How 21st Century Honolulu Can Become Smart And Save Billions
This is an opportunity for intelligent political leadership
Illustrations show current City Fleet Buses Just For Concept Scale – These Are Not Smart Electric Buses
Nearly All Existing Rail Structures Can Be Converted
Within Existing Rail Funding, No New Taxes, A Brighter Future, Savings Billions
Conversion Of The Fixed Rail Guideway To A Smart Electric Vehicle
Guideway Very Feasible
Illustrations show current City Fleet Buses Just For Concept Scale – These Are Not Smart Electric Buses
The Shift To Solar And Electric Vehicles Is Too Monumental To Overstate
https://cleantechnica.com/2016/08/02/shift-solar-wind-electric-vehicles-monumental-overstate/
Honolulu is fortunate that the answer to the rail fiasco is now at our doorstep,
awaiting intelligent political leadership
The very rapidly arriving smart electric vehicle industry, now worldwide, has arrived just in time to offer the
exact traffic solution Honolulu needs to save Billions and offers the best possible commuter traffic relief, nearly
all paid by private industry! This is the Public-Private Partnership funding everyone has been looking for! The
Smart Electric Vehicle marketplace is taking off like a Space X rocket. The Smart high technology companies like
Google, Apple can come to Hawaii and help us make this happen. Ford and General Motors are investing heavily
in this rapidly growing new smart transit market and help the state achieve the goal of all renewable energy by
2045.
Malaysia is one of the first nations to go with Electric Buses on an elevated guideway!
News Release March 10, 2017 (see More Below)
The State of California, San Bernardino Council of Governments, and partners at Daylight Transport and BYD
Motors have announced the arrival of the first of 27 zero-emission electric yard and service trucks in three
disadvantaged communities in Southern California. The demonstration truck project is part of California Climate
Investments, a statewide program that invests in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the
economy and improving public health and the environment.
By converting the existing built rail guideway with the precision computer control of smart electric vehicles and
the best of all possible pollution free traffic alleviations worlds can be achieved. Further, Smart Electric Vehicles
are the perfect high technology fit for investment and job opportunities in science, technology, engineering and
math, also known as STEM, to prepare Hawaii for the future. Honolulu residents can save billions in taxes and
fees, create high technology jobs and actually ENJOY commuting to work in the most comfortable way possible.
Rail is not now projected to produce any passenger revenue until at least 2026. However the existing guideway
can in fact be converted into managed Smart Highway lanes that are computer controlled and operated with
lane use restrictions and electronic tolling to optimize traffic flow and vehicle throughput. This can be far easier
and much sooner than most imagine, possibly by 2020-23 with many smart technology companies and
engineers willing to help, solving H-1 traffic congestion and earning the City and State Smart Electric Vehicle
revenue literally in just years.
All sound too good to be true? Just read on for all of the facts some City politicians and HART don’t want you to
know that private industry is doing right now… And it is entirely possible FTA may be supportive as well as the
FHWA (Federal Highway Administration.)
In the growing debate about the incredibly skyrocketing and completely unknown final Billions in costs for rail it
has been suggested that the project just stop and the guideway could be either knocked down -OR converted
into a rubber tire rapid transit guideway.
Is this feasible? Surprisingly converting the guideway into a roadway could very likely be the least expensive
money saving alternative to make best use of the already built guideway- which still lacks all stations and any
type of very expensive electric power system, among other important operational requirements. To say that the
rail project is 50% completed is completely untrue as only part of the guideway and some rusting rails have
been installed. Rail cars currently cannot move unless pushed or towed back and forth, as has been
demonstrated. Major very expensive issues and many years remain to actually power an operational rail
service- 2026 at minimum.
The Plinthless Rail Guideway Makes This Smart Conversion Even Easier!
Kiewit construction made a fortuitous construction decision with the West Oahu rail guideway contract (while
also losing millions in unrecovered costs) with the now fortunate decision to choose a CHEAPER Plinthless rail
guideway attachment system which affixes the rail directly to the concrete roadway of the guideway with a
plastic shim. This is actually very questionable for long term rail maintenance costs and Kiewit has already been
required to replace nearly all of the plastic plinths at least once. They are among the first things to break in the
future. The good news is that because raised hard concrete Plinths were NOT used makes removal of the rusty
track much easier in conversion to a rubber tire open roadway for Smart Electric Vehicles. Once the blue plastic
shims and rusty rails are removed the concrete guideway is nearly road ready!
HART guideway diagrams show the existing two way rail guideway is 30 feet, 6 inches wide. The U.S. Interstate
Highway System uses a 12-foot (3.7 m) standard for lane width, while narrower lanes are used on lower
classification roads. Therefore the current rail guideway can support two-way Smart Electric Vehicle traffic once
the rails and any cross ties are removed. Smart vehicles are computer precise using GPS and Artificial
Intelligence so many, many Smart vehicles – cars, vans, SUV, buses can use the guideway even closely packed
together. Another report is available detailing the advantages of Smart Electric Vehicles- watch this Tony Seba
video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxryv2XrnqM
Smart Electric Vehicles will revolutionize all concepts of Public Transit and Transit Oriented Development and
Honolulu has the opportunity to be a part of this amazing transit revolution. Less than 3 years away by 2020 as
a major world transportation market and under extensive testing and development right now, these concepts
will change everything about how people will go to places in Hawaii. In 5 years Smart Vehicles will be as
ubiquitous as cell phones today and the marketplace driven by Social Media.
