Ask the Mayor: Can Maui Bus Route Times Be Changed?

Maui Bus, photo by Wendy Osher.

Mayor Alan Arakawa answers some of the questions submitted to his staff.

Submit your own questions about County of Maui programs, services, operations or policies to Mayor Alan Arakawa at AskTheMayor@mauicounty.gov, 270-7855 or mail them to 200 S. High St., 9th Floor, Wailuku, HI 96793.

Questions submitted will be considered for inclusion in the “Ask the Mayor” column.

Mayor Alan Arakawa answers some of the questions submitted to his office staff. Submit your own questions about County of Maui programs, services, operations or policies to Mayor Alan Arakawa via email: AskTheMayor@mauicounty.gov, phone: 270-7855 or mail: 200 S. High Street, 9th Floor, Wailuku, Hawaii 96793. Questions submitted will be considered for inclusion in the “Ask the Mayor” column.

Dear Mayor:

Q:  Why does the Kula Villager (bus route) start so late? I’m glad that it comes to Hawaiian Homes, but still, we’re not able to make the first connection down at Queen Ka‘ahumanu Center. We have to get dropped off at Pukalani to get the first connection at 7:30 a.m. I work at 9 a.m. in Lahaina so the Maui Bus would be perfect. How can we get the time changed?

A: As you may have read in recent news reports, two major schedule changes are being implemented this Wednesday to Maui Bus route.

One of these changes addresses your concern, by allowing Kula residents to make an earlier connection to get to the West side earlier.

Effective April 19, 2017, the Kula Villager Route #39 will extend service hours beginning at 5:30 a.m. from Hawaiian Homelands to allow connection with the Upcountry Islander at Kulamalu every 1.5 hours beginning at 6:38 a.m.

Additionally, the Ka‘anapali and Napili Islander routes will be combined into one new route called the West Maui Islander Route #28. This bus will travel the same route from the Wharf Cinema Center to Kā‘anapali and Napili, then extend into Kapalua with a stop near the Honolua Store. The timing of the route will remain fairly the same; the main difference is that passengers will not have to transfer buses at the Whalers Village to get to and from Lahaina or Kapalua.

The new bus schedules and maps will be posted on the Maui County website.

Riders are able to track their bus in real-time and get arrival predictions using the TransLoc Rider app available on iOS and Android or at http://mauibus.transloc.com.