Bus riders' suit says switching of passes illegal
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
Five bus pass holders sued the city in federal court yesterday, demanding that the city honor the two-year passes they have instead of forcing them to buy new, costlier passes.
Senior citizens and disabled people can turn in their old bus passes and buy new ones at the following sites: • Blaisdell Center, weekdays, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Nov. 14. Also Nov. 1, 8 and 15, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. • Koko Head District Park, Oct. 27, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. • Wai'anae Neighborhood Community Center, Oct. 29, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. • Kapolei Hale, Oct. 30, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The new passes for senior citizens and disabled people are $30 a year — a 140 percent increase over the old pass that cost $25 and was good for two years. The city is converting riders' old passes to the new ones, giving people credit for the unused portion of their old passes. The old passes are good until Nov. 15.
Turn it in, buy new one
But a lawsuit filed yesterday in U.S. District Court by Honolulu attorney Jack Schweigert on behalf of five pass holders says the conversion program violates portions of the U.S. Constitution that say citizens must be afforded due process before their property can be taken from them.
The lawsuit also contends that the bus passes purchased by disabled and older bus riders amount to contracts between them and the city and that the revocation and conversion program interferes with those contracts.
City spokeswoman Carol Costa said city attorneys do not believe that the bus passes constitute a "contract."
"We believe the bus passes are not contracts but mere licenses to ride the bus that can be revoked," Costa said.
The City Council last month raised bus fares across the board to prevent reductions in bus service, a key issue in the five-week bus strike that ended last month.
Former City Councilman Kekoa Kaapu filed a similar legal challenge in state Circuit Court on Oct. 13, two days before his death, saying the city implemented rules for the new fares without proper hearings and notices.
Schweigert, meanwhile, is asking for a federal temporary restraining order, which would force the city to continue honoring senior and disabled passes purchased under the former fee structure until it can be decided in court whether the pass revocation and conversion program is legal.
Schweigert's request for the restraining order is scheduled for a hearing at 11 a.m. Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor.
Mayor Jeremy Harris yesterday announced a two-week extension, which will give disabled and senior citizen bus riders until Nov. 15 to convert to the new passes. The city previously announced that it would not honor the old passes after Oct. 31.
Harris said more than 22,000 senior or disabled rider passes have been converted to new passes during the past month. There were about 50,000 of the passes when the fare increase was approved.
