City can’t afford TheBus freebies

Honolulu has a long tradition — some would call it an ethic — of favoring its elderly and disabled citizens in the services it provides. The most notable example would be its transportation, and when the late Frank Fasi made TheBus free for senior citizens to ride.

Over time the city transitioned to a low-cost pass for seniors and people with disabilities, at $30 a year. The recent fiscal troubles of the bus system that led to extremely controversial route and service changes should be pressing city leaders toward a reality check.

The central question: How should Hono-lulu draw up a new plan for financing the system that residents need, since the current scheme is clearly not covering it?

Of the ideas that have surfaced so far, the most counterintuitive is Bill 58. This measure, in which the City Council proposes to turn back the clock and resume the free bus passes for seniors, is completely wrongheaded.

The correct impulse would be to assemble varied sources that give the system budgetary stability, not turn off one of the revenue spigots.

Fortunately, this was not the only legislation that passed the first stage of Council review this week and moved along to the Budget Committee. Members also gave initial support to Bill 61, which would eliminate financial support for commercial recycling companies that handle recycling residue with the city. The idea is to redirect these funds to the city bus system.

This idea was first debated last year, when the decision then was to reduce rather than eliminate the discount: a reduced rate applied to the "tipping fees" companies pay the city to take its nonrecyclable residue.

The 80 percent discount was reduced to 50 percent last year and again to 35 percent in the current fiscal year. Under the current schedule it will drop again to 20 percent next year.

To zero out the discount under Bill 61 would produce an estimated savings of $437,000 by the end of June, said Council Chairman Ernie Martin. That’s not enough to erase the transportation shortfall immediately, but it’s a start. And on principle, it’s not right to continue a benefit to a select business sector when the city is cutting one of its core services so close to the bone.

Martin and Ann Kobayashi, who chairs the Council Budget Committee, have said they are contemplating various ways to provide a more solid fiscal foundation for the bus system. That’s what makes it all the more puzzling that Bill 58 would be on the table at all.

Specifically, the measure eliminates the already bargain-basement fares seniors pay for TheBus and the disabled who are unable to ride the standard bus service now pay for TheHandi-van, the much-smaller, specialized shuttle.

Currently a qualifying rider with ID pays $1 per single ride or uses the $30 annual pass. The Handi-van in particular is an expensive service to provide, requiring an even larger subsidy from taxpayers.

This is obviously not the time to make that deficit even larger, but officials around City Hall are hesitating to say so.

"Given that we already are in a situation where we are having to modify operations because of finances, this has got to be another issue that we have to look at very carefully," said Transportation Services Director Wayne Yoshioka.

Nobody wants to call it what it is — an unaffordable expansion of an already generous program — for fear of offending seniors.

But it’s not necessary to pander to them like this, either.

In fact, many of the seniors themselves are starting to speak out, asserting that they would be willing to pay their share of the costs that clearly have increased over time. Here’s one comment, from Michael LaGassey of Makiki, who wrote in a letter to the Star-Advertiser that "the present annual cost is way too small."

"If an increase in the cost to me, other seniors and non-seniors would help with increasing the service and routes, I’m all for it," he wrote.

Maybe it’s time Council leaders listened to their elders.