Smart Electric Buses Perform All Of The Functions Of Commuter Rail At A Fraction Of The Cost
The Original Rail EIS (Environmental Impact Assessment) Evaluated The Fixed Guideway
The Rail environmental impact assessment study (EIS) evaluated whether an elevated rail transit system was the
only option to solve the transportation problems of the city. Four options were considered in the study - a no-
build alternative, a transportation management system, express buses operating in managed lanes and a fixed
guideway transit system. The EIS concluded that a fixed guideway transit system would be the best and most
cost-effective solution for serving the long-term needs of the people of the city. Note that the EIS did not specify
19th Century RAIL- (which was a later ramrodded decision of then Mayor Mufi Hannemann) - just a grade
separated fixed elevated guideway.
The current EIS remains valid for the elevated guideway sections already built that can now be adapted for use
by 21st Century smart electric vehicles. The Airport to Downtown segment is in an identified FEMA, NOAA, UH-
SOEST Sea Level Rise, Tsunami and Hurricane Storm Surge flood disaster zone that will cause loss of lives,
property and valuable important Critical Infrastructure through City negligence and malfeasance. This why the
guideway should stop at Aloha Stadium.
HART Rail Will NEVER Meet Hawaii Renewable Energy Goals
By 2045 – Here’s Why…
Conversion NOW of the fixed guideway to Smart Electric Vehicles is the best possible alternative with
21st Century Smart electric vehicle transit technology now on our doorstep that is precisely in tune with Hawaii’s
goals to be using 100% renewable energy sources by 2045. HART Rail will NEVER be able to meet renewable
energy goals by 2045 because of rail traction power electricity requirements. 24/7 20 hours a day is way too
high of demand for direct solar or wind energy and even with battery storage, would be massively expensive if
even feasible.
Oct 5, 2015 - Pacific Business News
When and if Honolulu’s more than $6 billion rail transit project is fully
realized, the county will be the largest consumer of electricity in Hawaii, the
chairman of the Honolulu City Council, confirmed to PBN.
Electric vehicles can run on a fraction of rail’s electricity requirements from stored solar rooftop power and may
soon be able to run directly using electric vehicle rooftop solar panels. (Worldwide electric rail operators claim
they use “Renewable Energy” but this is just NOT TRUE. They actually are purchasing Guarantees of Origin
(GoO) certificates, like Carbon Credits, to Greenwash their public “environmental renewable electric energy”
image. This is a modern corporation ploy. See more below.)
The fact is using 100% renewable energy sources by 2045 is and will be entirely possible for Hawaii with Smart
Electric Vehicles and renewable sources like solar panels. HART Rail requires coal and oil for electric power
because HART trains will require many power stations using three-phase alternating current and its own very
expensive power grid – yet to be designed and built. The HART rail power electric bill will be the highest in
Hawaii history- all paid by tax-payers as part of major Operations and Maintenance.
Huge rail Maintenance and Operations costs. These are totally avoidable costs using
Smart Electric Vehicles if Honolulu government had intelligent, honest political
leadership for the people and not just Caldwell Campaign contributors
Smart electric vehicles are mostly privately owned and operated and can be powered from home rooftop or
parking garage solar panels and run for hundreds of miles saving Oahu tax-payers from subsidizing it. HART has
told the City Council that the majority of rail riders (70,000 trips per day) will come from our bus system.
Therefore it makes the most sense to save billions in taxes and fees and keep bus riders in single transit mode
Smart Electric Buses and vehicles powered by renewable electric energy using the existing elevated fixed
guideway.
Guideway Conversion Saving Oahu Tax-Payers Billions NOW
Conversion of the guideway to Smart Electric Vehicles and ending at Aloha Stadium will take huge numbers of
vehicles off H-1 freeway as well as saving billions in construction costs, unnecessary city blight and massive rail
maintenance and operations costs. No largest electric rail power bill in Hawaii history needed and entirely
avoidable. It is truly dumb and outright governmental malfeasance to spend another $6 billion to $9 billion for a
1 or 2% improvement in traffic at an annual financial cost of $130 million, $500 million a mile guideway
construction and permanent harm to our environment not meeting renewable energy goals. That’s really dumb
if not malfeasance and criminal.
Conversion to 21st Century Smart Electric Vehicle Transit The Best, Cheapest Alternative
Conversion to a rubber tire fixed elevated guideway would be the cheapest alternative and most effective use of
the existing built structures of all possible alternatives.
19th Century Steel on Steel that HART is using causes wear and tear from friction from wheels on rails
accelerating rail vehicle and track plinth shim wear as well as making much more noise even with guideway
noise barriers. Steel on Steel screeching will be especially noticeable late at night and early morning. Electric
buses are extremely quiet and lack of noise from their powertrains, one of the many reasons Cities are buying
them. In fact electric vehicle powertrains are so efficient and reliable, with only a few moving parts, that that
some manufacturers are offering lifetime warranties.
An At Grade rail route (street car and trolley) may be still applicable in downtown areas. MagLev is a great
technology but remains widely unsupported in the United States and requires an electricity grid.
Smart Electric Vehicles can be totally off grid, self-powering, extremely quiet and extremely route flexible. New
fast electric charging stations can power up public transit vehicles in just minutes.
Existing Guideway Conversion Relatively Simple And Cost Effective.
