Posted on: Sunday, September 19, 2004
Letters to the Editor
BRT will increase travel time
On Sept. 8 you featured a letter from the deputy director of the city's Department of Transportation services, "Public given wrong idea on BRT." It asserts that bus riders will save from 12 to 15 minutes if they use certain portions of the Initial Operating Segment (IOS) now "set to open later this year."
The claim that this first BRT route from 'A'ala Park to the Honolulu Zoo will save 1.9 minutes overall is based on Table 4.3-5 of the July 2003 Final EIS for the Primary Corridor Transportation Project that describes the BRT plan.
This controversial EIS estimates that peak-hour travel time for bus riders for this Downtown to Waikiki route will be 25.0 minutes under a "No-Build" alternative, and a corresponding 23.1 minutes for the transit travel time for BRT riders — resulting in a savings of 1.9 minutes.
The main point totally overlooked by the city is that all of these "time savings" are not based on any testing of the important lane changes spelled out in the current or past BRT proposals for Honolulu.
Many people have agreed with me that taking lanes out of general use and forcibly converting them into bus-only lanes (semi-exclusive transit lanes) will significantly increase the traffic and travel times for those who rely on their cars and other private vehicles to get to work and other important destinations.
After testifying and writing several reports and letters to this effect, the Ala Moana-Kaka'ako Neighborhood Board supported Resolution 00-280 that asked the city to road-test part of the BRT plans to see if they would actually increase travel time.
Unfortunately, Duke Bainum, as chair of the transportation committee, refused to even schedule a hearing for this unanimously passed resolution (7-0), and thus killed any road-testing of the BRT plan that he was determined to see passed.
A second major point ignored by city officials is that Honolulu's BRT is not really a BRT at all, but rather just one more express bus route line. Unfortunately, all BRT vehicles will use Hotel Street instead of King Street.
Since there is no room to pass other regular city buses on Hotel Street, the new BRT line will only add to the travel time for all those who use buses on Hotel Street — as they all will have to wait for the other buses to load and discharge passengers on this two-lane road that is too narrow to allow passing of stopped vehicles.
A real BRT system, such as those cited in Los Angeles, Oakland, and several other Mainland cities — provides primarily exclusive BRT lanes that are not shared with regular buses or private vehicles. On the other hand, Honolulu's BRT plan is virtually devoid of exclusive BRT lanes. It offers primarily a mix of semi-exclusive lanes to be shared with other buses, and mostly general use lanes where the BRT will share the road with all other vehicles.
Not only will this ill-conceived system increase travel time for everyone including bus riders — it will not qualify for federal funding because it does not feature exclusive BRT lanes where time can be saved.
Wally Bachman I love Hawai'i, and I believe U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye has been a tremendous asset to our state, but he needs to put the state before himself. He needs to step aside for someone new.
At 80, he says he feels 40. That's fine, but the rest of us 40-year-olds feel 80 because we're working multiple jobs to pay our rent. Sen. Inouye has the best healthcare, which is why he can feel 40 at 80.
Our health care system is non-existent. We have to cease in this belief that we must accept the status quo.
That Hawaiian smile that Sen. Inouye so often glimmers before the cameras does nothing for us in the working class. We aren't millionaires like he is, and we don't have all the hook-ups he's obtained through special interests.
We need someone new, young and full of fire. I am in a coffee shop writing this e-mail because I can't afford a computer. It's the only way I could even visit Inouye's web site.
Chris Weber Perhaps someone could better explain just who it is the Hawai'i Farm Bureau Federation represents. From the public relations tone of executive director Alan Takemoto's Sept. 13 letter, one might conclude the bureau is part and parcel to the biotech industry's campaign to convince Hawai'i to accept its largely unproven products.
In contrast to Takemoto's attitude lies the reality of Hawai'i agriculture today.
The vast majority of those engaged in farming here have no need for the corporate sales pitch, but are threatened by devastating harm if their crops should become contaminated by pollen spread on the wind from bio-engineered fields.
It was amazing to read the Farm Bureau's suggestion that small farmers and others threatened by biotech contamination may become vandals if the location of test fields is revealed to the public.
Struggling farmers looking for help in economic survival may need to look elsewhere for models with a vision beyond the corporate plantation mind set of the HFBF. The Hawai'i Organic Farmers Association (HOFA) is one, but a coalition of farmers and consumers such as California's Community Alliance With Family Farmers (www.CAFF.org) may be in the long-term interest of diversified and sustainable agriculture in Hawai'i. Richard Weigel Thank you to Beverly Creamer for her Sept. 10 article about genetically modified papaya contamination in Hawai'i. Unfortunately, the article failed to report one of the most disturbing pieces of evidence released last week: the University of Hawai'i's stock of conventional papaya seeds, which it sells commercially to growers around the world, has been found to be contaminated.
A sample of papaya seeds of the Waimanolo variety bought directly from the university and sent for testing by Genetic ID, one of the world's leading scientific laboratories for genetic analysis, tested positive for contamination. This indicates that the university has been selling contaminated seeds to farmers and growers. Not only are conventional and organic farmers' trees being cross-pollinated by genetically modified plants, the seed stock itself is also contaminated.
UH is a land grant university whose mission is to help the farmers of our state. Instead, it is contaminating conventional and organic crops, exposing our farmers to liability threats and risking a loss of export markets to countries like Japan, who do not import genetically modified foods.
Noli Hoye Well, I've watched several episodes of "North Shore" by now and I just have to write.
We all know that the vast majority of people who can possibly afford to go to a luxury resort as portrayed in the show are middle-aged and elderly, but c'mon scriptwriters, can't you give us a few young people?
I mean, really, it gets old (no pun intended) looking at this real demographic slice of American life.
Remember, although they may be uncommon, there are Paris Hilton and at least a few other young, beautiful and rich people you can portray.
Enough with trying to portray an American resort as it really is — give us some fantasy.
Mark Stitham
Science adviser, Citizens Advocating
Tremendous asset, but change is needed
Kihei, Maui
Isle farmers face devastating harm
Pearl City
UH papaya seed stock is contaminated
GMO-Free Kaua'i
Its resort portrayal needs dash of youth
Kailua
