Mayor Alan Arakawa and Mayor Peter Carlisle celebrate new buses for the Maui County transit system.
By Staff Reports
(Honolulu)– Mayor Peter Carlisle announced that the City and County of Honolulu will transfer three retired buses to Maui County to augment their existing fleet. The vehicles being transferred are Gillig buses that first went into service in 1994 and can carry up to 45 seated and 20 standing passengers.
The three 40-foot transit buses are being retired from TheBus to make way for new replacement buses, which are part of a fleet management plan to maintain the average age of TheBus fleet at a desired target age. The retired buses being transferred to Maui County are fully operational, but are at the end of their planned service life with TheBus fleet. If they were not transferred to Maui, these buses would be sold at an auction.
“This is a win-win deal for both the City and County of Honolulu and for Maui County,” Carlisle said. “The transfer provides a useful home for our older but still productive buses and allows our Maui neighbors to augment their bus fleet to address a pressing need.”
“The Maui Bus system is one of the fastest growing public transit systems in the nation right now,” said Mayor Alan Arakawa. “We have more passengers waiting at our bus stops every day and no room on our buses. This transfer from the City and County of Honolulu is helping us to address that problem. We wish to thank Mayor Carlisle and the Oahu residents for rescuing our Maui Bus riders from being stranded. We truly appreciate their aloha.”
Maui County has been procuring new buses for their transit system, but has seen a recent spike in service demand due to cruise ship activity on West Maui. The transfer of buses from Honolulu County will help by adding to Maui’s existing bus fleet.