Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

[Palolo Joe]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

I would not want to be on one of the first trips to Kahului, especially not if I'm taking my car with me. If you want to be part of an experiment, go ahead. I hope your cars all have fairly high clearances, because that off ramp (the breakaway point) at Kahului has a 10% grade at the top...Oh, and don't forget the Dramamine, and always stare at the horizon and don't stuff your face too much, in just case...Kahului is not ready. Oh, and make sure you bring your patience and not your road rage, because it's going to take you awhile to get off that boat...you know how they still have to iron out some of those kinks.

Translation: "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"

[mel]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

I would not want to be on one of the first trips to Kahului, ..... [blah blah blah]

Miulang

Guess what? From 2,300+ miles away from us, you won't. Your wish comes true without even trying.

Let the Superferry supporters and customers rejoice with the $5 sale. What started off as a lousy morning for Hawaii Superferry has turned out to be a good day for them and their customers.

[Miulang]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

Guess what? From 2,300+ miles away from us, you won't. Your wish comes true without even trying.

Let the Superferry supporters and customers rejoice with the $5 sale. What started off as a lousy morning for Hawaii Superferry has turned out to be a good day for them and their customers.

Maybe, maybe not.

Miulang

[Palolo Joe]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

Maybe, maybe not.

Blah, blah, blah...

[mel]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

For now, Hawaii Superferry is undercutting Mesa / Go's current $19 OW fare. How long will it take for Go! or any of the inter-island airlines to start offering a $5 promo fare?

[Konaguy]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

I find this attempt by HSF to jump the gun by starting service before the environmentalists can file their legal motions very questionable. Its like they are trying the flaunt the decision made by the Hawaii Supreme Court.

[Miulang]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

I find this attempt by HSF to jump the gun by starting service before the environmentalists can file their legal motions very questionable. Its like they are trying the flaunt the decision made by the Hawaii Supreme Court.

You could look at it that way, or you could say that this is the "dry run" that HSF needs to either make or break them. But this reminds me of another renegade businessman in the transportation industry who came to Hawai'i last year...

There is also still the matter of the Judge August ruling in which the DOT has to make some traffic mitigation changes on Maui before he will allow HSF to dock at Kahului Harbor. I haven't seen anything in the press yet to say that that one isn't still valid. And this one really has very little to do with HSF...it's all about the State DOT not doing enough to mitigate the traffic situation. (See the traffic study done in Nov. 2006 by CH2M Hill for HSF in post #484).

Miulang

[joshuatree]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

You could look at it that way, or you could say that this is the "dry run" that HSF needs to either make or break them. But this reminds me of another renegade businessman in the transportation industry who came to Hawai'i last year...

There is also still the matter of the Judge August ruling in which the DOT has to make some traffic mitigation changes on Maui before he will allow HSF to dock at Kahului Harbor. I haven't seen anything in the press yet to say that that one isn't still valid. And this one really has very little to do with HSF...it's all about the State DOT not doing enough to mitigate the traffic situation. (See the traffic study done in Nov. 2006 by CH2M Hill for HSF in post #484).

Miulang

How is it a dry run when it's paying passengers? Sure, the fare is cheap but it's still an actual run. I really don't see what's to worry with traffic, if you check the specials, they've limited it to 150 vehicles and it's 150 for both Maui and Kauai. I get the feeling that some people simply can't be happy that perhaps cheaper means of transportation is available for the masses?

[Sprite]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

And flying pigs too!
Talk about a shocker. Sheesh.

But you said above that you hadn't been paying attention. HSF has shown a huge and beyond-the-norm concern. You're just not aware of it.

Yes, Hawai`i looks really really stoopid today in the eyes of the world.

No, I meant that I was puzzled by the apparent lack of concern on the part of the environmentalists. But, as you said, they probably were aware that HSF had already been looking into this. Now I don't know why they didn't just say so when about four or five people asked about it. Irrelevant, just an observation.

Ditto on the last remark. Sigh. Thank you much, LikaNui, that's just what I wanted this morning -- enlightenment! I just haven't been able to get back here until now. Sorry.

