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e_ave, most of the island's HeleOn buses now do have bike racks, and all of the regular buses that run the Puna routes do have them (and on the very off chance that they are full, or they had to put a bus in service that does not have them - bicycles can be brought on board.
The bus routes have greatly expanded over the last 2 years, the buses are now fairly reliable (almost all the Puna routes run pretty much on schedule...exept for those days when an accident stops traffic on 130 or 11..., and there are new buses coming in that will allow even more routes. Not bad for a system that has been free for 2 years in Puna!
It would be nice if for those that need to commute to the other side from Puan to have at least one of the morning buses that could make the connection at the bus terminal... connectivity is something that I have heard that they are trying to work on...but the COunty needs citizen input....If you haven't tried using the bus...Why not? Tell the council what you would like (light rail would be a hard sell if the citizens do not use the transit systems now available... ie. how far would you go to catch a train? How far are you from the likely route a train would take? That route is likely close to where the bus goes now due to public/private lands & easements...
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You put in a rail system and have the buses connect with them. Just ask the people in Portland it works well.
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The problem I see with taking a bus...
You live in HPP or Orchidland...
Great for people that live 2-3 blocks from the highway but then they gotta put up with the noise... But what about the Majority that live 10+ blocks away? Are they suppose to drive to the bus stop? Where are they gonna park... ? Then the next question is, your already in your car... There are no park and rides that I know of.
The bus has to be user friendly too... Who's gonna bike or walk half a mile in the rain? to get on a bus? I guess if you didn't have a car then yeah....... I can see it....
As for high speed train from hilo to kona... Hmmm... Would be interesting. I think I would take it. Could have a moped on the other side or something...
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I don't think a high speed train likes earthquakes..
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Jeff, That is right, the alignment of these rails is very critical (we took them in France while we were there, the rails must be absolutely aligned) Japan does have both, and there is much maintenance involved to have realignment of the rails.
Maintenance will cost the Hawaii taxpayers. Most countries with very efficient transit systems fund them with very high road taxes (ie gasoline tax - that is one of the reasons many coutries have historically had fuel costs that are 2x the US) along with higher government taxes. I am sure that if the majority of taxpayers are willing to pay for this...
So the real question is, is anyone willing to put in the time to get the signatures & votes to make this happen?
PS. When we moved here, we spent a lot of time going back & forth on where to live. I have always lived in a semi rural area sort of close to a more urban area (much like HPP & Orchidland). We realized that the transportation options on this island, like most areas, will always favor a more populated area. We bought our house mainly because it was already near mass transit and other public services... that is another option in this county, live near the available services or not....
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We visited Portland Oregon over the summer and they seemed to have a real workable transit system. There was light rail bringing people into town from the sub-burbs, then trolleys would shuffle folks from one end of town to the other. The trolleys were free in the downtown area. They also had passenger heavy rail trains which went out of state, too. We rode a train from Portland to Monterey and it was lovely. Slow, but scenic.
I think light rail (or even heavy rail) would be lovely especially if they could manage to get the new train to follow the old train tracks along the Hamakua Coast. That was supposed to have been one of the most spectacular train rides ever. There is a train museum in Laupahoehoe which has loads of the old Hawaii train information. One of my neighbors used to ride the train everyday small kid time to go to high school in Hilo. He rode from Pauuilo to Hilo. At the time, Pauuilo was the end of the train line. They also had some sort of passenger sampan car which would run on the rails as well as the train.
When gasoline gets way too expensive for regular folks to buy, then having a train - perhaps even a wood burning locomotive - would keep the people able to get themselves to work and supplies home.
Other than rail systems, having bicycle and moped paths would also get a few cars off the road. How about electric golf cart paths? Be kinda slow and you'd want to charge the batterys with solar chargers, but hey, when gas gets to $10 a gallon then other methods of transportation start to look workable.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
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High speed trains work very well in Japan, earthquake central and I'm not talking 4.5 mag, they are lovely to look at and elevated in many areas.
I think an elevated high speed rail circleing the island would serve tourists and residents well.
