Central O'ahu to get bus service upgrade
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
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The city is planning to overhaul bus service in Central O'ahu by more than doubling the number of routes and building major transit centers in Mililani and Wahiawa.
The changes are part of an ongoing effort to convert O'ahu's long-distance-oriented bus service to a hub-and-spoke system that combines more local routes with express service and trunk routes, which run along main roads.
"The main idea is to offer riders a bigger choice of services," said James Burke, acting director of the city's Public Transit Division.
In Central O'ahu, including Mililani and Wahiawa, that means making several routes shorter with more frequent service. Those smaller routes will meet in central transit centers, where passengers may transfer to long-distance express buses with fewer stops.
In the transit centers, which will serve as hubs for the new services, transferring passengers will find shelter and waiting buses. The city's plans include:
Mililani resident Jessie Weinberger, who spends up to four hours a day commuting to the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, where she is a graduate student, said the changes will help, especially if they bring more buses into local neighborhoods where no service now exists.
"Right now, the only service we have in Mililani is along Kamehameha Highway and Meheula Parkway. If you want to take the bus, you have to get into your car first and drive to the highway," she said. "If we don't get local circulators going through Mililani and Mililani Mauka, nothing else will help."
The first changes in Central Honolulu will occur next month, when the city extends the existing Route 433 to include service to the Kaiser Clinic/Costco area in Waipi'o, Burke said. Currently, public transit riders have to get off on Kamehameha Highway and walk about 15 minutes to reach the clinic and shopping area.
The city also plans at least four new routes serving parts of Mililani, Wahiawa Heights, Schofield Barracks, Hale'iwa, Waialua Beach and Mokule'ia by next summer. Ultimately, the city intends to increase the routes serving the area from five to 13.
Several longer distance routes, including the 62, 72 and 76, will be discontinued to make the service changes possible without the need for extra funding, Burke said.
Other changes in the area are contingent on officials receiving almost $4 million more in bus funding in next year's city budget for bus service. Those changes include establishing a bus route linking the new Mililani hub with the existing Waipahu and Kapolei Transit Centers on a route that includes Lumiaina Street through Waikele. The city also wants to add three more shuttle routes in Mililani if money is available, Burke said.
The changes will be the first major ones in the area in decades.
"The area has grown so much over the years, but the bus service has not changed at all since I first moved here in 1978," Weinberger said. "Right now, you still can't get a bus home from Ala Moana Center after 8:15 p.m."
The hub-and-spoke system has already been established in three other areas: Waipahu, Wai'anae and Kapolei. Eventually, the city plans to expand the system to the Kalihi-to-Pearl City area, Windward and East Honolulu and, finally, urban Honolulu including Downtown and Waikiki, Burke said.
Completing the switchover across the island could take several more years.
"Just like building a highway, it doesn't get done overnight," he said. "At first the changes might even be painful, but you'll definitely be happy when it's all done."
Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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