Transportation

September 2009

Honolulu Drivers Suffer Through Worst Roads

by Pearl Hahn

Last year, TRIP, a national transportation watchdog group, rated Honolulu as having the second-worst urban roads in the nation. On top of all the potholes, Honolulu residents also pay the third highest cost for extra vehicle maintenance due to poor road conditions. The price tag is $770 a year in added costs. (more)

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Transportation

October 2008

Where Have All the Jitneys Gone?

By Professor Ken Schoolland

With so much attention on plans for a city railroad, it's worth taking stock of the government strangulation of transportation over the past 70 years. Few people today know what jitneys are, but there used to be lots of jitneys and the people of Honolulu loved them. That is, until 1940 when the government put them all out of business. In a free market, jitneys travel major traffic routes and pick up and drop off customers all along the way. They don’t have fixed routes or schedules, so they can gather up customers during the rush hour and can take them door-to-door if they choose. The service fits neatly between that of buses and taxis. (more)

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Transportation

October 2008

Debunking Myths of Honolulu Rail Transit

Kristian Somi

The City and County of Honolulu has pursued adding rail transit to the mix of commute options, which currently includes bus, vanpool and ferry in addition to private cars and private bus service. Because of the multi-billion dollar price tag and the 14-year temporary increase to the state's General Excise Tax (GET) to pay for construction costs, the issue has been widely debated. Some ideas have been circulated as (unsubstantiated) facts. These include that: 1) public transportation ridership will increase once the rail system is built, 2) rail consumes less energy than other options, particularly cars, 3) the carbon footprint of the rail system is substantially smaller than that of other transportation options. (more)

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Transportation

April 2008

Bumper to Bumper on the H-1

Comparing Leeward Oahu Traffic Alternatives

by Brandon Bosworth

Faced with the problem of increasing congestion on Oahu motorways, Mayor Mufi Hannemann and others have come out strongly in favor of a rail transit system. While rail is sometimes offered as the best solution for the island's traffic woes, a recent study by Professor Panos D. Prevedouros and the University of Hawaii Congestion Study Group (UHCS) Transportation Alternatives Analysis for Mitigating Traffic Congestion between Leeward Oahu and Honolulu shows that this is not the case. (more)

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