Five fixes could help put Honolulu’s rail back on track

As a longtime observer and frequent commentator on Honolulu’s rail project, I have come to expect setbacks and shakeups as the system creeps toward completion.

Yet the recent news of it stalling out at Middle Street suggests that we need change in leadership, ownership and commitment or surely the project is destined for failure.

Too often, the most expensive capital project ever built in Hawaii has been driven by political expedience, incompetent planning and management, and lack of integration with land use and transportation infrastructure.

Instead of building a system serving our people, we’ve created an expensive, visually intrusive behemoth, which exacerbates many social inequities.

Politicians and developers have pocketed the lion’s share of the financial resources and political capital of this cash cow funded by a regressive excise tax. The billions poured out by our community could’ve gone to public schools, air conditioning classrooms or improving our hospitals, prisons and basic infrastructure.

It has been a divisive project. Instead of feeling good about this massive public investment, we’ve missed opportunities to build a stronger community and make Honolulu a better, more affordable place.

Here are five ideas for fixing this mess:

>> Stop the blame game.

The planning and alternatives analysis and engineering up until this point have been flawed. It’s not the best alignment or the right technology, and should’ve started closer to town where densities and needs are greatest. We need to face up to these realities and how best to recover and fix the system with all its warts to make it work.

>> Real leadership and ownership are needed.

There are too many divided camps and they need to be brought together. It’s not just between the city and state, or between the mayor and the Council, or between bus and rail — but also between longstanding opponents and proponents of rail. We need to unify, seek and build consensus, and provide a more inclusive process and outcomes we can all live with. Find the mutual gains and benefits from this project, including reduced congestion, alternative travel modes and reduced pollution.

>> We need a sustainable revenue model.

We must trim bloated management, design and construction costs, and find more resources, securing not just the federal share but more funding to cover growing costs of construction and operating and maintenance expenses.

We’ve not done a good job in leveraging private, philanthropic and development opportunities for financing the system. Why isn’t a share of our tourism revenues linked to this project? Why haven’t the climate-mitigation and disaster-resilience dollars been pledged to transit? Why aren’t businesses and property owners who benefit greatly from the system helping to pay?

>> Focus on social and environmental justice.

How does the massive spending benefit the poorest members of our community? Beyond limited trickle-down effects, how can we ensure that poor, elderly, working families, students and those with limited incomes benefit from public transit? How can it improve job and educational opportunities? What about the impacts on our natural and cultural environments? Why in spite of the billions spent on pouring concrete and paying off mainland consultants, does the plight for many of our people remain so bleak?

>> Fixed-rail must be tied to innovation.

This massive investment needs to be repositioned as the cornerstone of Hawaii’s innovation economy. We need import substitution, when it comes to the planning, engineering, management and operations of rail. We should design new rail vehicles that seamlessly switch from elevated rail to at-grade light rail and other innovations, to lower costs and improve urban transit. We need to better incubate and expand local businesses and entrepreneurs as well as stem the outflow of our best and brightest to mainland communities.

The challenges with getting back on track require all of us to come together. The battle for rail is long over. We need to get over it, roll up our sleeves, sacrifice for the greater good, work as a team, and build a system we can all be proud of. We did, after all, pay for it.