Category Archives: Planning

Taken for a bus ride

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As a frequent bus rider, I was glad to see the city roll out a very reasonably-priced day pass good for unlimited travel on Honolulu buses.

That sounds like a pretty good deal.

As Hawaii News Now reported:

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell signed a bill into law Friday that allows riders to buy a one-day pass, eliminating the need for passengers to get paper transfers from bus drivers.

“We have one of the most heavily used bus systems. We want to make it as easy and convenient for riders,” Caldwell said.

City officials hope to have the one-day pass available for purchase by October. They say it will make things a lot easier for both passengers and bus drivers, while addressing the fraud that currently happens with paper transfers.

City officials, including Mayor Caldwell, are pretty proud of it.

However, there are a few caveats.

Did you catch the October timeframe? Apparently it’s going to take eight months to get this puppy up and running.

And then, if I understand it correctly, it’s a day pass. Not to be confused with a 24-hour pass.

If you’re a visitor and happen to buy your pass in mid-afternoon to do a little sightseeing and later travel to a restaurant for dinner, your $5 would only get you 12-hours or so.

That’s because the passes will be good from midnight of the day of purchase through 3 a.m. of the following day.

Still a good deal, but…

My wife and I have been in Las Vegas the past few days. She’s attending the annual conference of the Western Society of Criminology, and I’m along for the ride. Yesterday I rode the bus from the Las Vegas Strip to downtown in order to find the Writer’s Block Bookstore.

The Las Vegas buses are operated by the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada. The RTC website says the buses carry about 64 million passengers each year. That’s just about the same ridership as Honolulu, which claims 68 million annual rides.

My 24-hour bus pass here in Las Vegas cost $8, so I paid a premium over what the day-pass in Honolulu is going to cost.

But my pass is actually good for 24 hours. I bought it just after 10 a.m. yesterday, and I can use it up to 10 a.m. today.

How do they do that? By using smart passes rather than the technologically-challenged dumb passes Honolulu will rely on. Paper passes for Las Vegas buses have a magnetic strip containing the data showing when it was purchased and when it will expire. When you get on a bus, you just swipe your pass through a reader on the fare box. It allows them to sell tickets of different durations using the same paper tickets. Most useful for visitors are the 2-hour, 24-hour, and three-day passes.

I bought my pass using the rideRTC smartphone app. The app can be downloaded for free, and provides route maps and schedules, fare information, and allows you to quickly buy one or more passes using a credit card. No fumbling for cash at the bus stop. And no getting shortchanged by a day-pass that might only be good for a few hours.

According to RTC:

rideRTC Features

• Buy and use your transit pass – Purchase an RTC transit pass from the convenience of your phone anywhere, anytime, and use it on board any route.
• Plan your trip – Plan your next trip using transit with detailed step-by-step information.
• Find your bus – Get arrival information about routes and bus stops near you and where you want to go.
• Customer assistance – Call RTC customer service directly from the app.

And signage at bus stops and on the buses warns riders they must purchase their tickets before getting on the bus, eliminating most of the delays in boarding.

Oh, one more thing. The Ambassadors.

At the stop when I first boarded the bus outside Meda’s conference hotel, there was a man in a blue shirt identifying him as an RTC Ambassador, as in this photo (the picture was actually taken on my return from downtown). He walked among passengers waiting at the bus stop offering information, bus riding tips, schedules, and more. Extremely helpful for visitors, and most riders in this area were visitors. And after I visited the bookstore, returning with my bag of books, there was another ambassador making sure that visitors got launched properly back to the Strip.

That’s service.

And a final observation. When I visited the Regional Transit Commission’s website, I couldn’t help noticing that it provided quick and easy access to a schedule of meetings and agendas, not only for the commission but for its various committees.

“Meetings are open to the public and community participation is encouraged,” the website advises.

Committees include things like the Bus Shelter and Bench Advisory Committee, Arts in Transit Advisory Council, Specifications Subcommittee, Finance Committee, Evaluation Committee, and more.

That’s a different level of transparency and participation than we enjoy back home, isn’t it?

Bottom line. Yes, Honolulu’s new $5 day pass is a welcome move. But TheBus still has a long way to go.

At-grade option offers a way out of Honolulu’s train wreck

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I was sorry to see Lee Cataluna’s glib column this morning disparaging the possibility of incorporating the at-grade option in order to complete Honolulu’s rail system, which is currently collapsing under the weight of dramatic cost overruns, inept planning and management, and vicious politics, which have combined to create world-leading per-mile costs.

A coalition has emerged to promote an at-grade option which promises lower costs and an improved rider experience at street level. We should be jumping at this option, not finding excuses to not even explore it further.

