HONOLULU -- The city's new ferry service is being heavily subsidized by taxpayers.

Pilot projects by their nature cost taxpayers more because getting people to change their habits takes time and incurs higher costs. This project is looking to get commuters out of their cars and take a ferry instead.

On its first ride on the first day, the city's commuter ferry was only about one-third full going from Kalaeloa Harbor to Aloha Tower.

KITV calculated the city's ferries running at capacity, five days a week with 447 people a day off the roads and onto the water instead.

A federal grant is covering the $5 million cost of the ferry for one year and the city is spending $1 million more operating shuttle buses to and from The Boat. At that rate, assuming the boats are full every weekday, the cost to taxpayers would be $52 per passenger per day for a round trip.

"If you take in, factor in the time it would take to sit in traffic, versus, what it would cost, the $52, it could be worth it," a commuter said.

"It's worth studying it and benchmarking it, and seeing if it's worthy of the cost effectiveness and it's a continuous type of evaluation," one rider said.

Maeda Timson, who is on the Kapolei Neighborhood Board, rode the ferry on its first day Monday morning. She said the cost to taxpayers for this experiment is well worth it.

"If it's 52 bucks, that's nothing, because I've paid 52,000 bucks for other communities, and I think it's just another way of the different alternatives that we need to help this traffic mess on the west side," Timson said.

When you compare subsidies, The Bus costs taxpayers about 60 cents per person, per ride, on top of what riders pay at the fare box. The Boat's subsidy is much higher, $24 per person per ride.