TheBus
- For a general article about the bus (uncapitalized) as a mode of transportation, read bus.
The Bus, also trademarked as TheBus, is the premier public transportation service of the City & County of Honolulu in the United States. Nationally recognized for its efficiency, customer service and popularity among residents, The Bus has a ridership of approximately 68 million passengers annually through 4,200 bus stops on the island of O'ahu. With a fleet of over 525 buses, The Bus serves 93 routes traveling 21.5 million miles and burning 6 million gallons of diesel each year.
The Bus is managed by the autonomous authority of O'ahu Transit Services, Incorporated. The Bus is governed by the Mayor of Honolulu and the Honolulu Department of Transportation Services with the Honolulu City Council.
America's Best Transit System
Founded and developed by Mayor Frank Fasi in the 1960s, The Bus has been the first and only mass transit system to be recognized twice by the American Public Transportation Association as America's Best Transit System for 1994-1995 and 2000-2001, beating the largest systems in the United States including the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Chicago Transit Authority. The Bus was eventually banned from the competition as other cities maintained they could not compete against Honolulu.
Recent Developments
The Bus is currently going through the first phases of implementing Bus Rapid Transit or BRT, an alternative to light rail and fixed rail mass transit systems employed elsewhere in the country. Bus Rapit Transit uses lanes devoted exclusively to buses to transport passengers, operating multiples of buses on each route on a continuous rolling basis instead of on a fixed schedule. In this manner, bus stops are served every few minutes, much like the way subways work in Chicago and New York City. It is hoped that Bus Rapid Transit will evolve into a light rail or fixed rail system in the future to accommodate increased commuter traffic to and from Honolulu and its suburbs.
Resources