It doesn’t sound to me like Cataluna took the time to read any of the extensive documentation provided to support the at-grade alternative (see the Salvage the Rail report here).

Here’s the best Cataluna can do to deride this alternative proposal.

But that utopian photo rendering is not what downtown Honolulu streets look like. Where are the bicycles whizzing through intersections with impunity? Where are the guys on high-pitched, foul-smelling mopeds weaving in and out of traffic? Where are the people with their eyes glued to their phones and their ears plugged with earbuds leisurely moseying across the crosswalk while the red hand blinks to no effect? Where are the drivers yapping on their phones? The crush of late and frazzled commuters? The grandmas with huge dark glasses slowly pulling their wheeled shopping baskets along the roadside? The city streets are already full up, maxed out and crazy with vehicles, pedestrians and troublemakers without a train plowing through all that chaos. Will all those users suddenly be off the pavement and on the train?

The fact is that virtually all cities in the U.S. and internationally that have built rail systems in the past three decades have relied on the kind of light rail technology that allows trains to run on the ground, through shopping areas and downtown malls. They have all dealt with these common traffic issues. Planners have had to develop techniques for minimizing the issues Cataluna seems to feel are unsolvable.

It seems to me that officials have a responsibility to carefully assess this alternative now, before the opportunity passes. If there’s a chance that it can salvage a reasonable rail system out of the current financial train wreck, even if Hawaii drivers experience a bit of stress along the way, it’s not something to reject out of hand as Cataluna would have us do.

Right now, there are several possible scenarios. We could proceed with business as usual, and will probably end up spending $12 billion or more to complete the train as originally planned.

On the other hand, it’s always possible that Honolulu will be forced to throw in the towel, admit financial defeat, and spend the next ten years paying to demolish the parts of the system already built.

Or we’ll limp along, find a way to control the budget by stripping out all frills and extras, cutting stations and amenities, ending up what will still be the world’s costliest urban rail system, but with fewer stops, fewer riders, and perpetual ongoing deficits.

None of those are pretty pictures.

Given those alternatives, I would think reasonable people would want to spend some time to understand how other cities across the globe have made at-grade rail systems work.

Cataluna’s clever localisms don’t do anything to further that understanding.

Obliteration of Thomas Square history apparently already underway

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The city’s ignorance of history is no excuse for destroying the heritage of Thomas Square. This is an instance where the mayor needs to step forward and take action to save this highly symbolic piece of island history.

Thanks to Doug Matsuoka for reminding us of the situation in a Facebook post last week.

He wrote:

The City & County of Honolulu is erasing the Hawaiian flag from Thomas Square… The pathways in Thomas Square are designed to look like the Union Jack in Honor of Admiral Thomas who restored Hawaiian sovereignty back in 1843. You can still see the design in the Google Earth image.

But this last Sunday… check the pano. No paths. They’re fertilizing the paths away, disappearing even the memory of Hawaiian Sovereignty. WTF?

The top photo from Google Earth shows the design of Thomas Square. The Union Jack design is still clearly visible.

Thomas Square

But in the photo below, taken just over a week ago, the paths and the historic design are being obliterated. Click for a larger version of the photo.

Desecration

This isn’t esoteric Hawaii history. Do a quick online search for Thomas Square and you’ll find numerous references to the importance and significance of the British flag design.

Read Denby Fawcett’s recent column in Civil Beat, which is an excellent review (“Denby Fawcett: Tap The Brakes On Thomas Square Proposal“).

Earlier, Thomas Square was identified as one of our most threatened history sites in a 2014 Honolulu Magazine review (“The 8 Most Endangered Historic Places in Hawai‘i“).

From the article:

Thomas Square is Hawai‘i’s first official public park, dedicated in 1850 by King Kamehameha III for British Rear Adm. Richard Thomas. During a ceremony in 1843 on the plot of land now bearing his name, the admiral restored the sovereignty of the Hawaiian Kingdom after British subjects unlawfully seized the Hawaiian government. It was during that ceremony that King Kamehameha III spoke the famous words that would become the state’s motto, “Ua mau ke ea o ka ‘?ina i ka pono.” Nearly 90 years later, additional features would be added to the park, including a central water fountain, radial coral pathways arranged in the pattern of the Union Jack and the Beretania Street Promenade, designed by landscape architects Catherine Jones Thompson and Bob Thompson. The park was placed on the National Register for Historic Places in 1972 based on its political significance.

