These days, something cool besides the sea air visits the Paia Community Center parking lot at around eight in the morning. The new Maui Bus makes a stop there to pick up any souls looking to escape Paia and head into Haiku for work or otherwise.
It comes fresh from the Kahului airport and the hub at the Ka’ahumanu Center. The Ka’ahumanu Center is a transfer location where Mauians can catch a ride to almost any corner of the island. With routes servicing areas including Kihei, Lahaina and Wailuku, the Maui Bus begins service as early as 4:53 a.m. Commuter bus fares are $1 per passenger each way. A monthly pass can be purchased for $25.
The commuter routes have been in operation since July of this year. Maui County transportation director Kyle Ginoza says the routes started slow but picked up.
“They picked up enough that we had to put bigger vehicles on the routes,” says Ginoza. They went from 14-passenger to 25-passenger busses. In August there were 480 trips on the Haiku commuter route. On the Makawao run there were 874 passenger transported. System-wide there were 53,040 passenger trips in August, Ginoza says.
People are required to make a reservation by 3 p.m. the day before so that the right size bus can be sent, Ginoza says. People can make a reservation by calling 871-4383.
In the morning you can catch the bus at the Haiku Community center at 5:40 a.m., at the Paia Community Center at 5:55 a.m. or at the Kuihelani Highway Park and Ride at 6:10 a.m.
On the Makawao route you can catch the bus at the tennis court parking lot at Eddie Tam Gym at 5:40 a.m., below the pool at the Pukalani Community Center at 5:50 a.m. and at the Kuihelani Highway Park and Ride at 6:10 a.m.
The busses go on to Lahaina and Kihei and there is no charge for a transfer to another commuter bus.
In the afternoon you can reverse the route and catch the bus at the Kuihelani Highway Park and Ride at 5:25 p.m, get to Paia by 5:45 p.m. and Haiku by 6 p.m. If you are going to Makawao you can also start at the Kuihelani Highway Park and Ride at 5:45 p.m., get to Pukalani by 5:50 and Eddie Tam by 6 p.m.
There is still room for improvement.
“We have to expand and add more stops,” Upcountry bus driver Alex Villa says. “There’s not enough promotion either.”
Villa is an employee of Roberts Hawaii, the company contracted by the county to provide the public transportation service. He wasn’t sure about the new bus at first, but he liked the idea of driving the morning Upcountry route when his employer offered it to him.
“I used to be a police officer and worked the upcountry area,” Villa says, “They call me the ‘Upcountry king.’”
Sure enough, Villa spots his old partner from his days on the force at the Haiku Marketplace stop. However, he did concede that other routes may be more difficult for the drivers.
“I love the bus,” says Dano Galbraith of Kihei, who rides the morning bus into Haiku, “They should have more routes and busses. Helps to get me out of Kihei!”
At the Haiku Community Center the bus picked up a girl on her way to work and another young lady with her grandparents (first-timers on the Maui Bus). The crowd wasn’t sure if they should get on then or wait for the bus to return from the Haiku Marketplace stop, but they piled on after a brief moment of indecision.
The community center crowd also concurs with Villa unanimously: the routes need to be fleshed out. The young girl’s comment on how nice it is not driving into town and the grandparents both had cars in the shop. Everyone’s enthusiasm shows how wildly popular the Maui Bus actually is, with those who know of it.
And where do you find info on the Maui Bus? Online, at the website www.co.maui.hi.us/bus/. “We saw the ad in the newspaper,” says the bus-riding grandmother from Haiku, who was going downtown for some blood work. However, with so few actually riding the bus it may be wonting more fanfare.
The Haiku and Upcountry routes are called commuter routes for a reason. Dolores Dela Cruz catches the bus at 5:55 a.m. to get to her West Maui hotel job, which starts at 8:30 a.m. She doesn’t mind the wait.
“A dollar is a good price,” she says.
Don Gronning contributed to this report.