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Easy Rider
The County says more people are riding the bus than ever before. We wanted to find out why.

by By Angeline Chew Longshore

May 03, 2007

The numbers are impressive. Since Maui Bus service expanded last

August to seven days a week, and started running with longer service

hours, ridership has increased 31 percent, county officials say. In

fact, a whopping 79,100 people rode in January. Curious about what

these numbers meant in more human terms, I spent a week riding the Maui

Bus to find out for myself.

Day 1



It’s 8:30 a.m. at the Queen Ka`ahumanu Shopping Center in Kahului.

This is one of the major hubs where riders can catch five different

routes: the Kihei Islander route, the Lahaina Islander route, the

Kahului Loop (and its reverse route), the Wailuku Loop (and its

reverse) and the Upcountry Islander route. Just a handful of people are

quietly waiting for their bus. One woman is trying to catch up on sleep

while listening to music with headphones, but I decide to bother her

anyway.

Justine Defranco says she doesn’t own a car and says the bus is the

most convenient form of transportation. Today she’s headed for work

near the state building in Wailuku. She’s happy with the bus system in

general. But wrinkling her nose, she says that, “at the end of the day

it gets kind of gross.” She would like it if they wiped down the

fingerprinted-smudged windows and cleaned out the trash people leave on

the busses during the day.

Her comments make me wary. This is my first time stepping onto the

Maui Bus and I don’t know what to expect. When it arrives I find a seat

and I’m pleasantly surprised by its comfort. The bus is fairly clean,

in good shape and nicely air-conditioned. There are only six people

riding, so I don’t have to sit next to anyone. I like my personal

space. As people sleep, daydream, read and write, one woman files her

nails.

Cyd Castro and her five-year-old daughter Daiza are on their way to

Maui Memorial Hospital. They started riding the bus last December after

their car broke down. Castro says before she knew about Maui County’s

public transportation, she took a taxi ride from Kahului to Wailuku

that cost her $17. Despite the occasional “smelly” rider she thinks

it’s convenient and she’s happy that it’s free (Wailuku and Kahului

routes only, all others cost $1). She says the Wailuku and Kahului

busses used to be packed full before the county added reverse lines in

February.

“There was standing room only,” Castro says. Even though busses run

on the hour, she and her daughter only have to wait a half hour if they

take the reverse route. Bus driver Robert Purdy says adding the reverse

busses made a big difference.

“People tend to be in a better mood if they can sit down,” he says.

“The busiest time is after lunch, 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.” People are

shopping, tourists are sightseeing and students are off from school.

Purdy used to be a tour bus driver and began driving for the county

three years ago. “Locals are easier to deal with [than tourists],” he

says. “I get to know them better, get closer to them. I met a woman on

the bus when I started out and I’m going with her. She used to ride the

bus everyday to Wal-Mart.”

At the next stop, a woman cheerfully gets on the bus. “Hi, Robert,”

she says as she hands him a donut.  “How are you doing?”

“People bring me gifts, they talk about good times, bad times,”

Robert tells me after he pulls away from the curb. “I see them

pregnant; I see their children grow up.”

A tall, humble looking man sits in the seat opposite from me. He

says his name is Steve Crain and he takes the bus at least four times a

week to and from the homeless shelter. He’s working on completing a job

skills course and the bus helps to get him to his classes. Then he

leans in closer, proudly telling me that he’s close to completing the

course.

That afternoon, at 4:30, I’m at the Kaiser Wailuku Clinic waiting

for the bus with a 14-year-old student from Baldwin High. I’ll call him

“Bobby.” He says he takes the Maui Bus instead of the school bus to get

away from the kids who call him “haole” and throw things at him. He

likes the bus’ convenience and the fact that he can ride for free.

“I thought they’d be graffitied after a while, but they keep it

clean,” he says. Then he gives me the lowdown on some after-school

hangout spots that he discovered by taking the bus. Some days he’ll

take the bus down to the Queen Ka`ahumanu Center with friends for

“unlimited soda refills at Ruby’s” or he might hang out at the small

cafe at Kaiser’s Maui Lani Clinic. “[There’s] snacks and drinks and I

can get on the bus and go home,” he says.

Rich Toliver has only been riding for a month since his car broke

down, but he’s already considered “one of the regulars.” “They know me

by name,” he boasts. “You talk to people you might not have met, make

new friends.”

Toliver works at Cafe Marc Aurel in Wailuku and also as a freelance photographer. He tells me he gets around town all by bus.



“Did you know you can go all the way to Lahaina for a dollar!” he

tells me. In fact, Toliver says that he and at least a dozen “new

friends” take the 4:30 p.m. Lahaina bus just to see the sunset, have

dinner and then ride back.

Sounds nice, I think to myself and decide to save that for another day.







Day 2



Today I feel like taking a swim and getting some sun in Kihei. With

my backpack beach-chair stuffed with everything I need for the day, I

get on the 7:30 a.m. bus into South Maui.

