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City Councilmember Tyler Dos Santos-Tam should not be criticized for his upcoming visit to Switzerland’s rail system (“Dos Santos-Tam to visit Swiss rail amid criticism,” Star-Advertiser, May 23). The criticism should be directed at former city officials for failing to visit the Swiss rail and transportation system much earlier.
The Swiss are known for having one of the best rail systems in the world. It is a marvel of design, ingenuity, efficiency and absence of visual blight. The integrated system’s trains, buses and trams do not simply run on time; they go where people need to go and in the least amount of time.
Why, then, years ago, did a City Council delegation seek inspiration, at taxpayers’ expense, in Holland, Scandinavia and other localities with rail systems less adaptable to Hawaii’s geography and demographics than Switzerland’s? Although cheaper and better for our needs, the Swiss system would likely have been far less lucrative for the merchants of rail.
The window for fundamental changes to our visually offensive, financially unsustainable, and antiquated rail design, which will never serve the transportation needs of our island, has probably closed. However, Dos Santos-Tam likely will find features of the Swiss transportation system that could still benefit Hawaii. I wish him a successful trip.
Ursula Retherford
Kailua
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