More sites issue bus passes for seniors, disabled

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer

The city is expanding the number of places where seniors and disabled riders can obtain bus passes.

The new identification cards, which cost $10 and have to be renewed after four years, will allow seniors and disabled riders to obtain passes and ride at reduced rates, officials said.

Riders have until Nov. 1 to obtain the new cards and passes. Until then, old passes can be used; the city will offer a rebate on any portion of existing passes that extend beyond Nov. 1.

The city announced earlier this week that the cards and passes would be available starting Monday at a special processing center set up at the Blaisdell Center. That center will remain open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through Oct. 10, city spokeswoman Carol Costa said.

"There's no need to rush down to the Blaisdell Center first thing Monday," Costa said yesterday. "We're going to be setting up at other locations in time for everyone to come at their own convenience."

City officials said they have been flooded this week with questions and complaints about the new bus pass procedures.

"We're just going from one to another trying to answer questions," said Cheryl Soon, city director of transportation services.

Under fare increases approved by the City Council last week, senior citizens (65 and older) will have the option of paying $1 per ride, buying monthly passes for $5, or obtaining an annual pass for $30. Previously, seniors paid $25 for a two-year pass that offered unlimited rides on all city buses.

The new $30 annual passes amount to charging riders about nine cents a day, Costa said. The old passes cost riders about four cents a day, she said.

Alicia Maluafiti, director of advocacy and communications for AARP Hawai'i, said many senior citizens remain angry and confused about the new passes.

"It's definitely still a hot topic," she said. "Many are calling to just vent, and others want information about the new passes. Many want to know why their old bus passes won't be honored."

James Pietsch, director of the Elder Law Program at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, said his office has received a few inquiries about the legality of canceling the old passes before they expire, a move that some senior citizens said constitutes a "breach of contract."

"It's not something we've had any time to research, but it might depend on the actual wording on the bus passes or the applications they signed to get them," Pietsch said.

The new identifications were instituted in part to cut down on abuse of existing passes and to give seniors a new form of photo identification, Costa said.

The photo identification on city bus passes was discontinued several years ago so that they could be obtained more easily at decentralized locations like satellite city halls, she said.