Bus-pass processing expands; lawsuit filed to halt fare hike
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
City officials issued more than 1,300 new bus passes and identification cards for seniors and disabled riders yesterday, the first day that processing moved outside urban Honolulu.
Several hundred other people, however, were left waiting in Windward Mall when they apparently did not get word about a change in dates to process the passes there.
More than 700 passes were issued at Pearlridge Center and 616 were issued in Wahiawa District Park, where the process went smoothly, said city spokeswoman Carol Costa.
The calm lines and short processing time was in contrast to the first day of bus pass sales Oct. 6, when thousands of people mobbed the Blaisdell Center and hundreds had to be turned away.
At Windward Mall, almost 200 people were waiting in the center court area by 8 a.m., apparently lured by earlier announcements that the passes would be issued yesterday. Most of the people there did not know that the city late last week had changed the dates.
"It sure made a lot of people angry," said Robert Lantry of Kailua, who got to the mall at 7 a.m. and discovered the switch at 8:30 a.m., when an exercise class claimed the space where he and others were expecting to get their passes.
"I think somebody owes us an apology," he said.
Costa said the city tried to inform seniors about the last-minute change through television advertising and newspaper announcements, but apparently did not reach everyone.
Also yesterday, former City Council member Kekoa Kaapu filed a lawsuit in Circuit Court seeking to stop implementation of new bus fares and passes. In the suit, Kaapu said the city implemented rules for the new fares without proper hearings and notices.
The suit asks that the city halt implementation of any rules associated with a City Council bill passed in September that raises the costs of most fares and passes. It also asks that the city honor all current senior bus passes that have not expired.
Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
