walked to work, some bought scooters or bikes, others carpooled. How did you get around? Share your stories of interesting patchwork. Like Michelle Waits, who got a ride from Kane'ohe to the Kamehameha statue downtown, then was waiting for her friend from Waipahu, who was bringing a fellow bus rider into drop off, then taking Waits to HMSA. Send your stories to islandlife @honoluluadvertiser.com or phone 525-8035.

And some just go by foot.

Coping with mass-transit shutdown isn't easy. But Honolulu's bus riders were showing some resolve yesterday, many riders using the strike as a reason to start exercising again. Others simply to get to work or school.

With his portable "mist-er," Henry Kellerman was well-prepared for the walk to his job at Countrywide Home Loans downtown.

How was he holding up? Kellerman pointed to a clip on his shirt. Follow that around to his armpit and there you'd find an ice water-filled reservoir attached to a shoulder strap.

The reservoir fed water into a looping tube.

Kellerman pressed the end and out spat a blast of cool mist.

The mist-er kept him refreshed for the hike, which took about 30 to 45 minutes.

"It's the first time I used it in Hawai'i," said Kellerman, 47, who hails from New York by way of Florida.

In his backpack, Kellerman carried a change of clothes — shorts and a short-sleeved shirt — for the hike back.

"My roommate was going to give me a ride (home), but I'm going to call him and tell him I don't need it," said Kellerman, who used to walk all the time when he lived in New York City. "I gained my 15 pounds at this job. I'd better walk it off."

Will Landers, 45, has his bus pass, but it wasn't getting him to his destination: the industrial area near Dole Cannery. It was 6:45 a.m. and he was only halfway there after starting his morning commute in Waikiki about an hour before.

"All this just to get some work," said the ex-military man who'd been laid off from Sears just two days before.

He glanced at those sipping their morning lattes at Starbucks. "I'm tired already!"

Neither of them can complain to Deanna Hicks, who left her house in Salt Lake at 4:45 a.m. yesterday morning to make it to work in the heart of downtown by 6:45 a.m.

"I've got a blister on my pinky toe!" she said, pointing to her bright-white shoes with her only free finger. She was also carb-loading on musubi, so her hands were full.

Hicks figures her five-mile walk — one way — counts as her exercise for the day, even though she works at 24 Hour Fitness. Plus, she could use the shower facilities once she arrived.

Ira Freeman wasn't so lucky. The 26-year-old architecture intern was facing what he laughingly called a "European-style shower" when he finished a sweaty bike ride from Kaimuki into town. "I hope my co-workers don't say anything."

Freeman looks at the bright side: His bike ride only lasted 25 minutes — "actually less time than TheBus."

Mary Garcia can take the bus or leave it. The support clerk for an insurance company often will bypass public transportation for a 30-minute walk from her Pauoa home.

On the plus side for walking: She doesn't have to wait, it takes the same amount of time, it helps keep her blood pressure and cholesterol low, she said.

"It's good for you," Garcia said.

Walking tips

A bus strike may mean you'll be hoofing it to work or school.

It doesn't have to be a total drag. Look at it as a time to mentally unwind. But just so you're feeling good when you get to your destination, follow these tips:

• Get a backpack. You can pack your work shoes, if you have walking ones, and other essentials such as ...
• A change of shirts. It's so hot and humid that you can't help sweating. Which brings us to ...
• Deodorant. 'nuff said.
• An umbrella is good if the streets you're walking don't have shade.
• A pedometer. You're walking. Might as well figure out how much exercise this strike is forcing you into. It may start a new health habit.