Here’s Why:
The conversion to a rubber tire guideway will be even simpler because Kiewit made the early decision to use
plastic shims instead of concrete plinths on the already built guideway. Just by removing the rusty rail reveals a
nearly road ready rubber tire guideway. Access by smart electric vehicles can be done at the HART Rail
Operations Center where there is street level access directly from the H-1 Freeway. Unlike rail which has
restricted curves and grade climb limits of 2-4% maximum, rubber tire electric vehicles can easily climb much
steeper concrete ramp grades and make sharper turns as seen in many Honolulu parking structures.
http://trn.trains.com/railroads/abcs-of-railroading/2006/05/grades-and-curves
Guideway Contractors, Equipment, Casting Yard Already Exists And
Ready For Conversion Ramps
At grade electric smart vehicle access to the guideway is available by Leeward Community College.
The State of Hawaii could likely fund additional elevated guideway on-off ramps with DOT Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) funds. Best of all the existing rail guideway contractors already have the necessary
equipment and casting yard to make the required on-off ramp conversions. Everything is already in place and
ready to be contracted out saving Billions by stopping rail at Aloha Stadium.
Smart Electric Vehicles can pay any City-State tolls, registration fees, insurance, etc. electronically.
Smart Electric Freight trucks are zero-emission electric vehicles for fleet markets, municipalities, universities, and
state and federal government. Money saving and instant City and State Revenue!
Run Smart Electric Trucks On The Converted Guideway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_truck
Aloha Stadium Smart Electric Vehicle Access Ramps
To The Elevated Guideway
At Aloha Stadium there would be room to provide concrete guideway access ramps that would allow Smart
Electric Vehicle vans and buses to drive off the guideway and continue on to Joint Base Pearl Harbor, Tripler,
Camp Smith and Fort Shafter, taking at least 80% of military, defense and government workers off of most of H-1
freeway, out of the major choke point traffic merges and directly to their jobs in 15 to 20 minutes! 30 minute to
1-2 hour commutes to work would be a thing of the past.
The use of GPS (Global Positioning System) and Smart Electric Vehicles would be almost identical to the original
HART rail concept in that smart vehicles can be driverless, follow an exact “virtual track” with high precision and
be computer controlled from a traffic operations center. Every Smart Electric Vehicle on the guideway would
appear on a live electronic map. Every “advantage” HART Rail purports to have will be completely available with
Smart Electric Vehicles but at a small fraction of the operations cost.
The Logic For Stopping The Guideway At Aloha Stadium
Aloha Stadium has all of the needed land and Oahu highway connections to be an ideal transit center. The
stadium site could also be where the cross Pearl Harbor ferry would dock. There is already a ferry landing near
there and one on the other side of Pearl Harbor near Iroquois Point homes. Just one of MANY better transit
alternatives that have been SUPPRESSED by the Rail politicians to force H-1 crowding. The stadium is by far the
best logical place as the Oahu island transit center as ALL of the major Oahu roads lead there. (A separate study
report is available on the Aloha Stadium PH ferry plan.)
If Aloha Stadium was used as a Smart Electric Vehicle transit center with on-off ramps, Joint Base Pearl Harbor
workers would be at their jobs – from West Oahu – in approximately 15-20 minutes. Aloha Stadium also offers
reestablishment of the cross Pearl Harbor ferry which ran successfully without accident for over 50 years. This
would provide an additional H-1 traffic mitigation route from West Oahu to Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam and
Kamehameha Highway.
Stopping rail at Aloha Stadium and converting the elevated guideway to Smart Electric Vehicles would be within
the existing Rail EIS and Hawaiian iwi burials would likely not be found because archaeological surveys have
already been conducted at Aloha Stadium and the elevated guide way could be finished with the existing
available budget.
Buses or a street trolley rail could continue on to the airport, Middle Street and downtown. Middle Street and
downtown are in well-known flood disaster zones. The elevated rail guideway to Ala Moana is an easily
predicted construction fiasco, becoming a vastly unpopular traffic nightmare and financial black hole sucking up
huge amounts of construction money in swamp lands while severely damaging the entire historic character of
Honolulu. All of this disaster can be avoided saving Billions.
The airport and Middle Street are in major FEMA, NOAA and UH-SOEST identified Sea Level Rise, Tsunami and
Hurricane Storm surge flood disaster zones. The ground water table is very close to the ground surface and in
the not too distant future Honolulu airport will see ocean water crossing the runways at high tides. A tsunami or
Hurricane storm surge could do all this in just a matter of hours. There are ZERO plans to mitigate for this.
Middle Street is already very well known for flooding and just recently City HandiVan buses were caught and
badly damaged in a heavy rainfall flood after a close passing hurricane. The City lied and committed perjury in
three places in the rail EIS about the rail project’s final segment not being in an identified tsunami flood disaster
zone. The tsunami flood original maps were publically issued in 2010. City and State “planners” and contracted
civil engineers still widely act ignorant about these facts.
Unfortunately despite all of the evidence the City and Pro-Rail construction groups fight furiously against the
best interests, safety and fiduciary responsibility to the tax paying public. Their agenda has been most
expensive rail project possible for maximum profits and carelessly allowing massive disaster Critical
Infrastructure losses ignoring huge amounts of best scientific studies, maps and data.
Leeward-Ewa Kapolei Access Ramps
To make this conversion ideally useful for West Oahu commuters (Leeward Coast, Ewa-Kapolei) concrete
guideway access ramps should be constructed where the UH West Oahu station is planned with massive
thousand car parking lots. These massive car parking lots would be completely unnecessary. Instead East Town
Bound Smart Electric Vehicles (City TheBus operated or private) offering a variety of low cost public Electric bus,
van pool transit, Smart Electric Handi-Van to even more luxury oriented home to office van and bus services
would pick up passengers in the Leeward Makaha-Waianae-Nanakuli and Ewa-Kapolei communities and go to
the Kualaka’i Parkway (North South Road) elevated guideway access ramps. The guideway use would only be for
Smart Electric vehicles, not gas-diesel powered.
