Kauai Bus

I've been carless the past few days and riding the Kauai Bus. After dropping off a very generously loaned truck in Kalaheo, I took the bus back to my place. Two busses actually with a 45 minute transfer wait at Kukui Grove shopping center: $4. One weekends the schedule is a killer - two hours between busses - but it worked out fine by chance.

The walk back from Anahola Post Office was nearly two miles but  not a bad walk, featuring views of the Hole In The Mountain - including an angle from the road where you can see daylight through the hole.

Today packing took a little longer than planned but I got it done, did a bit of cleanup, and left with 35 minutes to get back to the bus stop. Made it with 2 minutes to spare (with my bags for Maui) and the bus was obligingly a few minutes late so plenty of time. To get to the airport involves transfer to the Lihue Shuttle but things were more or less on schedule and the connection was under 10 minutes, getting me to the airport (LIH) in plenty of time.

It's too bad that the Kauai Bus is not published in a format that Google Maps directions can use but just maybe I can help with that. The schedules are online as PDF (at http://www.kauai.gov/Government/Departments/TransportationAgency/BusSchedules/tabid/208/Default.aspx) but it's fairly cumbersome to plan a trip.

Like many non-urban bus systems the Kauai Bus has a "Catch 22" problem of low ridership and sparse schedules... if only there were more busses and stops they might get more ridership. A quaint detail is that you stuff your $2 (per trip) into a fare machine designed for coins and when it gets full (and you could as easily pull money back out if you wanted to) the driver uses a paint stirring stick to stuff it down lower into the locked box.

Bottom line: it's great to have the Kauai Bus and I expect riding it when it works. The drivers have all been helpful and show Aloha spirit which makes a difference.