New rules for TheBus could prohibit passengers whose belongings emit noxious odors or who ride with no destination in mind, signaling a stricter approach to how Honolulu transit systems handle homeless people.

The changes are part of a City Council bill that aims to boost safety in public transit. In addition to addressing the homeless, it would target vandals and empower the city to ban troublemaking passengers for up to a year. 

There’s a small group of frequent offenders who damage Skyline rail cars, for example, said Roger Morton, director of the city’s Department of Transportation Services.

While part of the bill addresses homelessness in public transit – a feature of urban life almost everywhere — it lacks the coordination found in some other cities.

Philadelphia provides social services at a major transit stop. New York City positions outreach workers at the end of certain subway lines, ready to interact with riders still aboard who have nowhere to go. 

Honolulu’s system does none of that, and if passed, the bill would instead rely on an ad hoc system where bus drivers could call in support vans to intercept homeless people in need of social services. 

‘We’re Not A Social Service’

U.S. transit systems are often designed to shuttle commuters to and from work, and as large chunks of society have embraced remote employment, ridership has diminished. 

Similar to other transit agencies, ridership on TheBus is still down about 30% compared to pre-Covid times. Especially after the pandemic shone a spotlight on personal hygiene to avoid spreading pathogens, improving perceptions of public safety is paramount, Morton wrote in a letter introducing the bill.

It has cleared the first of three required votes by the full council.

Morton said in an interview that the timing of the bill comes from a federal initiative last fall to increase safety for transit operators by protecting them against assault, as well as from conversations he’s had with the bus drivers union.

Riding back and forth with no destination in mind — a violation in the bill — may seem like a victimless crime. But Morton said it blurs the line of what transit is supposed to be, detracting from its main purpose of moving people from point A to point B. 

“It just takes up space — space that we don’t have, in some cases,” Morton said about riding with no destination. “We’re not a social service. We’re a transportation provider.”

Transit agencies often face a dilemma of who to tailor their services to, said Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, interim dean of the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California Los Angeles. 

On one hand, agencies aim to reduce car use and promote sustainable transportation. On the other hand, they aim to provide transportation for people who have no other options. They worry that tailoring service too much toward one of these demographics might alienate the other. 

“They were very concerned about what their regular transit riders were going to think and say,” Loukaitou-Sideris said. “But at the same time, you cannot exclude unhoused people. You really need to provide this service.”

Honolulu doesn’t funnel social services directly through its transit systems, city spokesperson Ian Scheuring said. It’s more efficient to send outreach workers to places where homeless people are known to congregate, he said, like specific parks or street corners. 

Connie Mitchell, who leads the Institute for Human Services and its 25 or so outreach workers, agreed. She said once transit guidelines are established, they can provide a “push” toward the services offered by her outreach workers, including a shelter and hygienic center in Iwilei accessible by bus.

“But we do have to have guidelines,” Mitchell said.

Enforcement Practicalities

Morton acknowledged that portions of the bill targeting homeless people might raise questions.

“It’ll probably be the most controversial part of the bill,” he said. 

Drivers could refuse service to somebody whose belongings smell or have visible traces of “saliva, mucus, blood, urine, semen, feces, or other dangerous or noxious substances that could carry or bear health pathogens,” according to the bill. 

“In our view, this would be an exceptional case, and a rare case,” Morton said.

Whether the city can seamlessly provide accompanying social services in these cases is still a question.

Drivers can already refuse service to people who appear too drunk, Morton said, and in those cases can call central command for a district supervisor to come to the scene. He envisions a similar scenario playing out if a passenger is refused service for hygiene reasons. 

It’s a step toward other cities’ approaches, though some have gone beyond that to offer social services to riders. 

“We have started seeing some transit agencies partnering with social service agencies to tackle the issue in a more humane way, rather than you’re just kicking people out of your transit system,” Loukaitou-Sideris said. 

Morton said one reason Honolulu doesn’t go so far is because the problem here is smaller in scope. He also said it’s because of a jurisdictional quirk: Many other transit systems cover multiple municipalities, and rather than rely on a patchwork of local police agencies, those systems deploy their own law enforcement officers. 

Honolulu’s system, on the other hand, is fully under the jurisdiction of the Honolulu Police Department and other city services. That means the transportation agency can afford to take less initiative since other city agencies are available to be deployed by the mayor.

Abbey Seitz, director of transportation equity for Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, said she understands some of the bill’s public safety concerns. 

But she said the bill’s luggage restriction, which would prohibit riders from carrying more than two bags, might make it more difficult for riders to use transit in everyday life for activities beyond commuting to work, like grocery shopping. This is especially true, she said, for homeless people and other low-income riders who may not have another transportation option to carry all their stuff.

“I am worried that we are creating more barriers to transit for those who most need it,” Seitz said.