Don’t deviate from original plan for rail

There are a lot of people wishing that the city could simply pull the plug on the rail project, once it reaches Middle Street, where the terminus could mesh with the bus transfer station and the final pricetag could end well south of the currently budgeted $6.57 billion figure.

But be careful what you wish for.

They need to stop and think about what they’d be getting for whatever a Kapolei-to-Middle-Street rail line would cost.

The answer?

Not much.

Ultimately, there’s no bargain in buying a cut-rate rail line if it doesn’t serve the needs of the people using it.

The current musing over truncating the 20-mile elevated rail project is coming primarily from some taxpayers who are reasonably worried about the system’s rapidly rising costs.

What’s really appalling is that shortsighted maneuvering is now being contemplated by leaders of the Honolulu City Council.

These are people who have had years to pore over the studies and get clear on the financial realities on the ground — and who should know better.

Ironically, Council Chairman Ernie Martin said last week his object is to gain freedom for the city to go beyond the sanctioned route, ending at Ala Moana Center. Martin believes the Council then could contemplate the originally proposed terminus at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.

Why he thinks this is fiscally possible is unclear. From the outset, that end point was eliminated as an option precisely because it was so expensive.

The Ala Moana terminus now represents the best compromise of cost and system function. Martin shouldn’t up-end the plan, ignoring the potential repercussions.

At Honolulu Hale, elected leaders already had stalled for weeks over a Council bill to extend the surcharge on the general excise tax, the mechanism that’s been funding construction of the rail project.

Martin announced that he’s ready to forfeit the $1.55 billion federal grant that is helping pay for the project if it means the city could make substantial changes in its scope.

"The administration … has always hidden behind the (federal agreement)," Martin said. "That’s not something I’m very comfortable with, using that as a crutch. I’d rather eliminate that particular crutch and let’s talk facts."

Well, here are the facts, as laid out by Don Horner, chairman of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation: At present, the loss of $1.55 billion would have to be made up, most likely through an increase in borrowing — which in itself would cost an estimated $95 million to finance.

All the plans that have been completed for a 21-station, 20-mile system?

Wadded up.

"If we’re now talking about not getting a billion dollars from the federal government, borrowing money back to pay back a half a billion … so the project by definition is short $1.5 billion, I’m not sure how we’re going to get to Ala Moana, much less the university," noted the former banker.

Martin thinks it’s possible to save money by skipping the Kakaako and Ala Moana stops. He proclaimed that UH would be "more attractive" than Ala Moana, but doesn’t have a basis for that projection.

On top of this, Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, who chairs the budget committee, has opposed authorizing HART’s plan to borrow $350 million to cover a crunch period in contracting. There’s seemingly no reason for this reaction to a borrowing program that’s always been key to the construction timetable.

All of this upheaval is counterproductive for a project already hit by delays and cost increases.

The route was planned and studied to proceed beyond Middle Street for a reason: That’s where the town-bound traffic really jams up most workdays, so putting the passengers on buses to get caught in surface-street congestion is a bad idea. It’s sure to depress ridership and guarantee the system won’t get the fare support it needs.

HART can and should explore ways to contain costs, even if it means long, hard negotiations with federal authorities. Not everything about the project should be seen as locked down. Questioning it is reasonable.

But jettisoning all the careful — and expensive — route planning and ridership studies? The city does that at its peril.

Honolulu’s population and traffic challenges are growing unabated. Giving its residents the commuting options they need remains a bedrock responsibility of city government.

Along a traffic corridor as narrow as Honolulu’s, with no room for street-level expansion, elevated rail is still the rational choice. It can get people where they need to go.

Let’s stick to the basic plan rather than waffling pointlessly, and get the job done as efficiently as possible.