Rail needs to add seats and optimize experience

Many potential riders of the rail between Kapolei and Ala Moana were surprised, and dismayed, last year at the few seats planned for the two-car trains. Now, an extensive report by a federally hired private consultant agrees that the cars would leave too many passengers standing. The Honolulu transit authority has reacted as it should in saying it will adjust the car design by adding seats, and should remain flexible as the construction date approaches.

Unlike well-known rail lines such as those in New York City and Washington, D.C., the Honolulu rail line is an unusually lengthy 20 miles, with a full-length ride of 42 minutes. The initial design for each two-car train on the Honolulu line, announced a year ago, called for just 64 seats and enough room to hold 254 passengers standing. Most peak-hour passengers, averaging 9.3-mile trips, would have to stand on board for well more than 20 minutes, according to the consultant’s report. That doesn’t sound like a tempting selling point.

The report by Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. to the Federal Transit Administration says the Honolulu design is most like those classified as "commuter rail," operating in areas such as San Francisco’s BART, Philadelphia’s PATCO and Miami’s Metrorail, because of the length encompassed.

Those systems provide 64 to 80 seats per car, compared with the Honolulu plans for 32 seats per car in the two-car train. That’s a big differential, which will have a direct bearing on passenger comfort, enjoyment and perception of the rail ride. The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation now plans to have contractor Ansaldo Honolulu JV add six more flip-up or retractable seats to each car in the plan, bringing the total to 38 seats per car — although city rail officials deny that ridership would be lowered because too many passengers would have to stand, as the report warned.

That probably is true for the east-bound morning rush-hour trips beginning in Kapolei, where passengers will board empty train cars and most likely have seats for the entire journey. That could be especially true since the trains will arrive only three minutes apart during rush hour, more frequently than the San Francisco, Philadelphia and Miami systems at their outer reaches.

The Ewa-bound trips at the end of the workday, though, may be another story for those Kapolei-Waipahu commuters as they begin their journey home from downtown.

The ramifications will not be known, of course, until the trains start rolling. But the goal at the outset should be on optimizing the rail experience as much as possible, to create user buzz and excitement — not merely to do the bare minimum.

Jurgen Sumann, the Honolulu rail project’s chief systems manager, sounded a defensive tone in a written response to questions by the Star-Advertiser. "People will get on and off along the rail route, as is the case of any transit system, and seats will open up along the way," he said. "For train passengers with shorter commutes, standing may be preferred to ensure they are able to conveniently and quickly exit the train at their designated stop."

The Jacobs report, though, wisely noted that expectations are important at this stage. Further, it stated, the concern is that "given the length of time that most passengers would be expected to stand on most trips, the system might fail to achieve forecast ridership levels."

HART was less than open about this report, which was completed last October but not released to the public. The Star-Advertiser’s Kevin Dayton learned of its existence from correspondence between HART and the Federal Transit Administration. Such an important assessment, which casts such sharp scrutiny on Oahu’s $5.7 billion rail project, should have been publicly released and been made accessible online; it has not.

The cars, along with the rail’s operating system, will be produced under a $1.4 billion contract signed last year with Ansaldo Honolulu JV. Rail transit is supposed to entice commuters out of their cars, and win skeptics over with its speed, efficiency and positive experience. HART needs to make every effort to be smart from the start but be ready to address questionable specifications, such as too few seats, down the track.