The Honolulu City Council will consider increased fares for public transportation after two bills were recently introduced.

Bill 89 would set up a fare structure for the city bus and, when applicable, the rail system, and increase fares nearly across the board, while Bill 87 would increase the fare for the city’s paratransit services.

Both bills were introduced Thursday by City Council Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi by request after the Honolulu Rate Commission had finished its deliberations for fare schedules.

The Rate Commission had been discussing since last year a plan to raise daily bus and rail fares and monthly and annual passes, and finalized one in May, but until recently it was still discussing a separate plan to increase the paratransit fare.

On Oct. 21 the commission sent its recommendation for a fare increase for paratransit services to Mayor Kirk Caldwell, Kobayashi and the Department of Transportation Services.

Bill 89 would take effect in July and falls in line with the Rate Commission’s suggestions, which would increase adults’ single rides to $3, monthly passes to $80 and annual passes to $880.

Prices for children ages 6 to 17 and high school students who are 18 or 19 years old would increase to $1.50, $40 and $440. Seniors, people with disabilities and Medicare cardholders would see their prices increase to $1.25, $20 and $45.

Children 5 years old and younger would continue to ride for free.

Bill 87 similarly goes along with the Rate Commission’s recommendation to increase the fare for a one-way Handi-Van trip to $2.25, up from $2. The fare hasn’t been increased since 2001.

The commission said in its Oct. 21 recommendation that the goal is to have single-ride fares for the Handi-Van and TheBus eventually become the same.

It had heard testimony from Handi-Van riders and others who agreed that an increase to the paratransit fare was overdue but said that the increase should be delayed during the COVID- 19 outbreak in Honolulu.

The bill would take effect in March but could be extended, Kobayashi said.

In upcoming hearings for the bills, which she said would probably start sometime in the next few weeks, more amendments could take place. The amendments also would likely depend on recommendations from the Rate Commission.

“The Rate Commission has really extensive hearings with many of the users — people who use the Handi-Van, who ride the bus all the time. It’s good to listen to their recommendations,” Kobayashi said.

One such amendment would be to a provision in Bill 87 that sets the fare schedules as caps. Those who use refillable cards like HOLO cards, which would keep track of how much riders pay, possibly could stop paying once those caps are reached.

For example, for an adult who has a payment card and pays $80 in fares for TheBus before the end of a calendar month, additional rides would be free until the beginning of the following month.

Kobayashi said those free rides might be amended in the bill to prevent abuse of the system.