Updated at 3:16 p.m., Wednesday, December 12, 2007
New bus route aims to help Ewa commuters
Advertiser Staff
TheBus is 10 days into its newest rapid bus service, the CountryExpress! Route "E" which runs between 'Ewa Beach, Downtown Honolulu and Waikiki.The service uses the H-1 Freeway from Waipahu to Downtown and makes only limited stops in town.
The new route is designed to reduce travel time and alleviate traffic. The Fort Weaver corridor is one of the most congested roads on O'ahu, and bus routes along the corridor were often overloaded.
Riders traveling from 'Ewa Beach to Waikiki can save up to 30 minutes on a one-way trip compared to the local bus and more than an hour for a daily roundtrip.
The new service operates from early morning until late evening, seven days a week.
"Reducing travel time improves the quality of life for 'Ewa and Waipahu residents who work in Downtown or Waikiki," Mayor Mufi Hannemann said in a news release. "Fast, reliable transit is an investment in sustainable communities."
The 'Ewa community is one of the fastest-growing on Oahu. From 1990 to 2006, area population grew almost 80 percent.
Routes maps and schedules for the new route are at http://www.thebus.org.
