Council OKs bus fare hike

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Bus fares could increase as soon as next week under a plan unanimously approved by the City Council yesterday.

Fares will be increased to $2 for adults and $1 for youths and will include increases for all monthly and annual pass holders. It represents a compromise by council members who rejected several previous versions of the bill — while trying to juggle the interests of various groups of riders and still raise $6.8 million to cover a shortfall in the bus budget.

The fare increases could take effect on Oct. 1, assuming that bus service is restored by then.

The decision frustrated several bus riders who believed that their pleas for relief fell on deaf ears.

Kalihi-Palama Neighborhood Board member David Bond accused the council of not listening to the advice of the boards and coming into the meeting with the intent to pass the bill. "Today I've come to oppose the bus fare increases, but it's already a done deal and you've already decided to raise the fares regardless of what anyone said. So this makes this meeting a shibai."

This is the second fare hike since July 1, coming after council members approved a budget that increased adult bus passes from $27 to $30 but would still lead to cuts in bus service of 100,000 hours.

Bus riders protested the service cuts, while the Hawai'i Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996 representing 1,300 striking bus drivers said the cuts could lead to the layoffs of 40 employees.

It is unclear whether the fares will raise the $6.8 million because after a five-week strike many bus riders may continue to rely on alternative transportation when bus service resumes.

Consequently, council members left open the possibility of having to come back to adjust fares yet again. However, Councilman Romy Cachola said he will not support a third fare increase in such a short period of time.

"We will be looking foolish and stupid in the eyes of the public because in the span of over two months we might end up increasing the bus fares three times," he said.

There may be a call for more revenue if fare increases do not cover the pending collective bargaining agreement with bus workers.

The bus pass increases elicited the most passionate testimony.

Skye White, 36, accused the council members of being out of touch with the working class who earn $6 to $7 an hour and cannot afford a $40 monthly bus pass.

The bus strike cost her a job in Kahala because she could not walk to work. She has also worn out five pairs of shoes walking to her other part-time job downtown and getting to job interviews.

"Now I gotta go and show up on job interviews sweating profusely from the walk that I had to just get there," she said. "You need to understand. You need to open your eyes. You need to wake up to what you're doing to our pockets, our wallets."

Lois Bunin, 78, said she was speaking on behalf of all the seniors on fixed incomes who will now have to pay $30 a year for a bus pass, up from $25 every two years. "Some of us just can't afford to stretch our money any farther than have. We're living in affordable living now. Many of us are on food stamps and Medicaid. This would be very difficult for us."

But Lela Hubbard said: "I think seniors should be paying more. We should be paying $20 a month. We can afford it." She suggested that low-income seniors could pay $5 a month.

However, Hubbard opposed the $6.50 increase for youth bus passes, which will now cost $20. "Fares should go up to $18.50 for the children. You have to remember that there are probably more than one child in a family and the poorest ones are the ones using the bus. The middle-class people are the ones that are dropping their children off."

Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz said the the council has received pleas to restore bus service, but at the same time was begged to refrain from raising taxes or fares or using exterior bus advertising to raise more revenue. Although some who testified accused members of not listening, Dela Cruz said; "The problem is we are listening. The difficult thing is we listen to everyone, and that's why it's so hard to make this decision."

Dela Cruz championed unpopular proposals to keep one free bus transfer per individual fare and to institute a circuit-breaker to freeze pass prices for riders who meet federal guidelines for very low-income riders.

However, his bill to raise more revenue to subsidize passes for low-income people by allowing advertising on the side of city buses was sent back to the Transportation and Budget committees after opposition from Mayor Jeremy Harris, the Outdoor Circle, Scenic Hawai'i, Planned Parenthood and others. The Transportation Commission asked the council to hold off on decision-making until after it had time to review the potential for legal challenges and the amount of revenue ads could raise.

City Transportation Services Director Cheryl Soon congratulated the council for passing the bill, and said her department will begin to implement the changes. Soon said the city is trying to determine how to give refunds for August and September bus passes. She said the city is also figuring out how to have those with annual, senior or disabled passes come in for refunds and to purchase the more expensive ones and just "how to make things as customer friendly as possible during this transition period."

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.

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