Hey we don't have that much the land for highways nor do we want any more than necessary, but I definately safety highway concerns and access need to be addressed and solved long before a high speed train circling the island.
mella l
Edited by - mella l on 08/29/2007 18:05:06
mella l
Art and Science
bytheSEA
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Following the old tracks is probably out since some of it now crosses private property and even have houses built where tracks once ran.
Light rail is a wonderful thing with one exception; it's a money pit. There isn't a single light rail project on the mainland that has come close to paying for itself. If you want to be in debt to a project in perpetuity, go with light rail. Never get caught up in the spin politicians present over who's paying for what, it's all smoke and mirrors. Ultimately, taxpayers foot the bill one way or another. For the cost of one mile of light rail, you can buy 10 buses and operate them for 10 years. Light rail works only if you have the population to constantly ride it (you need daily commuters). A population that’s large enough to provide the ridership (What is the BI's population compared to Portland?). A population going where it goes (can't reroute light rail once the tracks are down). Have the infrastructure to get people to the light rail (it's not going to stop in front of your driveway). And you have the money to pay for it.
Lets not forget the associated problems when those on the East Side, are turned back by a bunch of people on the West Side dressed in the latest Calvin Klein Genuine imitation Aloha Shirt blocking the tracks with their Lexus crossover SUV's and brightly colored scooters yelling "GO HOME" while drinking their moicha-frappa-latte-la-la.
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Mella, I mentioned Japan, they have a very good system. They also pay for that system through higher prices for gasoline (& everything else that depends on gasoline transport) and higher general taxes than here. Also, the islands in Japan that have high speed rail have much higher population densities than Hawaii Island. Portland, too, has much larger populatrion densities to draw from.
The older rail system, as I stated before, was not paid for by taxpayers, it was paid for by the business sector & was deemed no longer a viable option with the amount of damage done with earthquakes & tsumanis (just think of a train running on an elevalted rail last October.... would you have wanted to be on it?) The reintroduction of the bus service on island was also initially a private business venture(paid for by a coalition of Waikola resorts in order to transport employees from Hilo)
Something to think about:
The cost of the rail system would have to be paid for, in large part, by the full time residents....or less than 170,000 people would need to pay for the system....
We are very lucky that the county has decided to TOTALLY subsidize the current mass transit, as before they did, bus ridership did not justify the system throughout much of the island....the subsidy was a last ditch effort to maintain an island wide system. Even today, with a free bus, ridership on some of the buses is far below full (in fact, it is still rare to have a totally full bus, very few of the routes have full ridership.....
THIS FACT ALONE WOULD MAKE FOR A VERY HARD SELL ON THE NECCESSITY OF A RAIL SERVICE, as a bus service is far more flexible to the needs of the population than a rail service, and is far more flexible in case of some of the natural things that happen on this island.
Edited by - carey on 08/29/2007 18:34:51
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quote:
Lets not forget the associated problems when those on the East Side, are turned back by a bunch of people on the West Side dressed in the latest Calvin Klein Genuine imitation Aloha Shirt blocking the tracks with their Lexus crossover SUV's and brightly colored scooters yelling "GO HOME" while drinking their moicha-frappa-latte-la-la.
Now THAT cracks me up!
But serially folks...
Not Light Rail...Magnetic Elevated High Speed rail that goes through Federal Land over the saddle, powered by electricity generated by a wind farm thru the very same saddle, running services from the airports with stops in between downtown Waimea, Hilo and Kona. Something that can get you there in 30 minutes or so.
Hey...I can dream can't I?
I am really hoping that Island Air doesn't go "belly up" as they're the only airline I know of that actually has regularly scheduled flights that go between Hilo and Kona.
We wouldn't be in this mess if other airlines were as considerate to the business travelers on the Big Island.
As for bus service...I'd like to get there sometime the same morning or afternoon. In my opinion it's just not fast enough.
"What? Me Worry?" - Alfred E. Nueman
Edited by - wjbillock on 08/29/2007 19:31:15
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