As TheBus reaches capacity, rail becomes critical

We do have a very good bus system. Unfortunately, many recent statements regarding the bus system related to rail transit are incorrect. Readers deserve accurate information on this important issue, such as:

» The changes now occurring within the bus system have nothing to do with rail. They are being made in response to rising costs, in addition to other factors.

In fact, bus operations and rail construction are funded from different sources. Recent changes to our bus service point to the fact that we need to make our transit operations as efficient as possible to control costs. Rail will help achieve this.

» Our bus system is approaching realistic capacity at peak hours when most customers want to ride. Today, we average between 25 to 35 times per day when drivers report that they are leaving passengers behind because the bus is completely full. This even occurs frequently with articulated buses, which have a higher seating capacity. Our system clearly needs the additional capacity that a rail system offers.

» Bus Rapid Transit — as proposed by Ben Cayetano ("Enhanced bus system, not rail, is the way to go," Star-Advertiser, Insight, June 3) — will make congestion worse on our roadways. BRT will reduce the number of existing roadway lanes, making already congested roads even more congested.

» Increasing the bus fleet, which the BRT plan proposes, would result in a nonstop wall of buses along our major streets, and further slow traffic. During peak times, we operate a bus every 30 seconds at the King-Liliha streets junction near downtown and about every 45 seconds along Kuhio Avenue in Waikiki. Adding more buses is not a solution.

» Rail transit will operate on its own elevated guideway, preserving roadway lanes and adding capacity to our transportation network.

An integrated rail-bus system will work seamlessly to provide superior transit service at a lower operating cost than an all-bus system.

Buses are affected by the same traffic congestion as other vehicles. As traffic congestion increases, bus trip times get longer and operating costs go up. Today, service runs 10 percent slower than it did 20 years ago, resulting in more time on the road and more expensive fuel consumed. This is not efficient use of the bus fleet.

With the rail system handling the transit trips in the heavy urban corridor, buses can be redeployed to underserved routes in communities such as the North Shore, Windward Coast, Central Oahu and West Oahu. This is a much more efficient use of our buses.

Increased traffic makes it difficult for TheBus to offer reliable service. We work hard to keep our buses on time despite unpredictable traffic. Unfortunately, many times, bus trips have to be re-routed or diverted to cope with existing traffic congestion. These changes inconvenience some passengers, but are necessary to continue running on-time for the majority of our passengers.

Even with all this effort, a severe problem with on-time reliability exists in the congested corridors. Because it would be mixed with traffic, BRT does not resolve those issues.

By running on an elevated guideway, separated from traffic, the rail system is not affected by the traffic congestion on the streets, resulting in greater reliability for riders.

The best way for us to improve our transit system is to implement the planned integrated bus-rail system — a system that will work for commuters, students, our elderly, our disabled citizens and our visitors. It’s the best and the most cost-effective solution.

We have an award-winning bus system that is reaching capacity. We now need to add the rail component, now under way.