BY PANOS PREVEDOUROS PHD – B, C, E, 3, 9, 11, 20, 43, 53, 73, 81, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98A, 101, 102, 103, 201, 202
We all know how the public reacted to the relatively manini changes to TheBus last summer. Wait until two dozen routes are drastically changed.
Several of these routes are express providing a competitive service. Many of them are heavily used.
In addition several new and confusing “feeder” routes will be added. So basically the No.1 transit bus in the nation will be dismantled and reconfigured to provide life support for the rail.
Rail’s ridership would be much closer to zero than the projected 90,000-some riders per day in the opening year, without dismantling and rearranging the majority of TheBus as we know it today, given that (1) nobody lives at the stations and (2) the whole rail line will have only four park-and-ride lots.
The total bus ridership that will be forced to transfer each day is found on page 46: 69,480 rail riders daily will come from the bus. That’s round trip.
So, over 30,000 bus riders daily will be forced to get out of their bus and transfer to rail going to their destination. They may also need to catch a bus at the other end to get to their final destination (i.e., from Ala Moana Center to UH, Waikiki, and from other stations to all the ridges and valleys that the rail does not serve.) Coming home they will have the reverse transfers from bus to rail to bus. There will be chaos.
What is the logic of providing such a disservice to the loyal transit riders of TheBus?
In conclusion then, B, C, E, 3, 9, 11, 20, 43, 53, 73, 81, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98A, 101, 102, 103, 201, 202 is the code for transit failure by design in Honolulu.
Bus riders have always had to make transfers, how is it going to be any worse than it is today? Furthermore, the B City Express is no longer a route. We'll have to transfer with FAST, too! Maybe if you actually rode the bus sometime instead of driving around campus in your BMW, you'd know that.
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