Honolulu Rate Commission seeks input on recommended fare and policy changes through in-person meetings

News Release from Honolulu Rate Commission, February 6, 2025

HONOLULU – The Honolulu Rate Commission is inviting public comment and testimony on proposed policy changes affecting Skyline, TheBus and TheHandi-Van at several meetings on Oʻahu. Across Honolulu’s multimodal system, operating and maintenance costs are rising. Proposed changes to public transportation fare structures are designed to ensure the City’s multimodal transportation system is reliable, sustainable, and able to meet the changing needs of Oʻahu’s transit riders.

The public is welcome to provide testimony at the Commission’s regular meeting on Tuesday, February 11, 2025,at 2:30 p.m. in the Mānoa Falls Conference Room, 711 Kapi‘olani Boulevard, Suite 1600. The meeting can be attended in-person or via the Zoom platform. The Zoom meeting link can be found here.

A copy of the meeting agenda can be found on the Rate Commission website here.

The Commission will also be accepting in-person testimony at community meetings on the following dates and times at these locations:

Monday, February 10, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. Kapolei Hale, 1000 Ulu‘ōhi‘a Street, Conference Rooms A&B
Tuesday, February 11, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. Kapālama Hale, 925 Dillingham Boulevard, Room 277
Thursday, February 13, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. Kāne‘ohe District Park, 45-660 Kea‘ahala Road, Meeting Room 2

Policy recommendations include:

Increasing adult monthly cap/pass from $80 to $90
Increasing youth monthly cap/pass from $40 to $45
Increasing reduced fare for single-ride from $1.25 to $1.50
Increasing reduced fare day cap from $3 to $3.75
Increasing reduced fare annual pass from $45 to $50
Implementing a $0.25 incentive to use HOLO card (TheBus only)
Increasing TheHandi-Van fare from $2.25 to $2.50
Increasing 7-day pass cost from $35 to $40
Authorizing the Department of Transportation Services Director to set a special event fare
Eliminating the $1.5 million budget cap for the low-income fare program

Written testimony may be:

Emailed to: ratecomm@honolulu.gov

Faxed to: (808) 768-4730

Mailed to: 711 Kapiʻolani Boulevard, 16th Floor, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi 96813; Attention: Rate Commission.

Written testimony, including the testifier’s address, email and phone number, will be publicly available on the Rate Commission website.

If you need an auxiliary aid/service or other accommodation due to a disability or an interpreter for a language other than English, please call the Department of Transportation Services Office at 808-768-8329 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. or send an email to hchee@honolulu.gov as soon as possible. Requests made as early as possible have a greater likelihood of being fulfilled.

The public’s voice is important to us and the City is eager to hear all testimony to improve and grow Oʻahu’s transportation network.

SA: TheBus, Skyline fare increases proposed | Honolulu Star-Advertiser