Longer waits for TheBus expected

By Mike Leidemann and Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writers

Bus riders may have to wait a little longer for their bus starting in August.

City officials said yesterday they are increasing the time between buses on many routes because of a $4.5 million budget cut in the fiscal year that starts July 1.

However, no routes will be eliminated and for most riders the changes will be a matter of just a few minutes, said Cheryl Soon, director of the city Department of Transportation Services.

In all, the changes will mean a reduction of 100,000 service hours over the full year — about a 6.7 percent cut in the 1.495 million service hours city buses logged last year, Soon said.

"It's not something we wanted to do, but we think it's been done in a way that will have the least amount of impact as possible," Soon said. The first phase of cuts, done in anticipation of a reduced budget, took effect June 8.

Some bus riders at the Alapa'i bus station yesterday said they have already made adjustments to the schedule changes and had few complaints.

Ed Kajiwara has caught the bus to his state job in town from Mililani for more than 16 years. He said the city has eliminated one of four daily express buses, which means he now catches the 5:20 a.m. bus rather than the 5:05.

"For me it doesn't matter because I've worked for a long time and I get to go whenever. As long as I get my work done," Kajiwara said. "So far I haven't missed it yet."

Mika Arikawa catches the express bus from Kane'ohe to town and said she doesn't know how the changes will affect her. But she said a few minutes either way probably won't matter.

"I have flex time (at work) so it works for me," Arikawa said. "If it's only five to 10 minutes it won't affect me."

Tina Bails catches the bus from Kapi'olani Boulevard to her home on Isenberg Street and she also said the changes won't matter too much because she has more than one bus she can catch. The longest she's had to wait for a bus was 15 minutes, but "that's very rare," she said.

"I think it'll be fine. I have no complaints about it," Bails said. "If they tell me my bus is supposed to be there at 6:15, I'm gonna be there at five after 6 anyway."

The first phase of the cuts involve a cut in the number of runs made by morning and afternoon express service on 15 routes, Soon said.

In those cases, one run was eliminated in the morning and afternoon. Because an analysis showed that most express buses were running at less than full capacity, there should still be room to accommodate all the passengers who use the express service.

The next round of changes, starting in August, will increase the interval between buses on many routes.

The most popular route, the No. 1 Hawai'i Kai, will see the "headway time" between buses increased from 8 minutes to 9 minutes, Soon said. That translates to a total of 17 runs over the course of a full day, down from the current 19 runs and probably means a more crowded bus during at least part of the day, she said.

The interval on the No. 2 Waikiki route will increase from 13 minutes to 15 minutes. Many other routes, like those that serve suburban areas, may see their headway times increased by 5 minutes, she said.

"If you're used to waiting 20 minutes for a bus, it may go up to 25 minutes," Soon said. In some cases, the time between buses on weekends and holidays is being changed from 35 to 45 minutes and Sunday night service on little used routes will be discontinued.

Although the changes made in June were not widely publicized, riders were able to find out about them through new printed schedules and on a Web site run by O'ahu Transit Services, which runs bus operations for the city, Soon said.

The cutbacks, coupled with a 25-cent bus fare increase, to $1.75, starting July 1, are needed to balance the $132.2 million budget for O'ahu bus service in the coming fiscal year, Soon said. This year's bus budget was $136.4 million.

Anticipated increases in insurance and labor costs were the biggest factors in requiring the changes, which mirror bus fair increases and service cutbacks in other transit operations around the country.

Last month the union for O'ahu's bus drivers broke off contract talks with O'ahu Transit Service, citing in part concerns over the cutbacks in service. The current contract expires June 30.