HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-12 MTSC report-minutes 24Feb15Communication No. 2015 -12
PCDP Mass Transit Subcommittee minutes, February 24, 2015
In attendance: June Conant, Rusty Jones, Jon Olson, Sharon Daun, and Hannah Hedrick.
June attended the Transportation Commission meeting in Kona on February 12 and met with Danny Paleka,
Greggor Ilagan, and Tiffany Kai on February 19 in Danny's office. At the Transportation meeting, Tiffany said
that MTA was working on a schedule for the Hilo airport and hoped to have it operational in 2 months. She did
not give any information for a Kona schedule.
At the February 19th meeting, Tiffany started by stating that Hawai'i County MTA now has a mandate from the
Federal Transit Authority to provide paratransit for Hilo and Kona or they will lose federal funding. The notice
was sent by the Hawai'i Dept of Transportation. She said they have set aside $800,000 to contract the service
out. Danny said he will get more information on this situation to determine the obligation and the plan for
implementation.
June expressed to Tiffany that the MT Subcommittee is frustrated because there has been no response to the
letters sent by the PCDP requesting information about the County Master Transit Plan, hub and spoke, and
airport /post office service. She reiterated that the Mass Transit Subcommittee is willing to help in any way it
can to make these important issues a reality.
Airport /post office service — Tiffany said that the Hilo airport schedule will be incorporated into the Keaukaha
route and that the route, which now takes a lunch break, will change to be continual during the day. They are
working on the possible schedule now and hope to have it in place within 2 months. The committee asked if
the following points were discussed:
1. Was a stop at the airport post office discussed? No
2. Would there be a double fee for those going from the airport to Hilo town? Currently, when ship visitors
board the bus at the market, some drivers charge them from the market to Richardson's and from
Richardson's to Hilo because Richardson's is considered "the end of the route" . That was not discussed.
June stated that the hourly route for that bus always runs late so the added time to the airport has to be
realistic.
Kea'au bus shelter — at a July, 2013 meeting with June, Patti Pinto, Larry Brown, and Tiffany, she stated that
she had the funds and Shipman's permission to build a shelter at the vacant lot on the Hilo side of the Kea'au
farmer's market. When asked why that didn't happen, she stated that it was part of a CIP to build 1 shelter
each in Kea'au and Kurtistown, and 2 in Na'alehu. The funds never came through. She was requested to
determine the status of that CIP.
Mass Transit Plan — Tiffany admitted that MTA has been lax on getting this accomplished. She did not make it
part of her recent budget and she realizes that it needs to be done. June asked if her assistant, John Andoh
could work on a rough plan. She did not know. Danny asked June to send him the original CIP request from
the PCDP.
Bus racks — Stephanie Bath has requested that racks able to hold 4 bikes be available especially on Puna buses
Tiffany said she has been working on procuring a few of them.
Communication No. 2015 -12
Hub and spoke — several scenarios were discussed regarding the lower Puna area and how to help the long
rides for the residents of Nanwale. Greggor has ridden all the lower Puna routes and he gave his input. June
said that there needs to be better service to both areas, but upper Puna seems to get ignored. Fern Acres and
Hawaiian Acres were discussed and June said she is not familiar with that area but would check to see how
service could be improved along Hwy 11. The subcommittee has members from that area so they could assist
with some hub and spoke options. Tiffany said she had been requested to add earlier service to the Red Road
area and asked if the subcommittee could get more information as to the need for that. June will check with
the PCDP members who live in that area to determine who to contact.
MTA and the DOE — Greggor bought this issue to the table and said he wanted to know more about the
relationship between the Dept of Education and the use of public buses for students. June questioned how
public buses can serve only as a school bus, such as the one which leaves the mall at 7:15 each morning and
goes to the Kea'au Hawaiian school. There is also a special bus in the afternoon to return the students to the
mall. Greggor will study this issue more.
The subcommittee agreed that June should send an email to Tiffany to state what was understood at the
meeting and to also express considerations to address with the Hilo airport route. Hannah also requested that
we remind Tiffany of past communications regarding transit service that have never been answered. In
particular the July 15, 2010 memo stated that a $350,000 grant was received to further hub and spoke.
Whatever happened to those funds?
Danny is the chair for the Hawai'i County Council Mass Transit Committee and he lives in Puna. Greggor, from
his experience riding the bus routes understands many of the issues. Both of them want to work together to
assist our subcommittee as well as to improve the transit service. June feels that with these 2 councilmen
working with us we have a more positive outlook toward progress.
The next committee meeting will be Tuesday, March 24, 2015 at 3:30 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
June Conant