EDITORIAL
TheBus: Cutting routes is the wrong way to go

Push is coming to shove at TheBus, where a revenue shortfall appears to dictate a cut in bus service.

That would be a mistake. A viable city needs a viable bus service, and it's not only bus riders who benefit. Consider that every full bus is about 40 people who aren't driving cars. Bus service thus benefits those of us who drive cars by keeping us a bit further from gridlock.

It is vital to places such as Waikiki, which would have no way to handle the cars of its thousands of workers if they had no alternative form of transportation.

Moreover, cutting 80,000 hours of bus service, as proposed by the city, is becoming an issue in a looming strike by bus drivers, who oppose the loss of some 40 full-time jobs those route cuts would entail.

We will know exactly how badly we need an excellent bus system if we experience a bus strike, with 240,000 riders a day suddenly stranded. It is a disaster to be avoided if at all possible.

There are three options that can be tweaked to take care of that revenue shortfall: cut routes, raise fares and adjust the city ordinance that requires that fare-box revenues account for between 27 percent and 33 percent of the total cost of bus service.

We think some fare increases, within reason, are acceptable to bus users, including higher monthly and senior passes, higher fares for peak-hour and express-bus users, and other proposals.

If those increases aren't enough to make up the shortfall, then the city should opt to subsidize a somewhat greater portion of bus service.

A viable bus service in a city the size of Honolulu is not optional.