Rail or not: Here they come

STOP!
Enhanced bus system, not rail, is the way to go

By Ben Cayetano

Traffic congestion on Oahu is getting worse — but the proposed rail system would not solve the problem. The city and the Federal Transit Administration admit this in their final environmental impact statement, where they write: "Traffic congestion will be worse in the future with rail than what it is today without rail."

Their EIS shows 21 percent more cars on the road if we build rail and 23 percent more if we do not.

This is what the Star-Advertiser calls a traffic "solution"?

The city estimated rail would cost $5.2 billion, but state and federal studies predict the cost could be more than $7 billion. Why spend billions on rail when we can expect that traffic congestion in the future would get worse with or without rail? This is why no city remotely comparable to Honolulu in size has built, or plans to build, an elevated steel-on-steel heavy rail system.

Honolulu’s bus system is rated the best in the nation. My plan begins by enhancing, not dismantling it, as the city is now doing as part of its rail plan.

I would plan and implement an enhanced version of the bus rapid transit plan contained in the 2003 final Environmental Impact Statement I signed as governor and that the FTA approved in 2003. Full details of the region from the Ewa Plain and Mililani areas, to town are in this final EIS.

The city paid Parsons Brinkerhoff more than $10 million for the 2003 study, which concluded that bus rapid transit (BRT) was superior to rail as it would generate higher ridership at roughly one-fifth the cost ($1.04 billion).

The "in-town" phase originally planned to run on dedicated lanes on Kapiolani and Ala Moana, but was criticized for taking car lanes on those two heavily congested boulevards. Mindful of this criticism, we will review the in-town phase with a focus on using King and Beretania streets instead.

BRT would be able to run to University of Hawaii-Manoa and also Waikiki, whereas rail could not since the tourist industry is solidly opposed to heavy rail running on an elevated concrete structure through Waikiki.

Within the first year, I would increase the number of express and direct-route buses, and make better use of the zipper lanes and freeway-shoulder program that were initiated during my second term as governor. I will significantly increase the number of point-to-point routes from Kapolei, Mililani, Wahiawa, Waianae and Windward Oahu, to downtown, Ala Moana, Waikiki and the UH-Manoa campus.

We would work with the governor to remove major bottlenecks (such as the Middle Street merge), and to expedite these, I would urge the governor to form a state-city joint venture with the city sharing the costs of construction. We would implement measures that would improve islandwide mobility such as state-of-the-art computerized traffic signals that have been promised by the last four administrations but with little result.

Finally, it doesn’t cost much to retrofit buses with Wi-Fi and other amenities. The new buses are sleeker, more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly than rail. Moreover, BRT buses will have more seats than rail cars and the presence of a bus driver provides security not available on the driverless rail cars. One can only wonder whether parents will risk putting their children alone on the rail cars or how young women would feel riding the train alone at night.

We can introduce BRT faster than rail because we would not be starting from scratch. Given its higher-than-rail ridership projections, lower-than-rail costs and readiness to deploy, I believe federal assistance would be available to help finance the system.

We can implement BRT solutions relatively quickly with little disruption to the environment or to businesses during construction. Unlike rail, which is fixed in place, BRT routes can be adjusted and new routes implemented. Furthermore, they do not block view planes, nor do they damage historical sites or unearth burial grounds.

And virtually all of the jobs created by my BRT plan and the upgrading of the city’s sewer and water systems and the repaving of the roads will be jobs our local workers can do.

According to Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation executive director, Daniel Grabauskas, cost of the rail system as originally planned (with spurs to UH-Manoa and Waikiki) would be $9.03 billion. Nonetheless, my opponents mindlessly oblivious to costs, advocate extending rail to Manoa, North Shore, Hawaii Kai and Kailua.

When I listen to their visions of spending billions on a non-solution to the traffic problem, I wonder if they have amnesia about raw sewage flowing down the Ala Wai Canal and onto our beaches, the building moratoriums in major areas of our city, and the third-ranked worse roads in the nation.

The upgrading of the city’s basic infrastructure are woefully behind schedule. A significant infusion of funds is needed to get the systems up to speed. I have a plan to do this; my opponents do not.

GO — BUT CAUTIiOUSLY!
We need to build rail, but it can be improved

By Kirk Caldwell

I support rail transit. I’ve been working to bring it to reality for years.

Nevertheless, I have called for a modification to the contracting process for the final city center stretch of the rail transit line. And I am asking that a review be done with community input to see where more appropriate design can be implemented and more cost savings may be possible. This should not result in any delay to the project’s final completion, nor would it go beyond the framework established in the federally approved final environmental impact statement.

Good leadership — and smart management — requires that we listen to the community, make adjustments where appropriate, and move forward.

We don’t just throw up our hands and say "No Way!" like Ben Cayetano, while proposing a so-called alternative that has no funding, will cost much more to operate, actually increases traffic congestion in town, and doesn’t even solve the issues he complains about.

Nor can we blindly take the my-way-or-the-highway approach of Peter Carlisle, whose lock-out of community involvement has led directly to an erosion of public trust and support for rail transit.

I’m saying build rail better.

We need rail, and we can bring it in on time and within budget, just like Seattle, Vancouver and Dallas have recently done with their new steel-on-steel systems.

No phase of Honolulu’s project has raised more concerns than the City Center stretch. I’ve listened to many people who support rail conceptually but find fault with way it will look downtown, or affect mature neighborhoods from Kalihi to Kakaako. I propose we take a critical last look at station locations, architecture, visual impact and other important considerations.

