Watching the transit hearings on Olelo was interesting to say the least but the most interesting part was the continual reference made by some of those testifying and by some of the City Council members using the well worn cliché, “We have to get people out of their cars.”

The fascinating part of this statement is actually two-fold. First who is “we?” Second who are “people?” I’m not a part of that “we.” I don’t think we need to get everybody out of their cars. And am I not “people” too?

When you step back and analyze it this statement really means, “We need to get you out of your car. That way there will be fewer commuters on the highway and I can have the highway all to myself.”

Yes, there are people who say they will ride the Honolulu Railroad if and when it is built. Most of these people already ride the bus anyway, so what is the difference? Even if they do ride it, no matter how it is designed it will only service, at most, about 8 percent of the island’s population (typical percentage figures throughout the world for rail with a few exceptions for huge cities like New York.)

This begs the question of why everyone else should have to pay to service such a small portion of the population. If the people in the Ewa Plain and Kapolei don’t like the commute to downtown Honolulu then let them move to a location that isn’t so far from where they work. Why do their desires take precedence over mine so that they can impose taxes upon me to facilitate their lifestyle?

This last is the real point and goes back to the beginning of the article. “We need to get YOU out of your car.” This is the typical collectivist attitude, control everyone else so we have the outcome that “I” want. I’ve decided that cars are bad so you need to get out of yours. As has been pointed out repeatedly on the internet, it isn’t like Al Gore has given up commuting by jumbo jet. He’s too important for that, but you aren’t. You need to give up your car.

Finally, getting you out of your car doesn’t mean a quicker commute. The Rocky Mountain News recently reported that most commuters are finding their commute is longer on the recently constructed rail than either autos or buses. The fact is most rail is very slow and if you want to sit around reading a book going back and forth from work then rail will work for you. Most people value their time more than comfort.

http://tinyurl.com/vbgjn

Don Newman, senior policy analyst for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii can be reached at: mailto:don@grassrootinstitute.org