Work starts next week on new transit-only lane in Waikiki

WAIKIKI (HawaiiNewsNow) – The city will begin work next week on making the right westbound lane of Kuhio Avenue a transit-only lane for buses and certain other vehicles.
It will take about a month to make the change from Kapahulu Avenue to Launui Street.
“People might say, ‘why that corridor?’ And just for the very reason people that that it is a very busy corridor, that’s exactly why we want to do it,” said city Deputy Transportation Services Director Jon Nouchi.
City transportation officials said during rush hour, only 44% of people traveling on Kuhio Avenue are in a passenger vehicle. The rest are walking, biking, or riding either a city bus, a private bus or a tour bus.
“In both directions, we’re running a bus more than once a minute during the peaks, right? And at that point, without any kind of priority, without any kind of lanes, TheBus will be getting in the way of ourselves,” Nouchi said.
The transit lane will be similar to one that opened in 2020 in the right lane of King Street through Chinatown and downtown.
“Our ongoing study has proven out that we actually improved travel times on TheBus by about 20 to 30%,” said Nouchi.
The city said unlike the downtown bus only lane, private tour bus companies and delivery trucks will also be able to use the Kuhio transit lane. But that will steill leave just one lane for all remaining vehicles.
“I think, no. I mean it’s already pretty congested most times, so I think that it will make it more contested,” said Waikiki resident Taylor Poole.
“I’m all about the people and public transportation and I love my HOLO card, but do I do think it’s already very congested on this street, so I think it might make it a little more difficult for people trying to drive around,” said Julie Chang, a Kuhio Avenue resident.
Kuhio also gets a lot more congested when Kalakaua Avenue is closed. Over this year alone, the city is allowing companies and non-profits to close that main drag about 30 times.
“Currently right now, the state Waikiki’s in, it’s hard to get in, hard to get out, especially if they have those festivals every weekend,” said Waikiki resident David Pineda. “You know that’s going to be adding on to that transit lane, cutting out one lane going this way and that way.”
The city is confident and says the plan is reversible.
“It’s something that’s a very effective addition if it works as we planned, but we can make pretty easy changes if something goes not according to plan or not according to our expectations,” said Nouchi.
Officials are thinking about putting in an eastbound transit lane, but there’s no timeline for that.
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