Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

The latest shift in public support, with half of surveyed voters now on board with the project, comes primarily from Filipino-Americans and working-age voters. Three months ago, only 44% of Oahu voters polled said work on the project should continue.

Said that based on the size of Honolulu and the number of projected riders, bus rapid transit would be a better investment than rail.

Daniel Grabauskas answered various questions from skeptical Leeward Community College students.

May rescind its support of the $5.3 billion steel-on-steel rail project proposal after surveying its 4,000 Oahu members.

Predicts that the city’s planned rail system will bump up construction jobs, from 28,500 last year to close to 36,000 by 2015.

The group of opponents includes the former governor of Hawaii, a former trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the leader of a nonprofit transportation watchdog corporation. The complaint names federal and Honolulu transit officials as defendants.

In addition to revenues from the general excise tax, now expected to be $3.3 billion over the next 20 years, the project shaved off $200 million from the cost officials reported in a financial plan submitted to the Federal Transit Administration.

When completed in 2019, Hawaii's most expensive public works project ever is projected to carry about 116,000 people and remove about 40,000 cars from the roadways each day.

Rogoff said the FTA's concerns include the latest proof that the city has sufficient resources to pay its share of the $5.5 billion the city estimates it'll cost to build the 20-mile elevated system.

The $1.55 billion isn't a guarantee, Inouye claimed. Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said delays could jeopardize half-percent excise fund that's holding more than half a billion dollars.