RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Oahu's traffic congestion has been intolerable for many years, and continues to worsen as more people commute to and from Honolulu in their automobiles; and

WHEREAS, many solutions to Oahu's traffic woes have been discussed in the past, including development of a fixed rail system, a ferry system, a bus rapid transit system, and even development of a "second city" so that Honolulu would not be the primary city in which people worked and recreated; and

WHEREAS, none of the proposed solutions that has been discussed has ever been implemented; and

WHEREAS, TheBus has been successful in getting people out of their cars and onto public transportation, and has consistently been rated among the best public bus systems in any metropolitan area of the United States; and

WHEREAS, recently many political leaders, both at the State and county levels, have reaffirmed their interest in developing a bus rapid transit system on Oahu; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2003, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Transportation (DOT) is requested to conduct a study on the cost effectiveness of TheBus and a bus rapid transit system; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the DOT's study shall include the following areas:

(1) Money spent on recreation using TheBus;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the DOT submit its report to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the 2004 regular session; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor and the Director of Transportation.

Report Title:

Requests the Department of Transportation to conduct a study regarding the cost effectiveness of TheBus and a bus rapid transit system.