City to suspend bus fares during back-to-school rush to increase ridership

Hoping to increase ridership on TheBus, the city will waive public transportation fares for HOLO cardholders for five days during the back-to-school rush, starting Aug. 22.

Additionally, from Monday until Aug. 26, residents can get a free HOLO card at any satellite city hall, online or at participating stores including Foodland, 7-Eleven and ABC.

The City Council voted unanimously Wednesday in favor of a resolution to suspend bus and Handi-Van fares for HOLO cardholders Aug. 22-26.

Honolulu Department of Transportation Director Roger Morton said an aim of the promotional campaign is to bring bus ridership back to at least 75% of pre- pandemic levels. Currently, ridership is sitting at 61%.

“We see this as an opportunity to try to build back our ridership on our public transportation system,” Morton said during Wednesday’s Council meeting. “We are losing about $20 million a year now in revenues that we used to have on our public transportation system. And to the extent that our campaign is successful, we will be also receiving that additional fare revenue.”

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, TheBus ridership dropped to about 20% of what it had been before the virus surfaced in March 2020, Morton said Friday during an interview on the Honolulu Star- Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream program.

City officials hope more residents will opt to take the bus on the free days, which coincide with the start of the 2022-23 school year for the University of Hawaii and many private schools. Because students will be headed to campuses dotting Oahu, Morton said, back-to-school traffic will bring “islandwide impacts.”

The measure also reinstates 39 former express routes that were discontinued earlier in the pandemic.

“Those express trips … they pick up in your community, and once they leave your community, they go express into downtown. If there are HOV (high- occupancy vehicle) lanes or contra-flow lanes, they take advantage of those lanes,” Morton said. “From the West side, most people during the rush hour can get into town faster on an express bus than they can just driving in regular traffic lanes.”

Morton added that bus riders should register their HOLO card online at holo card.net, in person at a satellite city hall (except for the Ala Moana location) or over the phone at 808-768-4656.

Bus fares for adults went up July 1 to $3 from $2.75 for single rides, to $7.50 from $5.50 for a day pass and to $80 from $70 for a monthlong pass.

However, TheBus now offers “fare capping,” through which single fares paid by riders are “capped” when they reach the cost of an unlimited-ride pass. Jon Nouchi, DTS deputy director, said the capping affords passengers the best value because they are never going to pay more for transit than the rate for an unlimited- ride day or monthly pass. Previously, passengers who wanted a day or monthly unlimited pass had to purchase it upfront.

“We do recognize that times are tough, and features like fare capping make it possible to earn passes through spending and they really don’t require our passengers to pay for passes upfront at the beginning of the month,” Nouchi said on “Spotlight Hawaii.” “We recognize the beginning of the month, so many other bills or obligations are due … so it allows our passengers to basically pay every day towards the price of a monthly pass, and when they get there they can ride free for the rest of the month.”

The five days of free bus rides will amount to more than $120,000 in lost fares, Morton said at a Council committee meeting in July.

In 1970, Honolulu temporarily suspended bus fares for senior citizens, leading to an 88% increase in ridership over the next three years, according to a 1974 Department of Transportation report. The program cost the city $1.05 million.

Council member Andria Tupola praised the new program at Wednesday’s Council meeting. “I’m really excited about this,” she said. “Part of this was to help some of the schools that actually weren’t able to get their buses together because we’ve had a decrease in amount of bus drivers in Hawaii.”

The Department of Transportation Services must submit a report to the Council evaluating this month’s suspension of bus fares within 60 days of the promotion period.