This evening, KHON's evening news said that HSF is pushing up their journey two days to beat the court filing to stop them. The saga continues. Is that going to be Chapter 5?

[Konaguy]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

Our own Mel had a guest editorial published on Hawaii Reporter in regards to HSF.

"The environmental groups and many individuals from as far away as Seattle and beyond are probably gloating over this decision on the false pretense of saving whales and turtles, preventing the spread of invasive species, drug trafficking, and congestion. Hawaii Superferry addressed these issues yet they still insisted on having an EIS done."

[pzarquon]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

I love this development. I hope they have a full house. I'd book a trip myself, if I didn't, you know, have to be back on Honolulu on Monday morning. Sure, it's flauting the will of the courts, but... hey, there's no injunction yet. Ultimately, this is turning out to be a surprisingly delicious game of chess.

[joshuatree]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

I love this development. I hope they have a full house. I'd book a trip myself, if I didn't, you know, have to be back on Honolulu on Monday morning. Sure, it's flauting the will of the courts, but... hey, there's no injunction yet. Ultimately, this is turning out to be a surprisingly delicious game of chess.

Is it really a flaunt of the courts when there is no exact order barring service? Just that an EIS needs to be done? I think HSF is trying to demo as quickly as possible how light of a footprint they will leave with a full load, thus the cheap tix to get a full load fast.

[escondido100]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

i am sure that the legal eagles at SF have anticipated this ruling for some time....if they launch early as they say they will i am sure they planned fro such a move way in advance. just think of the PR nightmare for the state...the judges.... the wackos and everybody else if those first passengers with their cars are stranded on maui or kaui or oahu because of an injunction being granted on monday.......i am sure that the wackos are trying to get a judge to issue an injunction over the weekend.... there are probably precedents for this.......lets get the EIS and move forward.....there is so much political BS here that when it gets all sorted out some one will have to pay dearly...probably us....
i am also sure that the folks at SF also have plans C,D,E and F ready to go.
probably one of those plans include pulling out completely and moving it all to some other third world island nation that would welcome them with open arms...there are hundreds of places they could move...probably not without the same population base.....but they are in this business and know it well.... the superferry will succeed somwhere.....if they pull out of Hawaii....our face will be MUD for along time to come.....those of us that want the ferry and want it to be responsible here need to let our displeasure at this turn of events be known loud and clear..... i think this early launch will help them.... they have not been told they cant.....yet.

[Konaguy]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

Is it really a flaunt of the courts when there is no exact order barring service? Just that an EIS needs to be done? I think HSF is trying to demo as quickly as possible how light of a footprint they will leave with a full load, thus the cheap tix to get a full load fast.

Its an obvious attempt to stick the finger at the court from my vantage point. Its pretty cut and dry, a EIS needs to be done before HSF can commence service. By commencing service they are breaking the law.

Yes there is no injunction in place. But thats exactly my point.The courts are not open on Sunday to hear any injunction motions. Since that is the case HSF is starting service.

This all could've been avoided if the EIS was done BEFORE HSF spent the multi millions on setting up shop here. I fault the HDOT for the latter. They
exempted the HSF from doing any EIS.

[pzarquon]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 4

Is it really a flaunt of the courts when there is no exact order barring service? Just that an EIS needs to be done?

True, true. Which is why I noted that without an injunction, they're not exactly going against anything. Just public perception. And there's a lot of perceiving going on, from both sides of the debate!

When I first heard about this, I figured an injunction was inevitable, and hence the rush to service. But the more I think about it, I'm not sure. The Hawaii Supreme Court said the state should not have given Hawaii Superferry a waiver from the EIS requirement, yes?

So one, Hawaii Superferry has good faith grounds as an operator, saying, "We received the waiver and planned our launch accordingly." The screw up is the state's, and hence the state should bear most of the adverse results. So now an EIS will be required... but that doesn't necessarily preclude active use of the facility in question. Look at Makua Valley. (Er, or maybe that's a bad comparison...)

And two, a very likely outcome of an EIS would be, "More mitigation efforts needed," not, "Evil evil evil must stop immediately!" Better traffic control, more monitoring or reporting, other infrastructure improvements, and so on. These are things that can be implemented concurrent with operation, IMHO.