FD4 This has got to be the bus ride of all bus rides Reviewed & Redone

Robert Akau
FD4
May 07, 2011

I board the bus on Ala Moana Boulevard at Restaurant Row taking me to the stop where I then board the final route 89 bus heading home. The traffic is unusually heavy. The bus is moderately filled and has an atmosphere where talking is taking place and is almost party like. Where it normally takes fifteen minutes for this bus to get to the stop I transfer at, the stop and go of the traffic takes this bus a bit longer to move ahead. When it reaches the inland turn from AlaMoana Boulevard to the start of Alakea Street, one cannot help but notice that the traffic congestion on Alakea Street fills the street for the next two or three blocks ahead. Crossing Queen Street, the cross traffic heading both east and west on Queen Street is also congested and slowly moving as drivers remain cordial in allowing others the right of way. From Ala Moana Boulevard to where I catch my connecting bus, one may time the speed of the traffic by the number of times that the stop signal changes at the numerous intersections the bus passes through. One or two changes of the signal indicates easily moving traffic. Signals changing in five or six cycles indicates that traffic is not moving in a timely manner. The trip normally done in 20 minutes takes almost 45 minutes to complete. [THESIS] What impeded traffic flow and what were the factors which slowed its dispersal?[THESIS]
Some feeling of relief is felt as I am aboard the bus taking me to my final destination.The bus makes its way inland on Alakea Street and crosses Beretania, then turns left on Queen Emma Street and then turns inland, facing north on the start of it's trek up the Pali Highway. The traffic accompanying the bus all exhibit this slowness in moving. The automobiles alongside each other remain cordial and move in courteously cooperating movements. The traffic moves at a snail's pace. As our bus edges foward towards the mountain, the traffic moving both east and west also moves at a very slow rate of speed. Traffic normally moving through the Pali bound corridor experience a easy and speedy pace making its way to the Pali tunnel. This ease and speed was not to be had as traffic going over the Pali slowed its pace. I boarded the route 89 a little after 5pm.. The five mile ride towards the tunnel went beyond an hour but gave the ridership a leisurely ride through the forested scenery making up Nuuanu valley. If one had boarded the bus, he or she had resigned himself or herself to the slowness of the trip due to circumstances beyond his or her control. Calling for someone to pick one up with a personally owned car would have only added one more automobile to the congestion and would have been greatly discouraged.
The bus ride within the traffic moves at a very slow rate of speed. The slow movement was somewhat alieviated by traffic departing west or away from the center of the cause, some thirty miles away and over the mountain on the south east side of the island. The passengers on the bus are occupied with viewing the traffic congestion outside and still in wonder about how traffic events in Honolulu could impact the traffic flow, over the Ko'olau Mountains. The Pali tunnel serves a collecting function as all traffic heading over the mountain to the windward side are funneled into two lanes through the tunnel. From the vineyard street area, fed from the west, by the H-1 offramp in the vicinity of the Bishop Museum, and fed from the east, by the H-1 offramp in the vicinity of the Queen's Hospital, automobiles heading north gather from these viaducts, make their way north via its intersection with the Pali Highway and the Nuuanu Avenue. The Pali highway is fed through the many branching streets of Palama, Liliha and Nuuanu, flowing past the historic Oahu Cemetary, northward.
It is after passing Castle Hospital and the State Correctional facilities in Kailua that attention is given the sun quickly sinking into the sunset over the Koolau Mountains of Kaneohe. This last five to seven mile stretch of highway becomes the place for all; waiting to arrive home after a days work, to silently experience an event undoubtedly taken for granted. Sitting in our bus or car seats as if coerced and held at gunpoint, we are all resigned to watch the sun set and the sky become dark. This period of time is usually reserved for having dinner and watching Joe Moore with the six pm news report.We slowly realize the possibility of arriving home after sunset. Some make calls home letting family members know about their predicament along with last minute dinner instructions. Arriving home “after dark”, is usually an indication that we were distracted with errands, which was not descriptive of the ridership here. A highlight to forever stick in my memory is seeing the headlamps of autos in both lanes of this rural community in traffic gridlock as far as the eye could see. Reminicent of Kalakaua Boulevard or Kuhio Avenue; with all of its pedestrian tourists hidden in the glare of the headlamps, in Waimanalo, is an imagineable though unwelcomed thought.
