For riders, each day poses new puzzles
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
Briana Redulla skated nearly an hour from her home in Kalihi to get to work at Kaka'ako yesterday — and almost got hit by a car on Ward Avenue.
BUSINESSIt took Deanna Hicks two hours to walk from Salt Lake to her job at the downtown 24 Hour Fitness gym, leaving her with a blistered toe.
And Michelle Waits stood for 40 nervous minutes at the King Kamehameha statue, wondering if she had missed her connection to get to work on Ke'eaumoku Street. The entire trip — hitching two rides — lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes. Even riding two different buses, the trip normally takes Waits 40 minutes.
Bus riders who suddenly found themselves without a bus ride yesterday ended the first day of the strike with tales of sweaty, sometimes frustrating adventures.
And they'll do it again today. But they don't know how long they can continue.
Hicks' father drove her home yesterday. Today, she'll have to scrounge another way home. "Probably somebody from work," she said. "I hope."
The manager at 24 Hour Fitness may be in better shape than most to tolerate a two-hour walk every the morning. But not forever.
"I can probably go for the rest of the week," she said, "but probably not after that. I'm not sure what I'll do."
Cathy Lee Chong, communications director at 'Iolani School, had no problems getting to work. But her baby-sitter had no way to get to Chong's house in Wilhelmina Rise from Makiki. So Chong's husband, Armand, made the 20- to 30-minute round trip to pick her up.
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| At a City Van dropoff on Hotel Street, driver Anagaran Benildo listens to Joseph Magaldi Jr. give him directions for the route, while passenger Carter Chan waits to get going. The vans have filled up quickly.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser |
Today, Chong's brother, Douglas Lee, will pick up the baby-sitter and take her home. But he leaves in a few weeks to move to New York.
"We hope the strike ends before then," Chong said.
The only plan Redulla made yesterday morning was not to wear makeup on her in-line skating commute to her job as a receptionist in Kaka'ako. The workout left her drenched in sweat.
"It was pretty bad," Redulla said.
She hadn't skated in more than a year, and felt awkward and uncoordinated. That was nothing next to the near-fall when a car almost ran into her.
"That was pretty bad, too," she said. "But (skating is) faster than walking, and less tiring than running."
Waits' commute was far less physically demanding, but still filled with tense moments wondering whether it would all come together.
She had arranged a ride from Kane'ohe to downtown with a friend driving in from Lai'e. She was then supposed to meet a co-worker driving in from Waipahu to their jobs at HMSA on Ke'eaumoku Street.
But Waits arrived late and waited 40 minutes, wondering if she had missed her ride. The friend also was running late, and it took them another 30 minutes to find parking half a mile from their office.
Today, she'll get a ride home with her step-daughter, who will be in town taking Waits' husband to a doctor's appointment.
"She feels sorry for me," Waits said. "Thursday, I don't have a way home yet. And Friday's up in the air."
That's the day her friend from Lai'e works from home.
"I'm still hustling for something Friday," Waits said. "What's the choice?"
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.