These Smart Electric Vehicles would proceed East Town Bound and could then get back onto H-1 by Leeward
Community College where there is At Grade guideway access, or go on to Aloha Tower. In the afternoon the
Guideway would be used in the West Leeward Bound direction. Because there would be two lanes available on
the guideway it could be configured for either bi-directional traffic of two lanes in just one direction. The current
H-1 Zipper lanes would still be available for more traffic mitigation.
H-1 vehicle traffic congestion would be significantly reduced every commuting day for gas-diesel powered
vehicles which would be gradually phased out of existence by 2045 as all new vehicles sold would be electric by
2035.
Most Rail Stations Not Needed, Overly Expensive, Have
Unnecessary Expensive Artwork
Most HART Rail stations are not needed, are overly expensive, will be maintenance and security intensive, and
most if not all will have any overhead covers. Most now may not actually look at all as publicly advertised,
lacking many expected commuter features- maybe one elevator, one bathroom. All will require massive change
orders currently being hidden now from the public to make rail costs appear LOWER NOW when in fact massive
expensive revisions and additions will be required LATER.
Many criticized the EIS for not further discussing bus rapid transit and toll lanes, options mostly brushed aside
earlier by the City in its Alternatives Analysis which overwhelmingly, for purely political reasons, chose
19th Century Steel on Steel rail. Conversion of the elevated guideway to a rubber tire reversible managed HOT
lane concept would now actually be what many originally wanted in 2008.
Conversion from rail to a rubber tire fixed guideway is not only relatively simple but is far less expensive than any
other Rail Fiasco proposal so far. Tearing it down costs a billion or more according to HART, while continuing on
costs many unknown Billions more. Conversion of the guideway to Smart Electric Vehicles allows for the lowest
cost primary aim of the original project as presented to the public which to is to offer high-capacity rapid transit
in the congested east-west transportation corridor of H-1.
Fortunately 21st Century Smart Electric Vehicles have arrived just in time to save
Honolulu Billions- if an intelligent political leader can be found.
Current rail stations can be either deleted from the project saving huge amounts of money or adapted to Smart
Electric Buses. Basically this requires either lowering the station boarding platforms or raising the station
entrance ramps a few feet so that riders can board as they do at regular bus stops. Dangers of falling on
electrified rail and electrocution can be eliminated. Electric Smart Buses at $900,000 can perform exactly the
same purpose as $4.2 million heavy rail cars.
Smart Vehicles Will Be Instant City And State Revenue Generators Unlike Super Expensive Rail
One great possibility that could bring in even MORE instant City and State revenue from a smart vehicle
guideway is allowing Smart Electric Freight Trucks using the guideway during off peak hours for truck freight
shipments between Honolulu, Aloha Stadium and West Oahu communities.
The At Grade Rail Operations Complex Can Be TheBus And Smart Vehicle Guideway Access Points E & W
Electric Trucks Start Arriving at Southern California Freight, Rail Yards
southern-california-freight-rail-yards.aspx
The State of California, San Bernardino Council of Governments, and partners at Daylight Transport and BYD
Motors have announced the arrival of the first of 27 zero-emission electric yard and service trucks in three
disadvantaged communities in Southern California.
Smart Vehicles, Electric Buses Are Cheaper And Can Better
Adaptively Scale To Rider Demand
The HART trains (according to various HART statements that vary a lot) will be able to carry 300 passengers each
and transport more than 6,000 people with the number expected to reach 90,000 a day by 2030. An articulated
(stretch, two-section, higher-capacity) electric bus can carry 120+ people but with far more passenger comfort
and seats than the HART rail cars. TheBus (using mostly Gillig Phantoms with maybe a few articulated diesel-
electric hybrids) is already carrying 70,000 people a day now and electric smart buses on the converted rubber
tire elevated guideway can easily scale up to 90,000 by 2030. Rather than running non-renewable electricity
intensive rail continuously 24/7, 20 hours a day at huge expense, electric buses with WiFi, etc. can be recharged
with rooftop solar panels or fast charging stations and scaled to the passenger demand, picking up people near
their homes and taking them very close to where they work, without multiple mode changes. This will no doubt
be the MOST POPULAR RIDER CHOICE of the 21st Century. Many cities are now buying electric bus fleets.
Social Media will be wild about Smart Electric Vehicles, unique commuter services like exercise to work!
Smart Vehicles Directly In Touch With 21st Century
Smart Phones, Apps, Bicyclists, Social Media
Why is the City government forcing on Oahu taxpayers the absolutely dumbest and most expensive transit
system possible with no accountability when far, far better lower cost, intelligent 21st century solutions now
exist? Smart Electric Vehicles are basically computers on wheels with few maintenance requirements and work
perfectly with smartphone apps, Lidar, GPS, allowing any type of desired commuter service to be immediately
ordered up. Low cost smart van pools, smart luxury vans, smart cars, smart bike vans (pickup, drop off bicyclists)
and a range of other new innovative and customizable 21st Century transit solutions that will be immensely
popular on Social Media.
The smart electric vehicle rubber tire guideway will keep many thousands of cars off H-1 (far more than rail will)
and off secondary commuter roads and highways on Oahu every day, meeting all of the goals of the original
fixed guideway project concept of 20 years ago. The current rail operations center and rail yard by Leeward
Community College is at grade level with the guideway and can be converted into a smart electric vehicle
service center and bus yard where electric powered buses can be parked under solar collectors and fast electric
charging stations.
