As Honolulu rail nears the opening of its first leg from Kapolei to Aloha Stadium, I hear longtime critics of the project almost wishing to see their predictions of dire outcomes materialize.
I’ve been as critical as anyone about the way this now-$10 billion public works horror story has been bollixed by three city administrations, but rooting for failure at this point makes no sense and smacks of civic defeatism.
The money is spent and we can’t get it back. When the trains start running June 30, all the speculative concerns about operating costs, ridership and maintenance problems are out the window. We’ll soon be getting real data, and we should watch it closely and let it guide us.
Perhaps the city brought some of the latest cynicism upon itself with its exuberant handoff of the first 10 miles from the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, which built it, to the city Department of Transportation Services, which will run it.
We can allow Mayor Rick Blangiardi a moment to celebrate; he wasn’t responsible for the project’s problems, and the opening caps his efforts to turn the lemon he inherited into lemonade and get taxpayers something for their massive investment.
HART CEO Lori Kahikina is entitled to some satisfaction. Her straightforward manner, tackling of problems head-on and coordination with other city agencies enabled her to advance the project through the ups and downs where her transit-expert predecessors failed.
Things went over the top when HART Chairwoman Colleen Hanabusa said, “This time the stars are aligning. We are in the right place at the right time. … Yes, we struggled, and that’s always going to happen, but here we are.”
If she’s suggesting it was all worth it, that all’s well that ends well, it isn’t. Problems like this project has suffered aren’t “always going to happen.” In fact, its mountain of missteps is unprecedented in the history of transit development.
The $5 billion in rail overruns squandered by city leaders has tragically strained our ability to address Hawaii’s other pressing problems. If the city is going to win the public back, it must start with acknowledging what rail’s endless preventable mistakes have cost us and stop glossing them over.
And of course it means delivering a valuable public transportation option that justifies at least some of the cost. On this point we’re far from being able to say all has ended well.
It remains to be seen if the city agency that’s fumbled the operation of a fleet of TheHandi-Vans can ably run a commuter train. We’re far from knowing if the massive construction problems that plagued the first half won’t continue on the tricky final leg through the city center.
City leaders would do well to laser focus on getting these things right before engaging in premature blarney about expanding the system to Ala Moana Center, the University of Hawaii, Mililani and to the moon and back.
As for the public, rail supporters and critics alike, it’s in everyone’s interest to wish them success and give them a fair chance to make it work — while demanding honest accountability at every step.
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.
