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March, 1978

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General Meeting - CZM
Message from the President (Helen Griffin)
Transportation
Report on February Units (Fran Burgess)
Family Conference
Calendar
Membership
LWV of Honolulu - Proposed Budget 1978-79
Proposed Program 1978-79

Transportation

The units in March will discuss some of the pros and cons on the proposed fixed guideway.

Most people agree that:

Growing auto traffic uses scarce energy, pollutes air, is expensive, congests streets and highways, and wastes time.

Building more and more streets, highways, or freeways is expensive, causes inconvenience, and does not in the long run reduce traffic congestion.

Mass transit can move larger numbers of people more efficiently and at lower costs than private automobiles. It will be used if it is fast, accessible, comfortable, reliable, and reasonably priced.

Honolulu's TheBus system is not adequate as presently operated to meet the island's transit needs indefinitely.

Public transit of any kind needs subsidies, which are justified in terms of the benefits it provides.

But people disagree on what kind of mass transit system to have.

The City administration proposes a fixed guideway, ultimately 23 miles in length (Pearl City to Hawaii Kai), starting with either an 8-mile segment (airport to U. of H.), or a 14-mile stretch (stadium to Kahala Mall).

(Definition: A fixed guideway is a separate track or rail on its own right-of-way, at grade, underground, or elevated, used only by transit vehicles with specially fitted wheels.)

Opponents claim that the capital cost of a fixed guideway is not justified in Honolulu, and that some of the arguments which are made for the fixed guideway can also be made for alternative forms of mass transit -alternatives which are cheaper, such as an improved and expanded bus system which utilizes reserved lanes, express and coupled vehicles, off-street loading, grade separations at bottlenecks, etc.

Either system would be supplemented by a network of local and feeder buses.

Summary of the current local position on transportation: Support of a transportation system which provides increasingly attractive alternatives to the automobile, a continually improving mass transit system in terms of service and equal access for all, and a creative planning process by government and the public which identifies differing needs within the community and recognizes the relationship between transportation and land use planning.

Summary of the current national position: Support of comprehensive transit systems planned by the community which integrate several forms of transportation, weigh all social and environmental costs, and are publicly financed.

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