Building rail better means:

» Sense of place matters. I believe the transit stations in mature neighborhoods should reflect what’s around them. Where we can design in a more historically or visually sensitive fashion, we should, especially in high-profile areas like the Honolulu Harbor waterfront. The engineering know-how is there if we have the will.

» Beautify as we go. We have an opportunity to improve rail transit corridors. Move utilities and get rid of poles and power lines. Improve sidewalks and plant trees — hundreds of them — under and along the spans. And provide opportunities for small businesses in corridor communities.

» Start planning — and sharing — new bus routes now. Rail transit will allow us to re-deploy buses to new routes island-wide. Run shuttle buses every few minutes from nearby rail stations to UH, Waikiki, hospitals and major employers. Add more express buses to the Leeward Coast, North Shore, Windward Side and East Oahu.

» Get moving on transit-oriented development immediately. Simply put, we are behind on TOD. The mayor should be exercising leadership and be working with the City Council in setting up rules and guidelines right now, instead of standing by passively and allowing this critical responsibility to be taken over by the State.

» Keep listening to the community. This is their train system, not the Mayor’s.

Rail transit won’t fix everything in our community, not even 100% of our traffic woes. But it will make a difference for generations to come. Imagine our community without the Pali Highway, Likelike, H-1, H-2, H-3, or a widened Kalanianaole Highway to East Oahu.

Rail provides direct traffic relief to half our island, and improves traffic overall for nearly everyone on Oahu. It will help us focus our development efforts and keep the country country — and by that I mean everywhere from Waimanalo, Kailua and Kaneohe to the North Shore and Leeward Coast.

There is little glamour in running a city. It takes hard work, a willingness to listen, and getting out from behind your desk to make things happen. It takes a commitment to continuous improvement, driven by a mayor who understands the job, welcomes the entire range of responsibilities and not just one issue, and really knows how to get things done. That’s how we should manage our great city and that is how we have to do rail transit.

Doing nothing is not an alternative. Traffic is slowly strangling our community.

Let’s build rail. But let’s build rail better.

GO!
Among options, rail will be catalyst for change

By Peter Carlisle

Honolulu is a city and county in motion. It is growing and will continue to grow. This means more people needing to get to work, school and play. If we don’t change how we plan and develop our communities, Honolulu will not be able to provide for all of its residents while taking care of the environment. Today, we face a pivotal moment in shaping Honolulu’s future for generations. We’ve reached a tipping point.

Transportation improvements currently in progress, one of which is rail, will create communities where people live near jobs, retail centers, parks and health care centers. Transportation options including roads, buses, bikeways, pedestrian travel, and rail will get people out of their cars and leading healthier lives.

We must change the way we plan and design our roads so they are safer and reduce the amount of cars on the road. Honolulu streets are some of the most dangerous in the nation for pedestrians and bicyclists, particularly for the elderly.

Our recently adopted "Complete Streets" bill directs planners to include share-use paths, bike lanes, sidewalks, crosswalks, accessible curb ramps, raised medians, paved shoulders, roundabouts, traffic signals, and accessible pedestrian signals. Designing transportation options with Complete Streets will provide safer choices for people who don’t want to drive. This policy puts all people first — not just those who drive cars.

Recently, in the heart of downtown Honolulu, the Alapai Transit Center officially opened. This center makes commuter public transportation more accessible, encourages more car-pooling to one transit location, and bus-pooling for those who may have different destinations. This facility joins two other transit centers the city opened last October in Kalihi and Wahiawa.

In addition to providing transportation options, we need to improve the efficiency of our traffic network. The state of the art Joint Traffic Management Center, scheduled to be operational in 2015, will house first responders as well as city and state traffic management staff to increase public safety and actively manage traffic flow 24 hours a day.

But efforts to improve upon systems we already have in place aren’t enough to solve the nation’s worst traffic. Rail is the transportation option that will be the catalyst for change. The rail system now under construction will be integrated with our award-winning bus service and neighborhoods will be developed into transit-oriented livable communities. The elevated guideway avoids traffic congestion and accidents because it is separated from other vehicles. During rush hour, trains will come every three minutes. The 20-mile trip from end to end will take 42 minutes, every time.

Rail down the metro corridor carries the passenger equivalent of more than 100 buses per hour. Rail is more energy efficient and operates at a lower cost than buses. Effective ridership of rail will remove 40,000 car trips per day along the corridor route. This provides enormous savings in imported oil and personal transportation savings could be as high as $10,000 per year for someone living in Kapolei.

These are the facts on rail. The financial plan covers the entire cost of construction with the $1.55 billion in federal funds Honolulu is poised to receive and the half-percent general excise tax (GET) surcharge the city has been collecting since 2007. Revenue collections are ahead of projections. President Barack Obama, U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Dan Inouye, the rest of our congressional delegation and the FTA are committed to this project.

More than half of the project’s contracts have been awarded and are $300 million below budget and $800 million in contingency funding is included as part of the $5.17 billion dollar rail budget. Under the FTA approved rail financial plan, the city only issues bonds to cover short-term cash flow during construction. All debt is paid off when the GET surcharge ends at the end of 2022 and the city will own the rail outright. The City Council and Oahu’s voters approved this rail project from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center. As your mayor, I have been committed to this project and I will see this project through to completion.

Now is the time for all Oahu residents to consider the future and the fact that our city will have 150,000 more people by 2030. We need to acknowledge that Honolulu is a growing city in motion. For the sake of our children and their children, we need to complete building rail.