Peter Carlisle cites a study Cayetano signed off on as governor. Challenger Kirk Caldwell calls Cayetano’s bus-on-shoulder idea dangerous.
Ben Cayetano says as mayor he’d return to ideas in former Mayor Jeremy Harris’ bus rapid transit plan studied and approved a decade ago.
"This is 2003. You get a new mayor in 2004, and he tosses this in the wastebasket and comes up with his pet steel on steel which costs five times more," said candidate for Honolulu mayor, Ben Cayetano.
Ala Moana and Kapiolani routes are cited in the study, but Cayetano says he’d look at rerouting alignments down King and Beretania. Mayor Peter Carlisle says Cayetano knew as governor that that alternative wouldn’t fly.
“The 2003 plan Cayetano approved flat-out rejected King and Beretania streets for consideration,” said Mayor Carlisle, who is running for re-election.
The final environmental impact study was signed off by then-governor Cayetano.
“The truth is Cayetano rejected the very proposal he is now campaigning on-and for good reason, small businesses would be hurt, much-needed parking would be taken away,” said Mayor Carlisle.
Cayetano responded that it’s still better than what he calls a bad rail plan. "What do you think this is going to do to traffic when you build it? It’s going to close this street and Bishop Street. How about that for an impact on business?” said Cayetano.
But, Cayetano says, “the thing about the bus is it’s flexible, it can go around things."
Challenger Kirk Caldwell also looks back to the BRT period to say Cayetano wasn’t a cheerleader for it back then.
“Ben Cayetano sat on the federal EIS for bus rapid transit for months upon months upon months as it was getting death by a thousand cuts. As Jeremy was trying to protect his program, his system, he only accepted it at the very end of his term,” said Kirk Caldwell, another candidate for Honolulu mayor
And he called out another aspect of Cayetano’s plan –that deals with the bus on shoulder.
“As cars come on to freeways and as cars get off of freeways, access on-ramps and off-ramps, with buses speeding by in between at 55 miles an hour — lots of them — I have to question how that’s going to work. To me this is an accident waiting to happen,” said Caldwell.
“We gotta look at those things, doesn’t mean we’re going to accept it, but we need to have an open mind,” said Cayetano.Cayetano says the bus rapid transit plan would cost about a billion dollars. The rail plan is budgeted at more than 5 billion dollars.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
