David Shapiro: Honolulu rail leaders must talk sense if they want our confidence

Last week Colleen Hanabusa told Hawaii News Now the top priority of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation she chairs is “building public confidence.”

“The public has got to feel that HART knows what it’s talking about,” she said.

In the next day’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser, HART’s interim CEO, Lori Kahikina, gave a classic demonstration of how little the rail agency knows its business.

In texts to a reporter on the problems of doors opening while the train is moving and wheels too thin for too-wide tracks, she said there’s still no remedy on the doors from train builder Hitachi, nor a final decision after all these months on whether to replace the troublesome wheels or the tracks. In the meantime, HART has considered using local welders to fix the problem, but none offered bids.

She ended the exchange with, oops, she was told the matter was in procurement and she couldn’t talk about it.

In other signs of ongoing chaos, HART staff departures continue at the highest levels, and there’s still no answer to getting the train through the maze of utilities on Dillingham Boulevard. HART directors, after failing to get voter approval to solve a quorum problem via a City Charter amendment or the Legislature to pass a law, thumbed their noses at voters and lawmakers and just cut the number of votes needed for a quorum, inviting legal challenges of board actions.

It’s no wonder rail, with the current projected cost of $12.5 billion to finish to Ala Moana Center, is $7 billion over budget, more than a decade behind schedule and desperately seeking a bailout on a $3.5 billion deficit.

On the latter, HART is lately pinning its hopes on getting a share of the 3% city hotel room tax authorized by the Legislature and in the process of being passed by the City Council.

It’s another example of magical thinking by rail leaders.

The tax is projected to raise $48 million a year, $45 million of which is obligated to public safety and other core services, leaving little for rail.

Even if rail somehow got the whole $48 million, it would cover barely a third of the projected $140 million in annual operating costs. If applied to the construction deficit, it would take 70 years to cover the $3.5 billion.

If HART wants to show it knows what it’s doing, it needs to stop groping for an unattainable bailout to finish to Ala Moana Center.

It must laser-focus on deciding the best interim terminus rail can reach with current funding — whether it be Middle Street, Lagoon Drive or downtown Honolulu — and work with the city to integrate rail with a robust bus and shuttle system to take commuters farther east.

Ala Moana should be deferred to a Phase 2, in which alternatives such as the original plan of running the train down Beretania Street to the University of Hawaii or investing instead in more buses and shuttles should also be considered.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.