Updated at 3:21 p.m., Saturday, December 8, 2007
Roberts Hawaii providing marathon shuttle service
Advertiser Staff
HONOLULU — Roberts Hawaii expects to use nearly 100 motor coaches to get thousands of Honolulu Marathon entrants to the starting line of the 35th Honolulu Marathon before 5 a.m. this Sunday."Our drivers and motor coaches will move thousands and thousands of people, and most of them look great before the race," said Gerald Hayashi, operations manager of Roberts Hawaii.
Local runners can catch the free shuttle at the Honolulu Zoo parking lot on Kapahulu Avenue. Fifty motor coaches will move the runners to McCoy Pavilion in Ala Moana Beach Park. Both runners and non-runners can use the service that begins at 3 a.m. and continues until approximately 4:39 a.m.
Roberts Hawaii will also provide about 100 busload trips for various Japanese travel organizations from hotels in Waikiki to specific gathering locations near the starting line on Ala Moana Boulevard at the Queen Street extension. Those trips will begin at 2:15 a.m. and continue until about 3:45 a.m.
"It is quite a spectacle down in Waikiki during those hours, and the race hasn't even begun," Hayashi said.
Roberts motor coaches will return non-runners to Kapi'olani Park after the start of the race. Race watchers can walk to the corner of Kona and Pi'ikoi streets to get a ride back to the Honolulu Zoo to wait for the finishers. The Honolulu Marathon finish line is on Kalakaua Avenue fronting the park.
