KAILUA-KONA — Developmentally disabled individuals in West Hawaii are going places.
A host of issues slows their pursuit of inclusion, however, such as a lack of reliable public transportation.
Getting people where they need to be was one of several topics discussed Thursday night at the second Inclusion First West Hawaii Island Disability Legislative Forum, which was held at the Old Airport Makaeo Pavilion.
“We have two barriers — the provider barrier and the transportation barrier — and I don’t know which is bigger,” said Hawaii state Sen. Josh Green, who represents West Hawaii and was a panelist at the forum. “They’re equally enormous. We have a shortage of providers to deliver any of the services.”
Not to mention a shortage of buses and vans to deliver people where they want to go.
Hawaii County’s mass transit system has been in a relative state of chaos for months, as buses sit empty and in disrepair in the baseyard. Mayor Harry Kim is still searching for a permanent department head and employees have been quoted as recently as a week ago saying morale is “at an all-time low.”
The need for public transit is ubiquitous for the developmentally disabled who want to strike out on their own in search of true independence. In West Hawaii, 36 percent of the population is employed, much of which relies on buses to get to and from work.
Jeri Raymond, adult day health service coordinator at Arc of Kona, told the story of one such man Thursday night.
“He has a job where he sometimes has to work Sundays and … holidays,” Raymond said. “He will lose his job if he can’t.”
There is no Hele-On bus that runs the necessary route, she added. In fact, Hele-On doesn’t have much of a presence in Kona at all.
“Hilo has four intra-Hilo routes and every other route we have goes from Hilo to somewhere,” said Hawaii state Rep. Nicole Lowen, who also spoke on the panel and whose district includes Kailua-Kona. “One route goes from Hilo to Kona and it makes certain stops in Kona, but really (doesn’t service the area). The population has grown enough to justify at least two.”
“The transit system just needs to be better,” she added.
Lois Phillips, a developmentally disabled resident of Kailua-Kona, agreed. She said she and several of her peers frequently utilize the minimal bus services available in West Hawaii to shop or to attend social activities.
She added buses rarely run on time and have left her stranded on occasion.
“At certain hours, the bus, you got to wait like half an hour,” she said. “(Other times) it doesn’t come and you’re just like, ‘What happened to the bus?’ And if the bus broke down, you don’t have a way to go home.”
Lowen mentioned a potential legislative solution that would involve returning a portion of the transient accommodations tax (TAT) — a source of competition and debate among counties and the state — to each county with the stipulation that a percentage of the money sent back must be used for issues like public transit as mandated by the state.
Green’s idea is to connect transportation to institutional models that have been successful in serving the developmentally disabled population, such as the health center models.
“(People) are talking about fusion of the programs, like adult mental health and adult disability branches. Well, then they can get economy of scale and get a van,” Green said. “The transportation door-to-door nowadays, it’s just too easy to not be doing.”
Whatever the solutions are, however, they will likely require political action on both the county and a state level to revamp and expand Hawaii County’s mass transit system to serve the needs of the developmentally disabled across the island.
“When it comes to transportation, it’s not going to be overnight or an easy fix,” said Karyle Yamane, a specialist with the Hawaii County Aging and Disability Resource Center.