Shirley, a former school bus driver, knows how to keep her

passengers in line, but in a friendly, caring way. She sees herself as

sort of a public counselor. “I told him, brudah you gotta go. You gotta

change your life,” she tells me, recounting the story of a rider she

had to kick off her bus because his body odor was offending other

riders. She believes that treating people with respect gets the best

results. After her “counseling,” the offensive smelling rider showed up

clean from then on.

Shirley’s humor is high. The mood on the bus seems light and fun. I

realize that the quality of the ride has a lot to do with the bus

driver’s style and personality.

Caroline Yoshida laughs at Shirley’s jokes and says she tries to

ride Shirley’s bus if she can. Unlike most riders, Yoshida owns a car,

but prefers to take the bus to the Grand Wailea, where she works. “[I

have to] leave 45 minutes earlier to find parking at Wailea,” she says.

But if she rides the bus, she leaves just 15 minutes early and has time

to talk story and relax.

After a couple hours at the beach, I head back up to the Longs

Drugstore parking lot where I hear there’s going to be a Chinese New

Year martial arts demonstration. But just minutes after I step off the

bus, I find out the celebration is over. That means an hour wait in the

hot sun until the next bus arrives. My backpack chair is starting to

hurt my shoulders.

I walk over to Star Market for a cold drink and some relief in the

cool air conditioning. I wish I had a car, I think to myself, so I

could dump my stuff in the back and drive home. Instead I find a nice

breezy spot at a nearby beach until the next bus comes.





Day 3



Today my husband and I decide to catch the Lahaina bus to watch the

sunset. We pack a picnic, grab our beach chairs and hop on the 4:40

p.m. bus near the state building in Wailuku. As we ride along the Pali,

we see whole families of whales breaching and spouting. It occurs to us

that when we’re driving, we don’t have the luxury of enjoying the view.



This is the first time Hannah Tolentino, 16, and Kim Breceros, 15,

are taking the bus. They’re coming back from shopping at the Queen

Ka`ahumanu Center. I ask them if they would take the bus again. “Next

Sunday, Queen Ka`ahumanu!” they sing out in unison, then high-five each

other and giggle.

We get off at the Wharf Cinema Center where other riders catch the

Ka`anapali route to the Napili route. For us, it’s a quick walk to the

beach where we enjoy a romantic picnic dinner watching boats and

surfers as the sun sinks into the ocean.

The bus back is on time and packed with kids, families and Westside

workers headed home. We’re lucky to get a seat. Lots of riders get off

at Ma`alaea, where they can catch routes to Kihei, Kahului and Wailuku.

The ride home seems longer when it’s dark.





Day 4



I take the first bus of the day on the Kahului loop. Bus driver

Kelly has the Monday morning blues. I overhear her say her kid is sick

and she worked an extra shift late last night. We’re running about

seven minutes late. The riders that get on sense her mood. They say hi

and then keep quiet.

A guy I’ve seen before with matted hair sits in front of me. I move

back one row to avoid the strange smell wafting off of him. Other

riders glance at my actions and silently look the other away. We arrive

at Queen Ka`ahumanu back on schedule just in time for the some 45

riders waiting to board.





Day 5



It’s 7:30 a.m. and Leon Custodio and I are waiting at the Queen

Ka`ahumanu Center for the Upcountry bus. He’s got an interview near the

Kahului Airport for a job as a taxicab driver. He lives in Kihei and

says he wouldn’t be able to get to this interview if it weren’t for the

Maui Bus.

“That’s why I like the system,” he says. “It’s very convenient.”

Custodio adds that he doesn’t need a car. With the $45 monthly pass, he

hooks his bike to the front of the bus and gets wherever he needs to

go. Later, Custodio tells me a story that reveals the social support a

rider feels after riding the bus every day.

“When I moved to Kihei, I stopped riding the Lahaina bus,” he says.

Then a woman who used to ride the same Lahaina route ran into him one

day on the Kihei bus. “She said, ‘I was worried. Suddenly you were not

with us everyday.’” I could tell he was happy to be missed.

Kelly, the same bus driver I had yesterday, is driving the Upcountry

bus today, filling in for a sick coworker. She’s in a much better mood,

so I decide to talk to her.

“You have to love people,” she says about her job. “A good portion

of the riders are homeless. If they’re drinking or on drugs, I say no

[meaning they’re not allowed to ride]. There’s lots of handicapped and

elderly.”

She tells me about a time she helped a mentally ill man get to the

emergency room. It’s clear she feels the bus system and her job are a

public service.





After contemplating my whole experience riding the bus for a week, I

realize how the Maui County bus system is crucial in helping people in

their daily lives. It is a bridge of survival to food and jobs. It is

an escape from harsh weather and for some, the harshness of the outside

world. It is an opportunity to find love or at least connect with other

people.

It provides hope for a better future for those striving for it, for

those who need it most. Or as one woman put it a little more bluntly,

“We pay for it with our hard-earned tax dollars, so it better be

#$*!-ing serving the public.” MTW