The Rail will never be truly solar or wind powered because of the massive 24/7 traction power requirements and
instead will require non-renewable coal and oil power. These are facts HART likes to mislead the public about as
do other rail operations around the world. Instead they just buy “renewable energy” certificates that greenwash
the reality of high electric traction power demands, wasteful power consuming 24/7 rail stations requiring at
least 14 power plants, massive expensive electric power lines, conduits, etc. On the other hand, smart vehicles
use a fraction of electricity, which is all renewable solar and can be rapidly recharged far more economically
while parked. In development are rooftop solar collectors for trucks and buses allowing almost limitless 24/7
renewable electric operation without having to ever stop.
21st Century Smart Electric Buses Run On The Elevated Guideway Will Provide ALL Features And More Than
Rail Can Ever Offer And At A Fraction Of The Price – And Will Be Mostly Public Private Operated!
HART Rail Is Destroying America’s Best Bus System – This Is
Malfeasance If Not Insanity
TheBus has a ridership of approximately 75.5 million boardings annually on its fleet of 518 buses, providing daily
service on 110 routes. TheBus is privately managed by Oʻahu Transit Services Inc., which operates the system
under a public-private partnership with the City and County of Honolulu Department of Transportation Services.
TheBus has been the 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 other transit systems.
The city Rail will force over 35,000 bus riders daily to transfer to rail making three highly unpopular mode
changes twice day. This will drive many commuters to use other modes like older private cars. Instead of this
outright stupidity and mismanagement of public transit assets the logical good government choice should be
converting the elevated fixed guideway to Smart Electric Cars and Buses.
Particularly TheBus which is already a City Public-Private Partnership that works extremely well!
Smart Electric Vehicles user fees will be paid electronically and instantly. All guideway vehicles will be
automatically insured, all fees paid electronically and instantly. All handicapped, elderly etc do not have to deal
with Tokyo robot rail cars and slamming robot doors. TheBus has well trained drivers attuned to local island
culture. TheBus has security cameras in its bus fleet to deter criminal activity on board the coaches, which
includes assaults and graffiti where the driver can immediately stop if necessary. Due to its low cost and wide
coverage, TheBus is a very popular means of travel by high school and college students students. Killing TheBus
routes and service means jacked up prices for students, elderly, etc.
The wealthy mayor and corrupt City Council don’t care and only want unaccountable rail taxes and fees.
HART Rail Stations Are Huge Expensive Energy Guzzlers, Magnets
for Criminals And Terrorists
The HART rail stations are huge expensive energy guzzling standalone structures substantially bigger than most
typical light rail stations and each contains expense artwork that must be guarded 24/7. They will be homeless
and crime magnets and favorite targets of thieves, lunatics and terrorists. Bus boarding stops do not require
massively expensive stations with expensive artwork that does nothing except drive construction profiteering
and change order costs out of sight.
Using TheBus on the elevated guideway as Smart Electric Buses maintains Honolulu’s island style traditions that
everyone, including tourists like, but will also allow newer commuter concepts of luxury seats for every
passenger, WiFi, etc. as found on many newer Hawaii tour buses. The converted guideway could also
accommodate military base Smart VanPool passenger vans picking up personnel in West Oahu at their homes
and taking them directly to their work places- all in a single comfortable ride.
Far Better, Cheaper, More Flexible 21st Century Technology Supported By The World’s Brightest Minds
The Smart Elevated Guideway Conversion Offers Many Choices At Low Operational Costs
The proposed guideway conversion does virtually everything the City rail promises but far better, far cheaper, far
smarter and with greater future flexibility of continuous developments in electric vehicles and software
technologies from the world’s brightest minds. 19th Century heavy rail locks Honolulu into an extremely
regressive dumbest possible transit solution totally out of scale for an island population.
Elevated Guideway Can Be Two Directions, Reversible As Needed,
Carry Smart Truck Freight Off Hours
Electric buses and cars are extremely quiet, use totally renewable solar energy, are very low maintenance, unlike
rail which is high maintenance, requires nonrenewable coal and oil power to sustain massively expensive 24/7
traction power requirements and produces steel on steel noise.
There is almost no flexibility with 19th Century steel on steel while 21st Century Smart Electric Vehicles
offer a wide array of rider comfort, destination flexibility, SmartPhone apps and Social Media excitement.
HART Rail Going Into Widely Known Disaster Area, Has No Emergency Disaster Plan Or Applications
Rail’s section from the airport to Ala Moana is in a FEMA, NOAA, UH-SOEST Sea level Rise, Tsunami and
Hurricane inundation zone. Building rail and stations there is a guaranteed disaster wasting billions in City, State
and Federal tax dollars as well as risking thousands of lives. It is the dumbest most ignorant route possible based
upon all best science evidence. Smart electric vehicle technologies can service all of these areas with complete
flexibility to evacuate and provide emergency transportation. None of the transit assets will be lost in a disaster.
Electric rail stations will be shut down and people trapped.
The conversion to Smart Electric Vehicles allows for immediate emergency notifications to all vehicles with
immediate redirection away from an incoming ocean disasters such as a tsunami. Even better, the smart
guideway allows for use by emergency smart vehicles (police, fire, rescue, EMT) in emergencies.
Smart Electric Vehicles The Smart, Lowest Cost Choice For
Honolulu And Statewide
*All major world vehicle manufacturers rapidly developing smart vehicles. The technology has
arrived. Honolulu could actually be a SMART CITY instead of one of the dumbest in the world.
