Hawaiʻi Island's mass transit budget has increased by 400% since 2018. At a budget hearing on Thursday, Hawaiʻi County council members questioned whether that fourfold investment has been worth it.
When the county released its transportation master plan in 2018, the transit budget stood at about $14 million. It's since inflated to almost $60 million, according to Zac Bergum with the transit agency.
Some of that increase is due to factors outside of the agency's control, like rising fuel and equipment costs. But the agency's largest expenditures are its contracts to operate buses and vans along its fixed and paratransit routes across Hawaiʻi Island.
Many residents rely on the bus to get to work, school, or appointments. But Hawaiʻi Island's vast geography and spread-out population make it challenging to craft routes that serve everyone.
Bergum suggested that in order to be more effective, the transit agency could roll out a micro-transit program, which would help connect people in rural communities to the main bus routes.
"We also are missing a key element, and that is reaching the people in the more rural areas," he said.
Council Member Heather Kimball, who represents Hilo and the Hāmākua Coast, acknowledged that the bus is an essential service for some, but asked whether pouring money into mass transit on Hawaiʻi Island was an effective use of the county's resources.
"The story nationally is, in order for mass transit to work, you just got to throw money at it and build it and make it really easy and accessible," Kimball said. "But there's a point where you got to, like, okay, just say this isn't working. We got to cut and pivot."
Council Member Ashley Kierkiewicz, who represents Pāhoa and parts of Puna, agreed with Kimball that it was time to take a serious look at the bus' budget and service plan.
"We are at a critical juncture where we need to evaluate the sustainability of the program, reevaluate our master plan and what the community needs now, because the needs when the community was engaged a decade ago have likely changed," Kierkiewicz said.
Hele-On ridership is stop-and-go
Ridership on Hawaiʻi Island's Hele-On transit system peaked at roughly 1.3 million in 2012. That number declined by a third between 2012 and 2016 due to fare increases and issues with service reliability.
Hele-On took another big hit during the pandemic. In 2021, the bus had about 325,000 passengers, meaning a million fewer people were taking mass transit than a decade ago.
Bergum reported that ridership is now on the upswing, with close to a million passengers in fiscal year 2024.
After the pandemic, Hele-On made its fares free to stoke ridership. That program, which was supported by COVID-era funds, is scheduled to end in December.
Unless the council intervenes, fares will revert to $1 for seniors and students, $2 for regular fixed routes, and $4 for paratransit routes.
Puna Council Member Matt Kanealiʻi-Kleinfelder noted that fares for Hele-On would provide only a small stream of revenue compared to the overall mass transit budget.
"That's just a hard fact," he said. "We'll never have our fares pay for the department's expenses."
Kanealiʻi-Kleinfelder also advised the agency to prepare for possible changes to its main funding source: general excise tax. The council has voted in favor of a measure to divert some GET surcharge revenue to affordable housing initiatives.
Kanealiʻi-Kleinfelder told Bergum at Thursday's budget hearing that mass transit may soon have to make do with less.
"I would be very cognizant of that as a department that you are potentially going to lose funding in the future," he said.
