The Maui County Council voted to approve a bill Tuesday morning to expand eligibility to the fare-free bus access program.
Bill 95 expands eligibility for the fare-free bus access program to include students of any age and anyone who is 55 years and older, along with Maui County employees. The bill raises the criteria to include Maui residents whose household income is 300%, up from 200%, of the poverty threshold.
The bill also authorizes the director of transportation to suspend enforcement of fares for special events, parades or emergency closures for up to 14 days in a fiscal year.
This isn't a first across the state: The City and Council of Honolulu allows the council to suspend fares for up to one week for promotional purposes.
According to the Climate Action and Resiliency Plan, supporting alternative transportation modes is a low-cost, low-effort option that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve equity.
Maui Councilmember Gabe Johnson said in a hearing on July 2, “I drafted this bill with the administration to promote Maui bus ridership and to advance the Climate Action and Resiliency Plan directive to reduce residents and visitors’ dependence on single passenger vehicles.”
Councilmember Kauanoe Batangan supported the bill, and at a July hearing said that he doesn’t believe that the biggest impediment to ridership is cost but convenience. Batangan told councilmembers that it’s convenient to take a single occupancy vehicle, but bus ridership could increase with increased frequency and reach.
The bill passed Tuesday with eight “yes” votes. Councilmember Shane Sinenci was excused absent.
A one-way fare on the Maui Bus costs $2 and a daily pass costs $4, according to the Maui County Department of Transportation.
Marc Takamori, director of Maui’s Transportation Department, said in July that the department would not be collecting approximately $2,806 from riders. According to Takamori, the Department of Transportation pulls 13% of the county’s Highway Fund to fund the public transit program.
Haley Lehman can be reached at haley@alohastatedaily.com.
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