*Requirements: Remove tracks. Find suitable on-off ramps. Leeward Community College at grade
access already.
*Provides for the best of all possible worlds based upon the present rail fiasco: Savings of Billions over
rail operations.
*Existing stations can be converted to bus stations or completely eliminated. Major parking lots
avoided.
*Riders picked up at their homes and local bus stops saving major time and cost, keeping transit riders
in a single mode, no seat change pickup and delivery transportation solution.
*Existing bus routes can be far more effectively combined with the fixed guideway and 21st Century
Electronic Managed lanes.
*The Smart Electric vehicle guideway can support two way traffic or two lanes reversible depending
upon traffic needs.
*21st technology Electric Cars and Buses can be driverless, GPS controlled with extremely close nearly
bumper to bumper spacing tolerances creating large amounts of new roadway and parking spaces.
*Smart Vehicles can see way ahead, drive around any stalled vehicles or incident/accident. Gawker
slowdowns largely eliminated from main highways.
*Vehicle guideways, Electric Buses can be used in emergencies to evacuate people during disasters -
rail is in disaster zones, is linear and not flexible, will lose electric grid power and will be shut down.
20 Year Old HART Rail and City TOD Projections
Wrong And OUT OF DATE
The City projects that in 2030 if rail is built 7.1% of daily trips on Oahu will be via mass transit ( rail & bus), yet if
rail is not built the City projects 5.7% of trips will be via mass transit ( just the bus). That's right, a $10 billion
project buys a 1.4% increase in mass transit use! Table 3-12, pg 3-29
Rail Projection: Removing 200 buses from the corridor every morning will also help with H-1 traffic
congestion. Instead, 200 Smart Electric buses will be off H-1 and on the elevated fixed guideway!
Rail would eliminate the widely used C and E express buses that travel the Zipper lane. However, now those
routes could become Smart Electric Buses and vehicles on the elevated fixed guideway.
The Bus has already been recognized as one of the best in the US. Highly qualified, well trained bus drivers
already available in both the public and private sector.
Electric Buses and vehicles will employ far more than Rail which is driverless. TheBus drivers are mostly highly
regarded for their Island Style attention to passengers, especially the elderly and handicapped. This is an
important island cultural asset that can be retained.
Privately Operated Bike Vans Using Smart Electric Transporters
Electric Buses and vehicles will create unique private enterprise jobs with commuter passenger services such as
bicycle carrying passenger vans allowing the best of all possible worlds for bikers. If weather turns bad, just call
up a bike van to take you home. Unlike rail requiring several flights of stairs, Bike Vans can take bicyclists exactly
where they want to go at the point they prefer to bike the rest of the way. Get anywhere in matter of minutes
using on call Smart Bike Vans. There will even be Bike Exercise Buses (such as in Europe) which allow commuting
to work on an exercise bike while reading a book and listening to music!
Smart electric vehicles will offer many new commuter experiences and solutions that rail can’t and never will.
This will all appear on Social Media and create many new entrepreneurial transit businesses.
Smart Electric buses and vehicles will do far more to environmentally advance Hawaii 2045 renewable energy
goals than rail which will always require coal and oil fired polluting power because of high traction power and
24/7 service demands.
Rail projects basically lie to the public that they will use renewable solar and wind energy when in fact they just
buy credits from other renewable energy sources to Greenwash their rail operations.
If Honolulu choses to develop a street car trolley system this proposal would mesh together far better than a
robotic heavy rail system.
This proposal would save Honolulu from an incredible urban blight of massive concrete.
Using 21st Century Smart Electric Vehicles over 19th Century rail requires the City to restudy Transit Oriented
Development projections (but the City wants to remain in the 19th Century!)
MORE FROM EXPERTS:
Transit expert Randal O'Toole says: “Three-car light-rail trains that run in streets can hold up to 450 people,
more than any bus. But most light-rail lines can only run about 20 trains per hour, whereas a single bus stop can
serve 42 buses per hour. By staggering bus stops, a single street can serve more than 160 buses per hour. Buses
operating on city streets can thus satisfy any level of demand from 40 to 18,000 people per hour with low
incremental costs to increase from one level to another. Rails, however, are enormously expensive: where a
double-decker bus costs about $650,000, a single light-rail car costs $4.5 million, has 36 seats with a listed total
capacity of 195 people and light-rail tracks cost well over (In Honolulu $400-500 million per mile) to install and
even more to maintain.”
“A much higher share of bus riders get to enjoy comfortable seats rather than
cling desperately to rail straphangers. Once buses leave city centers, they can
fan out to many neighborhoods, while trains can go only where rails go,
forcing most riders to switch to a bus or car to get to their actual
destination.”
Making the Most of the Rail Fiasco - Wednesday, June 29, 2016
This is a fuller version of the article co-authored with Cliff Slater and professor Randy Roth that appeared on the
Honolulu Star Advertiser on June 29, 2016. Excerpts: Fix Oahu! Civil Engineering Professor Panos D.
Prevedouros, PhD discusses his opinions on infrastructure issues with emphasis on the City and County of
Honolulu:
“We believe that the FTA will be extraordinarily flexible in dealing with this financial train wreck, partly
because the FTA’s own hands are dirty. It knew very early on that City officials were neither competent
nor honest. We base this on interagency email in which FTA officials commented on the City’s “lousy
practices of public manipulation,” willingness to “deceive with no remorse,” use of “inaccurate
statements,” and having a culture of “never enough time to do it right, but lots of time to do it over.”
