Uncertain road lies ahead as buses begin to roll
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
Union mechanics went through every one of the 550 city buses yesterday, recharging drained batteries and replacing dead ones, inflating tires and topping off fluid levels to get them ready to roll this morning for the first time in 33 days.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
The work was tedious and sweaty — and felt awfully good to the first of 1,300 striking workers to return to the two city bus yards yesterday in Pearl City and Kalihi.
Heavy equipment operator John Poentis changes a battery at the Middle Street bus yard as the fleet is prepared for a return to service.
"It beats walking around all day (on the picket line) in the hot sun," said Patrick Baltazar, who worked his usual 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday shift yesterday at the Middle Street yard.
When buses start rolling again between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. today, they will return to city streets changed by the strike.
Traffic patterns got worse for some commuters and better for others as drivers adapted to an island without buses. The return of service after Saturday's ratification vote by the Hawai'i Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996 also comes amid a chorus of grumbling from bus riders whose lives were disrupted by the strike.
After fares jump Saturday for the second time this year, the attitude of riders isn't expected to be pleasant.
But while bus workers worry about reception from passengers, city transportation officials will be monitoring the effects returning buses have on O'ahu streets.
"The buses will be back in all of their glory on all of the roads, so people need to be more aware," said Cheryl Soon, city director of transportation services.
Drivers who grew accustomed to bus-free right lanes need to be more alert, Soon said.
Morning contraflow lanes that were extended 30 minutes during the strike will continue to operate until 9:30 a.m., at least for today, Soon said. The H-1 zipper and HOV lanes will continue to require only two people per vehicle instead of the usual three, at least temporarily.
City managers who helped beef up the workforce at the city's traffic control center during the strike also will return today to override computerized traffic lights and keep intersections clear. Police officers will continue to monitor busy intersections and issue $77 tickets to drivers who block them.
Two popular, temporary parking lots created by the city during the strike, on Hotel and Alapai streets, will no longer be available. The Alapai lot will be needed for its intended purpose, as an Express Bus terminal. The Hotel Street location had been used for the city van shuttle service, which will disappear today.
And after today, University of Hawai'i officials plan to shut down the emergency parking areas created for the strike. Special UH shuttle services will end Wednesday. The changes come just as construction begins today on a new 276-stall UH parking lot on Dole Street.
Bob Bourke will try to get back to his normal routine today. He plans to return to his usual bus bench in Kailua's Enchanted Lake this morning to meet the No. 57 bus, which will take him to his job downtown as an environmental biologist.
Rebates are available by mail for August or September bus passes not used because of the strike. A request form, with bus pass attached, must be submitted by Nov. 30 to the Department of Transportation Services, Public Transit Division, 650 S. King St., 3rd Floor, Honolulu, HI, 96813. Forms are available online or at satellite city halls and TheBus office at 811 Middle St. Call 523-4138.
He's more than happy to take advantage of the next five days of free fares that city officials are offering to attract passengers back to TheBus.
Bus pass rebates
On Saturday, bus fares will increase to $2 for a single ride and $40 for an adult monthly pass, a move that has angered thousands of regular bus riders. But Bourke plans to be gracious.
"It hasn't been a lot of fun," said Bourke, who has been hitchhiking, hitting friends up for rides and paying $8 a day for downtown parking when he needed his car. "But I'll see if I can dig up a lei for the bus driver."
Natara Stuber won't be so forgiving. With the strike, business dropped off immediately at the Big Ono Bakery in Chinatown, where she works. And Stuber's work hours plummeted from 25 hours per week to 12.
"I don't know how I'm going to act when I get on TheBus," Stuber said. "They put me through so much torture. Nobody said I had to be nice about it."
Some bus drivers said after Saturday's contract ratification vote they were not sure what kind of reception to expect today.
But at the Middle Street bus yard in Kalihi yesterday, managers were trying to set a decidedly conciliatory tone for the returning union employees.
They posted signs throughout the administration "A" Building reading "Welcome Back" in big, bold letters.
One even featured a picture of a welcome mat.
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.
