Dawn Joao-Harris earns CDL on Molokaʻi, helps restore MEO bus routes

Dawn Joao-Harris became the second Molokaʻi resident to earn a Commercial Driver’s License through an Maui Economic Opportunity training program and will allow MEO to restore five routes on the island suspended due to a driver shortage.

Joao-Harris is MEO’s sixth Personal Assistance Technician (PAT) with another CDL trainee in the pipeline. When that individual completes the program later this month, MEO Molokaʻi will have a full complement of drivers, which could lead to streamlining schedules and possibly the addition of routes based on community surveys currently being circulated.

With no other CDL training opportunities on Molokaʻi and a demand for bus drivers, MEO created the in-house program. Driver Supervisor Amy Makaiwi runs the training program for the CDL, a required qualification for an MEO bus driver on Molokaʻi.

Joao-Harris passed her CDL exam on March 2 and has been training to drive MEO buses that provide the island’s only mass transit option through a Human Services transportation contract with the County of Maui.

Born on Oʻahu but raised on Molokaʻi, Joao-Harris is a graduate of Molokaʻi High & Intermediate School. After high school, she lived on Kaua‘i and Maui before settling down in Hilo for 12 years. Joao-Harris made her way back to Molokaʻi, accepting a position with ʻOhana by Hawaiian.

 She decided to make Molokaʻi her home, even after the airline folded in 2021. 

Joao-Harris says she is grateful for the opportunity to give back to the community that raised her and feels proud and honored to be part of the team serving her special island. 

MEO has a Human Services contract with the County of Maui to provide transportation in the rural communities of Molokaʻi, Lana’i and East Maui. For more information about transportations services on Molokaʻi, call 808-553-3218; on Lānaʻi, 808-565-6665; in Hāna, 808-248-8282; on Maui, 808-877-7651.

In addition to the Human Services contract, MEO also operates paratransit services for the Maui Bus by reservation. Drivers for both Human Service and paratransit operations are needed on Maui.

If you are interested in becoming a driver, call MEO Human Resources at 808-249-2990.