“We also know that FTA officials had ready access to the report of independent experts hired by Gov. Lingle to
provide a second opinion on the likely cost of the proposed rail system. The group’s bottom-line assessment
should have alarmed the FTA: “A multi-billion dollar transportation improvement project, particularly one that is
proposed to be operated in, and funded by, an urbanized area that is far smaller than the norm for such projects,
should have its financial plan developed with methodologies that incorporate the highest professional and
technical standards and techniques. As we demonstrate [in this report], the financial planning and modeling
process for [this] Project fails this ‘best practices’ test in many ways.”
“The FTA also aided the City in its dishonest efforts to convince people that rail would reduce the current level of
traffic congestion. For example, the FTA publicly expressed belief that “this project will bring much needed relief
from the suffocating congestion on the H-1 Freeway.” This was contrary to the FTA-approved Final
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in which the City had acknowledged that “traffic congestion will be worse
in the future with rail than what it is today without rail.” The FTA's statement also contradicted its own previous
position in its January 2011 Record of Decision in which it stated: "Many commenters [on the Draft EIS]
reiterated their concern that the Project will not relieve highway congestion in Honolulu. FTA agrees..."
“Despite these and many other indications that the City could never build rail “on time and on budget,” as Mayor
Caldwell repeatedly promised, the FTA apparently buckled under political pressure when it entered into the
FFGA. Because of the FTA’s complicity in Honolulu’s rail fiasco, the FTA should now allow the city to use the
$1.55 billion of federal money to make the best of a terrible situation that it could and should have prevented.“
“We believe the most attractive of the available options is to convert the existing rail guideway into
dedicated lanes for a state-of-the-art Bus Rapid Transit system that extends not just to Middle Street
but far beyond to Manoa, Waikiki and other parts of the island, including Waianae. As the figure
below shows, regular, articulated and double-decker buses will fit the existing rail guideway and will
operate normally and safely with a guided-bus system similar to those running in Essen, Germany,
Adelaide, Australia and several other cities.”
“This could be done with the money that otherwise would be wasted on a rail system
that was out-of-date before construction even began. A BRT conversion will use familiar
technology, will have a higher ridership, will preserve bus routes, and will provide more
traffic congestion relief than rail. With Smart electric vehicles even traffic lights can
become completely redundant.”
There is still time to make SMART DECISIONS and convert the Rail
Guideway To A Smart Electric Vehicle Guideway!
Clean Disruption - Why Energy & Transportation will be Obsolete by 2030
This is an absolutely MUST SEE 53 minute video that will change the mind of any intelligent person about the REVOLUTION in Energy and Transportation HAPPENING NOW.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxryv2XrnqM
Technology Disruption Expert Tony Seba, based on the book 'Clean Disruption of Energy and Transportation' asserts that four technology categories will completely disrupt energy and transportation by 2030 and will be widely seen by 2023:
1- Batteries / Energy Storage
2- Electric Vehicles
3- Self-Driving Vehicles
4- Solar Energy
The outcome of the Clean Disruption is that by 2030
• All new vehicles will be electric.
• All new vehicles will be autonomous (self-driving).
From Panos D. Prevedouros, PhD Professor of Transportation Department of Civil
Engineering presentation November 13, 2016 for Hawaii Thousand Friends:
85% of the people drive.
Yet the focus is on rail and bicycles… each one about 1%... So we pay billions for rail and lose lanes to bikeways
to get from 85% to 83%!
•
Result: Too much congestion by 2030 and we’ll have lost a few lanes and several billion $ that could have been
used to reduce congestion.
•
Driverless technology is the future.
•
Hawaii may become an early adoptee due to low speeds, uniform fleet, tourists and DUI.
•
Driverless technologies and “automated Uber” will make public transit obsolete before 2050.
•
An early driverless feature will be auto-parking.
•
Cars will park 2” apart instead of 2’ apart.
•
UH parking structure capacity can increase from 5,000 to 6,000.
•
$5,000 more weekday revenue for UH!
•
Need a ride? Use an app and order a driverless car or taxi.
•
Cost to user under 50¢ a mile.
•
Average cost to own a car is well over 70¢ per mile.
•
The car is a large investment that for most people sits parked 22+ hours a day.
•
Much lower need for parking lots where cars sit while the owner works, shops, exercises…
•
Frees up parking lanes, beautification, bike lanes, street vendors.
•
Frees up large parcels, re-development.
•
More space for people in increasingly crowded cities.
•
If we could have automated cars overnight, congestion would disappear overnight.
•
They have no perception and reaction losses.
•
They drive at uniform speeds.
•
They drive close to each other.
•
All 2-lane roads can become 3-lane roads.
•
2x Capacity per lane.
Near term vehicle automations
•
Ubiquitous autopilot for low-speed smooth flow … enhanced adaptive cruise control.
•
Ubiquitous auto parking function.
•
Driverless long haul trucking, with drivers for “first and last mile.”
•
Driverless BRT for core, high capacity city routes.
•
Ubiquitous driverless pods on campuses, airports, national parks, etc.
What Intersections Would Look Like in a World of Driverless Cars - Imagining a future without lights and stop signs
https://www.citylab.com/life/2012/03/what-intersections-would-look-world-driverless-cars/1377/
Robot Car Intersections Are Terrifyingly Efficient
Last time we put our life in the hands of a robot car, it managed to park itself without crashing or abducting us. Robot cars also know how to drive like maniacs, and even how to power slide. These are all very neat tricks -- tricks that might save your life one day. But what's going to happen when all cars are this talented? Efficiency. Scary, scary efficiency.
