Public bus fares may be going up on Kaua’i. The price of 50 cents for a bus ride for seniors, youths and the disabled and the $1 regular fare would each rise 50 cents, to $1 and $1.50, respectively. Janine
Public bus fares may be going up on Kaua’i.
The price of 50 cents for a bus ride for seniors, youths and the disabled and the $1 regular fare would each rise 50 cents, to $1 and $1.50, respectively.
Janine Rapozo, Kaua’i County’s executive on transportation, said there hasn’t been a fare hike since 1995.
“One of the main reasons” for the proposed increase “is we’re coming to the end of the federal money,” Rapozo said.
After Hurricane Iniki in 1992, federal funding bankrolled Kaua’i’s early bus service. In fact, there was no charge at all to ride the bus until 1995, when the county had to assume some of the transit operation costs.
“In ’95, as the (federal) money started dwindling, we needed to consolidate (some routes) and had to start charging,” Rapozo noted.
The County Council last Thursday voted to put the fare measure on an upcoming agenda, where it can be discussed in a public forum. Nothing is legally binding after a first-reading passage such as the one last week.
Rapozo noted that a monthly pass for regular riders was going down from $25 to $20. But she also noted that the senior and disabled pass would, if approved, go up from $12.50 to $20.
Rapozo said most regular riders understand the need for the rise, but she admitted council members might hear from the elderly.
“I’m sure, from the senior’s perspective, it is going up,” she said.
On Kauai’s buses, a senior citizen is anyone 60 or over who maintains a senior citizen identification card issued by the county’s Office of Elderly Affairs.
A youth (the student designation is being altered to youth) is anyone between the ages of 7 and 18, with identification to prove that.
Children 6 and under would still ride free under the new legislation.
“I would hate to have to raise the bus fare, but I do have to look at the budget, too,” Councilman Gary Hooser said.
Bus riders who don’t agree with the rate hike will get their chance to comment at the Historic County Building in Lihu’e April 11.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
