Mālama Kūpuna: Driving with Care For Our Elders

The City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Transportation Services announces the Mālama Kūpuna campaign, to improve safety for on-board passengers of TheBus and TheHandi-Van.

The campaign aims to reduce on-board injuries and incidents involving the most vulnerable riders, including the disabled and kūpuna. Motor vehicle drivers who suddenly cut in front of TheBus cause sudden braking by our operators, which leads to tripping, falling, and even serious on-board injuries.

“We need to be careful and respectful to our kūpuna riding on TheBus and avoid cutting off the bus driver and making them brake suddenly,” said Mayor Kirk Caldwell. “Drive with aloha. But drive with MAXIMUM aloha for our bus drivers and our bus riders, particularly our kūpuna, our seniors.”

There have been over 1,000 on-board injuries since 2017 due to collision avoidance and sudden braking. To address this, delineators will be installed along the double-solid line (the lines that separate the Bus Only Lane) at the intersection of King Street and Punchbowl. These delineators will help prevent motorists from cutting off and in front of buses departing from the King and Punchbowl bus stop. Message decals placed on the rear of TheBus and inside will remind drivers and riders to be courteous and show aloha on the road.

DTS wants to remind all motor vehicle drivers to please drive with care, patience, and aloha to help prevent these situations from happening. If you are behind a TheBus that is loading/unloading passengers, please be patient. Pass with extreme care and caution if you need to. Let’s keep all motorists, pedestrians, and passengers safe.