The Bus routes impacted by the circumstances were all of the downtown Honolulu routes going eastbound. All routes departing downtown Honolulu heading north through the Koolau mountains to Kailua, Kaneohe and Waimanalo were also affected. Routes 22 and 23 leaving Waimanalo's Sea Life Park and returning to Honolulu by way of East Honolulu also slowed as traffic made its way back to the freeway going west.
The location of the events of the crime, took place in two residential areas. These areas of eastern Honolulu, during an evening departure from downtown Honolulu had become the final destination of those living in areas on the eastern part of Oahu. This returning population was merely held in a waiting pattern as further investigation into events of the crime were conduced. Drivers were subsequently "released" to continue on. A few feet away, the express lanes going east, would have greatly contributed to lessening commute times for multi-occupancy private vehicles and buses.
The traffic of commuters returning home by way of East Honolulu also slowed as traffic made its way back to the freeway going west. Travel times for buses on the H-1 freeway could possibly have been an hour. The time it took for all of the buses to reach its next stop averaged forty minutes. Bus routes in the 60 numbered series generally made more stops than buses in the 80 numbered series. All of the 80 series express buses terminated at the park and ride area across of the Ross’s, Costco shopping area. The overall traffic slowed all buses equally and on average, all buses shared in the same amount of travel time. The express lanes after the H-1 freeway going east would have greatly contributed to lessening commute times for multi-occupancy vehicles such as buses.
The imposition of the crime affected everyone in downtown Honolulu and directions eastward on that day. Those living in Pearl City and westward endured lessening discomfort as they continued their trip going westward. The population had received the impact in a fairly healthy manner. Buses, although delayed, arrived orderly. Boarding and disembarking was thankfully uneventful. From my perspective, the waiting lines did seem to be longer that usual and made some people double check to see if the bus they were boarding was the correct one.
Inquiry into statistics from events following this crime shows no specific investigation is being pursued. Inquiry with the Department of Highways and Transportation of the State of Hawaii, has pointed towards the Department of Highway Planning and Design as the subordinate agency most interested in what happened on that day. The Government of the Honolulu City and County would only have a monitoring function over facilities under their jurisdiction. The City's Bus service greatly impacted by these events, is slowly gathering statistics summarizing the events of that day. Any number of impacts upon their resources, machines, driver corps and ridership is not as yet undergoing any public inquiry or scrutiny, but will slowly become available as inquiries are made. The Honolulu Police Departments information collection and assessment functions would start with the various field reports generated by the individual officers in their various functions. Public wishing to access this resource for information will need to specifically ask for information not exclusive to investigation of the crime. A survey of Patrol Officers leads me to learn that the the traffic event generated as a result of the hijacking was a low priority and expressed minimal reporting describing the traffic situation in Waimanlo. One may only by conjecture assume similar views by officers around the island. This may require waiting for determination to be made as to what information is releasable to the public. These agencies may gather this information through eventual accumulation. Gathering the information most helpful in gaining insight into any frailty of our current city and community design in light of events, is better helped, given the most time available and aside accuracy, done with minimal constraints.
Events impeding traffic have at least two other incidents in the past which resulted in traffic gridlock. One incident was an auto collision on the freeway in the Pearl City Area which slowed the oncoming going home traffic eventually slowing traffic in and around the AlaMoana shopping district and beyond. The events of the highjacking on Ainakoa St took place in the vicinity of Kalani High School and impacted traffic as far away as the Koolau mountain range to the northeastern coastline of Oahu in the communities of Kaneohe, Kailua and Waimanalo. Curiousity exists about how traffic gridlock could have been minimized. A number of issues put in tandem with each other, had served to impede traffic flow and along with rerouting, resulted in traffic accumulating and not dispersing in a timely fashion.

Log of Completed Activities
_L_ Apr. 7- Intro to Paper #4: Read Guidelines for Paper #4: Literary Journalism
_L_ Apr. 11- Complete readings for paper #4: chap. 15

_X  Apr. 15- Laulima Discussion #1.

_L_ Apr. 21- Laulima Discussion #2.

_X_ Apr. 29- RD4 due [50 pts] Review the guidelines.

_X_ May 2- Submit three RD4 evaluations. [50 pts] Review the guidelines.

_X_ May 4-9- FD4 due [150 pts] Review the guidelines.