Free service lured thousands back to bus
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
Honolulu riders came back to TheBus in a big way last week. Now the question is: Will they still be there when they have to pay?
City officials say the number of daily rides on buses reached as high as 230,000 in the first four days of service after a strike by drivers and other workers. The pre-strike average was 240,000 rides a day.
"I think it's great," said Cheryl Soon, city director of transportation services. "It probably shows that they're not so mad at us that they won't ride the bus again."
Despite worries that many riders would permanently abandon the bus system after the strike, figures released by the city on Friday show the number of bus rides rebounded quickly:
- Monday: 160,000
- Tuesday: 210,000
- Wednesday: 230,000
- Thursday: 220,000
"The figure I'm looking for is 240,000 rides, but it can actually fluctuate on a daily basis between 216,000 and 240,000, so these figures don't seem so bad," Soon said.
The catch, of course, is that people rode for free during the first five days that buses were back on the road. Mayor Jeremy Harris announced the week of free service after the strike to attract riders back.
When most riders return to work today they'll not only have to start paying again, but paying more than they did before the strike.
A one-way fare will cost $2 and adult monthly passes will cost $40. Fares in nearly every other category also rose.
"We'll have to see how we do then," Soon said. "We're not out of the woods yet."
Officials say strikes and fare raises almost always decrease ridership — at least for a short period. After bus drivers went on strike in Los Angeles in 2000, ridership decreased 25 percent and took almost a year to return to normal, said Allison Yoh, a researcher at the Institute for Transportation Studies at the University of California-Los Angeles.
The situation may be somewhat better in Honolulu, Yoh said.
"You have one of the best-case scenarios because service isn't being cut following the strike," she said. "Generally, studies have shown that people think reliable service is more important than fares in determining how many people continue to use the bus."
Members of the Teamsters and Allied Workers Union Local 996 said preserving service and avoiding layoffs were among the biggest factors in going on strike. During the walkout, the City Council voted to raise fares to avoid service cutbacks that the city had proposed. That helped O'ahu Transportation Services, which runs the bus system for the city, guarantee no layoffs during the course of the new five-year contract.
"Now, you've got a guarantee of efficiency and a sustained level of service in the future that should help keep your riders," Yoh said.
Honolulu's system should also be helped because unlike Los Angeles, it has a relatively high number of transit-dependent riders, including senior citizens who make up about 25 percent of TheBus users, Yoh said.
"Unless a large number of the people who ride the bus by choice went out and bought cars in the strike, ridership should stay high," she said.
Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
