December 29, 2004. New
York's hybrids fall short General
Motors said their hybrid buses would show a fuel economy improvement of up to 60
percent, instead the savings around the country appear to be in the range of 10 percent
to 20 percent. READ MORE
(need to register with NY Times,
no charge).
December 26, 2004. Say
"aloha"
to sustainable potholes. Mayor
Harris leaves office and Mufi Hannemann is sworn in as Mayor one
week from now on January 2nd.
December 19, 2004.

It's
the potholes, stupid! And
the BRT fiasco, and neighborhood signs (so residents know where
they live?), and the Hawaii Kai medians (that residents do not want),
and Ala Wai narrowing, and Kuhio traffic. But we do wish to thank
him for the new streetlights on Kalakaua Avenue; they are really
nice. They are much better than the L.A. style ones he put up the
first time. (Cartoon: Dick Adair, Honolulu Advertiser, 12/19/04)
December 18, 2004. BOSTON'S
'BIG DIG' DIGGING A DEEPER FINANCIAL HOLE. Now
the feds are saying they will withold funds. MORE
For
a more complete list of Boston Herald recent articles on the
Big Dig fiasco read here.MORE.
December 17, 2004. OPPOSITION
TO SEATTLE
RAIL FUNDED BY DEVELOPERS. A
surprising fact about the opposition to the Seattle Monorail project
is that developers in that city are funding it. They believe it
will have a detrimental effect on downtown Seattle. MORE
It reminds us of the opposition from
downtown Portland businesspeople who also believed transit would
not be beneficial. MORE
Those business people thinking
that so-called 'light' rail would improve property values might
want to investigate this.
December 13, 2004. SEATTLE
POST SAYS HYBRIDS NOT SAVING FUEL. "The disappointing results are a far cry from the rosy predictions made by
officials," the newspaper says. MORE
December 11, 2004. MORE
ON THE MAYOR-ELECT'S
VIEWS ON 'E' ROUTE. The Advertiser headlines today that "Mayor-elect Mufi Hannemann said he will probably divert new hybrid city
buses from their Downtown-to-Waikiki route because few riders seem to be using
them and they are competing with private bus companies." MORE
December 10, 2004. MAYOR-ELECT'S
COMMITTEE SEEKS NEW TRANSPORTATION DIRECTOR For full list
of members and their affiliations READ HERE. For a discussion
of all the Mayor-elect's search committees and their members read
about them at HAWAII
REPORTER.
December
10, 2004. HAWAII HOUSE NAMES TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE MEMBERS.
Joe Souki remains Chair and Marilyn Lee replaces Kirk Caldwell.
For full committee members and contacts,
READ
HERE.
December 9, 2004. HANNEMANN
UNVEILS TRAFFIC PLANS FOR FIRST DAYS. Get rid of BRT, synchronize
traffic lights, work with the state on traffic management and consider
redoing Kuhio and Ala Wai. READ IT IN HAWAII REPORTER
December 8, 2004 LETTER
TO THE EDITOR SAYS IT ALL The
writer reminds Advertiser readers that, last time
around, when voters finally saw through the City's
lies, the 65 percent support for rail transit
switched to 65 percent opposition.
READ THE LETTER
December
7, 2004 PRO-RAIL SURVEY
SKEWED The
Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization (OMPO)
poll released recently was skewed in favor of
rail. For example, would you prefer a "difficult
and expensive" highway or a "rail rapid transit"
system? Especially when the reversible highway
option is less expensive and much
faster.
READ MORE
December
6, 2004.
PACIFIC BUSINESS NEWS
EDITORIALIZES ON KUHIO “Harris and Co. also displayed
a we-know-what's-best arrogance that was most
evident in the ongoing revitalization of Waikiki,
especially the questionable remodeling of Kuhio
Avenue. The Harris administration prided itself on
listening, but it was extremely selective about
what it heard. It's now up to Hannemann
...”
READ THE EDITORIAL
December 5, 2004.
FHWA ISSUES NEW REPORT ON
CONGESTION The
chart below from the report shows the causes of
traffic congestion nationally. Oahu has a greater
share for signal timing and traffic incidents
since we handle these so poorly.
READ THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.
FHWA's
sources of congestion:
December 4, 2004.
HANNEMAN TO INVESTIGATE
WAIKIKI TRAFFIC
PROBLEMS
The Mayor-elect tells Hawaii Reporter that he will
meet with emergency service providers and others
in Waikiki to assess what changes are needed to
improve traffic congestion — in addition to
halting the current BRT service.
READ HAWAII REPORTER STORY
TODAY'S
QUOTES:
"...(busways) permit the
operation of high-volume, reliable service at a
cost far less than new rail construction...what
might be an undesirable two-transfer ride on rail
system (auto to rail to walk/bus/subway) could be
a no- or one-transfer ride on a bus/HOV system."
U.S. Department of
Transportation.
National Transportation Strategic Planning
Study. 1989.
pp.12-17.
"Regardless
of how good a mass transit system is developed for
Honolulu, no private cars will be taken off the
highways, and the vehicle population will continue
to increase." Hawaii Dept of
Transportation.
Report to the 9th Legislature Relating to the
Statewide Transportation
Council.
December 1977.
p.7.
December 3, 2004.
HANNEMAN PLANS TO HALT
BRT.
Mayor-elect Mufi Hanneman told Hawaii Reporter's
Malia Zimmerman today that he plans to halt the
BRT buses once in office. He said that these large
$800,000 buses could be put to better use for
local residents on longer city bus
runs.
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