Honolulu council approves modest transit fare increase after amendment to preserve current fares fails

Honolulu — The City Council voted 6–3 to approve Bill 54 (2025 CD2) on third reading, adopting a package of fare adjustments the Department of Transportation Services (DTS) says will raise roughly $4 million in additional revenue.

The council had before it an amendment (FD1) offered by Council Member dos Santos Tam that would have retained the current fare structure — including keeping fares for people with extremely low incomes unchanged and deleting a provision that would increase one‑way paratransit fares for those with paratransit eligibility ID cards. That amendment failed on a roll call vote the council recorded as 3 ayes and 6 no's.

Why it mattered: Director Roger Martin told the council DTS’s operating budget is roughly $440 million, with projected cost increases of about $11 million this year and next. He said the bill’s revenue would cover an estimated 20 percent of the two‑year rise in operating costs and that a $4 million shortfall would be roughly equivalent to eight buses out of service for a year. “We do seek some user pay,” Martin said, framing the measure as part of a larger effort to balance service needs and city budget constraints.

Public opposition: Dozens of in‑person and remote testifiers urged the council to reject the fare increase. “The fare is not fair,” said Jimmy Chen, who argued a regional fare and a 25‑cent increase would be regressive, disproportionately affecting seniors, immigrants and unhoused residents who rely on cash and lack access to digital payment methods. Dale Vanderbrink, second vice chair of the Ala Moana‑Kakaako Neighborhood Board, said the increase would generate roughly $4 million against a DTS budget of more than $400 million and called the change “nickel and diming” households.

Equity concerns featured in council debate. Council Member dos Santos Tam said, “The bus is a need to have,” and argued increases would hit families who depend on transit. Council Member Cordero and others said they favored the FD1 amendment to avoid raising costs on low‑income riders, while Council Member Okimoto and other supporters said the CD2 was a compromise after months of work with the rate commission and DTS and that some protections for seniors and disabled riders were preserved in the committee draft.

Reduced‑fare eligibility and pilots: Council members pressed DTS on the effects of expanding reduced‑fare eligibility (for example to Section 8 recipients) and on results of zero‑fare pilots. Director Martin said expanding eligibility would erode revenue and that previous pilots (including a city worker pilot) produced significant revenue losses.

What passed: The council adopted Committee Report 126 and Bill 54 (2025 CD2) on third reading. The adopted CD2 retains exemptions for some low‑income riders and preserves an airport special ride fare provision while implementing the other changes described in the bill as presented to the council.

Next steps: The bill passed third reading and will be implemented according to the timetable and administrative steps in the adopted ordinance text. Council members and DTS said they would continue to explore ways to reduce barriers to obtaining reduced‑fare cards (for youth and others) and to seek other revenue streams and pilot programs to expand ridership without shifting costs onto the most dependent riders.

Reporting note: Quotes and vote tallies are drawn from the council’s roll calls and public testimony recorded in the meeting transcript. Where the transcript contained inconsistent spellings or duplicate roll‑call lines, the article reports vote tallies as recorded by the clerk (amendment: 3 ayes, 6 no's; final motion: 6 ayes, 3 no's).