2013-13 AC-MTA Mass transit hub and spoke

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Communication No. 2013 -13 Tiffany Kai Acting Administrator for Mass Transit 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Aloha, Ms. Kai, The Puna Community Development Plan (PCDP), adopted by County Ordinance in September 2008, includes actions related to implementing a "Hub and Spoke" Hele -On system for the Puna district (Chapter 4, Section 2). The PCDP recognizes that the hub and spoke model, used worldwide, has demonstrated effectiveness and has been described as a method that provides "the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people." The primary goal of this communication is to begin implementing PCDP actions related to a hub -and spoke system with primary and secondary transit hubs by immediately "looping" buses from the Kea'au primary transit hub to secondary hubs in Pahoa and Volcano. Implementation of the hub and spoke system summarized below will use existing bus stops and would not include physical terminal facilities at this time. The proposed system would work as follows: 1. Busses arriving in Kea'au from the Hilo "master terminal" would circulate between Kea'au and Hilo only. 2. Public bus routes that serve makai and mauka Puna would originate in Kea'au and circulate between secondary hub terminals on published schedules. 3. Travel scheduled during peak hours beyond the secondary terminals would extend to outlying communities, such as Kalapana (from the Pahoa - Kea'au route) and Pahala (from the Volcano - Kea'au route). 4. Direct express buses could run from secondary hubs to and from Hilo during peak hours. The PCDP Action Committee considers implementation of the "Hub and Spoke" system as directly related to the regional and village center plans emerging from community planning efforts in Kea'au, Pahoa, Volcano, Mountain View, and Kalapana. We encourage MTA to defer adding additional routes until the PCDP Action Committee can work with these community planning teams to ensure that public bus terminals /stops and routes are integrated into their plans. Respectfully, Patti Pinto, Chair Puna Community Development Team Action Committee cc: Brenda ford Zendo Kern Gregory Illgan