WHAT THREATENS IT?
In his 2014 State of the City address, Mayor Kirk Caldwell listed the restoration of Thomas Square as one of his top priorities, says Curtis Lum, spokesman for the city Department of Planning and Permitting. “His vision is to see Thomas Square emerge, once again, as a crown jewel and, with the Blaisdell, become a more active gathering place that anchors a vibrant arts and cultural community,” Lum says. While concrete plans have not been developed, one proposal discussed in April includes designing a bike path through the park, box planters and hard pathways. The concepts “were not based on restoring the features and characteristics from the historic period, but rather would erase most of the landscape architecture designed by Thompson and Thompson,” says Kiersten Faulkner, executive director of Historic Hawai‘i Foundation.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?
The public should make its opinions known. The city has made no decisions on Thomas Square’s future, says Lum, but the public will be asked for its feedback during the various phases of planning.

The city expects to complete an environmental assessment of the project soon, and public comment will be essential.

I find it sad that Mayor Caldwell, who benefited from a large property tax exemption due to the historic designation of his residence, is turning a blind eye to the far more significant history of Thomas Square.

Come on, Kirk. The city can certainly renovate the park without destroying its historic character. Show some leadership.

Mayor Kenoi’s latest escapades call attention to potential ethics issues

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Billy Kenoi, the lame duck Hawaii County Mayor, just can’t catch a break these days. His lawyers’ attempts to get criminal charges thrown out before trial was rejected, and then a video surfaced in which the apparently inebriated mayor liberally tosses out F-bombs in a rambling toast of sorts during an after-hours social event at a conference on Kauai.

The Hawaii Congress of Planning Officials Conference was held this week at the Grand Hyatt at Poipu, Kauai.

Civil Beat posted a video of the scene on Thursday (“Profanity-Laced Video Shows Mayor Partying Hard At Conference Party“). It’s a cringeworthy episode, and it’s hard not to feel sorry for the guy as he steers what’s left of his political train into another very big ditch.

Reporter and blogger Joan Conrow (Kauai Eclectic) identified the source of the video.

Though CB branded the video like it was its own, it was actually lifted from the Facebook page of Jonathan Scheuer, a member of the state Land Use Commission. So curious, that CB fails to note the one thing that actually is interesting about this shtick: a public official secretly taping other public officials.

To his credit, Scheuer deleted the two videos he’d taken at the event, and issued a FB apology:

First, the regular folks at the party did not expect to be videoed, even if the videos were not primarily of them. Second, the videos may have given some people the wrong impression that all we do is drink and party at this conference. This was one after-hours gathering at a three-day conference that is digging deeply into many substantive issues that face our islands. I am friends with many, many people at this conference, and many planners around the state, and they are some of the most dedicated people I know. I really regret having posted the videos for those reasons, and apologize to my planning colleagues for the harm this may have caused. I am sorry. 🙁

Conrow is critical of Civil Beat’s use of the Kenoi video.

Though the video has absolutely nothing to do with anything, and isn’t even entertaining, reporter Chad Blair justifies it because “Kenoi has been accused by criminal prosecutors of using taxpayer money to buy, as the prosecutors put it, “exorbitant amounts of alcohol.”

Uh, except that’s totally irrelevant, since no taxpayer money was used to host the after-hours Kauai Hyatt hospitality suite where the toast occurred.

But Conrow is wrong when she says “the video has absolutely nothing to do with anything,” although it’s not Kenoi’s self-destructive monologue that’s of public interest.

It seems to me that there are many potential ethical pitfalls in a setting like this which brings Hawaii’s government and corporate planners together under the sponsorship of many of the same development interests these planners are called on to regulate in their official capacities.

According to Civil Beat:

Kauai County spokesperson Sarah Blane told Civil Beat on Thursday the party was “an informal social gathering that was held after the formal program of events.”

The food and drinks were paid for by “event sponsors and individuals,” Blane said in an email. “The county did not make those purchases.”

…The conference was sponsored by some major corporations who do business in the state, including Kaiser Permanente, D.R. Horton Hawaii, Alexander & Baldwin, Kamehameha Schools and R.M Towill Corp.

The three-day conference included an evening of music and dance which boasted “prizes for best costume!”, a “Casino and Karaoke Night”, and a mid-week golf tournament at the Po‘ipu Bay Golf Course.

“There was also a giveaway contest of three Apple Watches or a two-night stay at the Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko Olina,” according to Civil Beat.

So forget Kenoi’s F-bombs. The real issue is ethics. I don’t know about you, but when our public planners are enjoying themselves to the booze and prizes provided by corporate sponsors who they will be called on to regulate when they return to their day jobs, I think that’s a serious concern. And that golf tournament? Did any of the government planners or board and commission members have their entry fees paid by friendly lobbyists? Were development and real estate lobbyists among those registered for the conference? Will all these activities be disclosed?

I hope staff of the State Ethics Commission take a good close look at the various issues raised. At minimum, it would be useful for everyone to have the commission’s guidance on how an organization like the Hawaii Congress of Planning Officials can avoid ethical issues when planning this kind of government-industry gathering in the future.