HONOLULU -- The city awarded a contract for a new high-tech bus fare collection system to a company with no experience in the bus business. The city said the company is qualified because it's hiring an experienced sub-contractor and it was the lowest bidder. However, was that low bid realistic?
KITV 4 News investigative Reporter
Keoki Kerr heard from top government officials, who refuse to be identified, that said TheBus' new smart card system is being "rushed" into operation without enough funding or planning.
Those anonymous critics said the technology is much more expensive than the city is being lead to believe. Honolulu's contract for the new service is for $2.2 million.
In San Francisco, an $8 million contract was awarded to a company this spring just to purchase equipment for three transit agencies. That's four times as much as Honolulu's contract. San Francisco's contract doesn't include installation and other expenses.
Just a few months ago, Seattle officials approved a smart card contract that will cost $64 million over 10 years. It will cover seven transit agencies handling tickets for buses, trains and ferries.
Honolulu transit officials said it's not accurate to compare Honolulu to those cities with more complex transit systems and several counties coming together.
"Look at the size of those agencies and the multiple interfaces they do. They have to have a bank clearinghouse to be able to sort out who gets which money from what bus it went on, or what transit system it went on," said Paul Steffens, chief of the Public Transit Division at the city Transportation Department.
Steffens chaired the evaluation panel that chose Royal Contracting as the contractor for Honolulu's bus smart card system.
About half of Seattle's $64 million contract will cover operations.
Honolulu officials said they don't have an estimate of operating and maintenance costs for Oahu's system, but they said several employees will probably have to be added to the payroll.
They said Honolulu's bus system, with 525 units, has far fewer busses than other major cities.
Every city KITV 4 News researched with smart card contracts is spending much more than Honolulu.
City smart card contracts: Minneapolis: $15 million San Diego: $39 million Los Angeles: $84 million Washington, D.C $110 millionIs Honolulu's $2.2 million a realistic price for the contractor's chosen technology?
"Yes. It's in operation in other countries," Steffens said.
"Is it in operation in America?" Kerr asked.
"No other, not in the U.S. It's in South America, Italy and Hong Kong," Steffens said.
"I wonder why it's not in operation in this country?" Kerr asked.
"I think they're just breaking in to this country," Steffens said.
Kerr asked Steffens for an example of a U.S. city roughly the same size of Honolulu with a smart card system in our price range. He could not provide one.
KITV 4 News found one city, Houston, with a just few more riders than Honolulu, but a much higher price. Its smart card system cost $8 million, nearly four times as much as Honolulu's system.
Houston has almost three times as many buses as Honolulu at 1,459, and riders there take 321,000 bus trips a day, slightly more than Honolulu's 240,000 bus trips daily.
Critics within the city are skeptical of Honolulu's bargain-basement price and worry that the contractor will simply put in one change order after another, costing taxpayers much more than the original bid. Some worry the system won't work properly.
However, city officials said that will not happen. They said testing of the new system should begin in September and smart cards should be ready for use in all city buses by next January or February.
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Price Tag Too Low?
