Pearl City abuzz
about plan to park
350 buses in area

The city wants more buses to be operating
out of a Manana warehouse site

By Gordon Pang
Star-Bulletin

Pearl City residents are miffed that Mayor Jeremy Harris may store 350 buses at the city's Manana warehouse site.

The objections are coming as the administration announced it is securing a Home Depot outlet at Pearl City Junction across the street.

The two projects are part of an overall Manana plan. The city bought the properties for a total of $109 million to help the Navy get funding for the Ford Island bridge, which connects the island to Oahu's shore.

Members of the citizen-based Manana Task Force say they were first told only 175 buses would be placed at the site. When they released their task force report a year ago, they agreed to 250 buses.

But at a meeting with the Manana Task Force Tuesday night, administration officials said they are now seriously considering upping that figure by 100.

Doing so may create traffic, noise and other worries, say area Councilman Mufi Hannemann and other members of the task force.

The city is forecasting a 650-bus fleet in the next few years. The remaining buses would be housed at Oahu Transit Services' main bus facility at Middle Street. Currently, buses are stored at Middle Street and a city base yard in Halawa.

But Hannemann yesterday got the Council to defer final plans at Halawa pending the outcome of the dispute over the number of buses in Manana.

City Transportation Services Director Cheryl Soon said it's not definite that 350 buses will be housed at Manana. An environmental impact study has yet to be done and the city will take the community's worries into consideration, she said.

But Pearl City Neighborhood Board Chairman Jerry Souza said residents weren't happy when told Tuesday night of the city's new bus storage plans.

Souza said the task force, which he is also a member of, made numerous concessions over a two-year period.

Soon said that assuming 350 buses at Manana, the traffic impact of more buses would likely be minimal since buses traditionally go in and out of a base yard during nonpeak hours.

Souza disagreed. "We're talking about between 4 and 5 in the morning, about 60 buses will be leaving and about between 5 and 6, about 70 buses," he said. "And that's under the 225-bus proposal. You bring that up to 350, my God, that changes the whole complexion."