It's not just the sensor-driven skills that will soon be common to individual cars that will shape the future of automotive transportation, but also the ability for cars to communicate with each other, sharing constant updates about exactly where they are and where they're going. And with enough detailed information being shared at a fast enough pace between all vehicles on the road, things like traffic lights become completely redundant.
Do the Netherlands’ trains really run on 100% wind power?
http://euanmearns.com/do-the-netherlands-trains-really-run-on-100-wind-power/
NS claims 100% wind power because it has a contract with various wind farms to produce enough energy to
power its rail system, but this is just an accounting transaction. Only a small fraction of the power delivered to
its trains actually comes from wind.
How the Green Energy Scam Works:
The way energy company Eneco frequently solves this is by procuring Guarantees of Origin (GoO). These are
certificates belonging to renewably generated electricity, and by buying them up from countries where
renewable energy supply exceeds demand, on paper, the GoO buyer’s electricity becomes green and the GoO
seller’s electricity can no longer be sold as “sustainable.” So, the GoO system allows for the
transfer of the rights to call electricity green from those who actually generate renewable energy to those who
don’t but want to classify their power as such.
The GoO system allows for the transfer of the rights to call electricity green from those who actually generate
renewable energy to those who don’t but want to classify their power as such. And of course no such
connections exist. The two Dutch wind farms that have contracted to sell power to NS (Noordoostpolder and
Luchterduinen) are both connected directly to the Dutch grid, along with all the
other power plants in the country, and NS draws its power from the grid.
At Left, Exhibit A, BAD CRACKING RAIL SHIMS- Will Return Again!
Light Rail Versus Bus Costs for Fifteen American Cities With Both
(Source NTD) National Transit Database
Light Rail vs Bus
Cities
City Bus Cost Light Rail Cost
Dallas $122.38 $451.33
Salt Lake $118.24 $124.01
Denver $102.76 $170.18
Sacramento $119.51 $232.00
Los Angeles $127.28 $391.43
Portland, OR $134.39 $187.55
Minneapolis $123.64 $183.82
Phoenix $102.82 $180.35
Baltimore $163.96 $246.73
Philadelphia $141.34 $166.26
Boston $142.96 $216.45
San Diego $84.61 $137.67
Cleveland $126.12 $292.31
Buffalo $114.23 $280.97
Mean $121.87 $232.82
Max $163.96 $451.33
Min $84.61 $124.01
Median $122.38 $216.45
SD $19.50 $90.89
NEW STORIES :
Volvo recently demonstrated in a video how very quiet their rubber tire Electric Buses are:
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1104496_volvo-electric-buses-quiet-enough-for-classic-music-
concerts Quiet means easier to read a book, take a nap, or even listen to some live music without any bus
engine noises. HART Rail has huge electric traction power demands and screeching steel wheels.
New Tesla owners can now get free charging with a referral code
https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/21/15671752/tesla-owners-supercharger-free-referral-code
Move Over Tesla, Europe's Building Its Own Battery Gigafactories
An Increasing Market For High-Tech Charging Stations
http://dailystockpicks.net/lote/
Google Might Be Sitting on a $70 Billion Rival to Uber and Tesla
http://fortune.com/2017/05/23/google-waymo-uber-tesla-alphabet/
The Tesla Model 3 Will Do 0-60 In 5.6 Seconds, Model S will Do 0-60 In 2.3 Seconds
http://jalopnik.com/the-tesla-model-3-will-do-0-60-in-5-6-seconds-1795518431
1st Tesla Model 3 Book Is Superb — 3 Reasons Why
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/05/14/1st-tesla-model-3-book-superb-3-reasons/
UK's Green Alliance thinktank group says the combination of solar and household batteries such as Tesla’s Powerwall could result in houses being able to supply their own electricity independently for months at a time by 2025.
“For example, electric vehicles can be used to help feed energy back into the system at key times, while solar power will play a crucial role in providing clean energy as coal-generated power stops being used.”
Transport for London is spending £18m on upgrading the capital’s power grids to charge the first generation of battery-powered black cabs.
With ambitious emissions-reduction targets, support from government and the car industry, electromobility is on the verge of major expansion in Europe, reports Yale Environment 360
Last year, EVs constituted nearly 40% of the nation’s newly registered passenger cars.
And the Norwegian experiment shows every sign of accelerating. Earlier this year, Norway opened the world’s largest fast-charging station, which can charge up to 28 vehicles in about half an hour. The country, joined by Europe’s No 2 in electromobility, the Netherlands, intends to phase out all fossil fuel-powered automobiles by 2025. Elon Musk, CEO of the US electric car company Tesla Motors, responded to Norway’s goal by tweeting: “What an amazingly awesome country. You guys rock!”
Norway is the clear electric vehicle pacesetter in Europe, which now has about 500,000 electric vehicles. China leads the world in EV usage, with about 600,000 all-electric vehicles on its roads and an ambitious plan to deploy 5m EVs by 2020. The US ranks third globally, with fewer than 500,000 EVs. But electric vehicle momentum is picking up in the US, as evidenced by the 400,000 people who have paid $1,000 to be on the waiting list for Tesla’s $35,000 Model 3 car.
Many experts see 2017 as a crucial breakout year for electric mobility in Europe and beyond. Yet none of the competitors matches Tesla’s leading models with ranges of more than 215 miles.
John M. Bond
HART Rail Consulting Party
