2008 Woodie Awards
Ride TheBoat, make $20
Blane Benevedes
Issue date: 1/17/08 Section: News
Sit right back and read a tale, a tale of a rewarding trip that'll pay students $20 just to ride, starting Jan. 22.
All cheesy parodies aside, TheBoat, Honolulu's only marine public transportation service, will offer University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa students a free trip from Kalaeloa Harbor to the Aloha Tower Marketplace on Jan. 22 and Jan. 23, says Lei Matsuura, one of the program's promoters. And if it sounds too good to be true, well, it actually gets better.
"Next Tuesday and Wednesday morning, we're offering students $20 if they want to take TheBoat from Kalaeloa in Kapolei to the Aloha Tower Marketplace," Matsuura said.
According to Matsuura, TheBoat will depart from Kalaeloa at 6 a.m. and plans to arrive at Aloha Tower at about 7:30 a.m. From Aloha Tower, students will be transported to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa campus via a chartered city bus, free of charge.
When the students reach Mānoa, they will be offered breakfast at the Campus Center Executive Dining Room from 8:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. on both days. There, the students will be encouraged to fill out a survey about their experience on TheBoat. Upon completion of the survey, Matsuura said, the students will receive their $20, just for riding it.
TheBoat, a 72-foot-long and 30-foot-wide vessel that can seat up to 149 passengers comfortably, began its daily service last September. It is one of the city's attempts at alleviating Leeward traffic woes.
In the 1990s, the city had a similar service, Matsuura said. However, it was canceled because many riders were unable to get transportation from their homes to the ferry. However, Matsuura said that this time around there are three main bus routes on the Leeward side (Wai‘anae, Makakilo and Kapolei) that will offer direct rides to Kalaeloa.
Riders of TheBoat may park their vehicles in Kalaeloa or catch a connecting bus route to the harbor. While ocean conditions dictate the ferry's operational speed and time of travel, TheBoat's normal operating speed runs in the 35 to 38 mph range and the trip from Kalaeloa Harbor to the Aloha Tower Marketplace takes about an hour and a half on average. At the marketplace, riders may board express busses to campus or Waikīkī.
All cheesy parodies aside, TheBoat, Honolulu's only marine public transportation service, will offer University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa students a free trip from Kalaeloa Harbor to the Aloha Tower Marketplace on Jan. 22 and Jan. 23, says Lei Matsuura, one of the program's promoters. And if it sounds too good to be true, well, it actually gets better.
"Next Tuesday and Wednesday morning, we're offering students $20 if they want to take TheBoat from Kalaeloa in Kapolei to the Aloha Tower Marketplace," Matsuura said.
According to Matsuura, TheBoat will depart from Kalaeloa at 6 a.m. and plans to arrive at Aloha Tower at about 7:30 a.m. From Aloha Tower, students will be transported to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa campus via a chartered city bus, free of charge.
When the students reach Mānoa, they will be offered breakfast at the Campus Center Executive Dining Room from 8:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. on both days. There, the students will be encouraged to fill out a survey about their experience on TheBoat. Upon completion of the survey, Matsuura said, the students will receive their $20, just for riding it.
TheBoat, a 72-foot-long and 30-foot-wide vessel that can seat up to 149 passengers comfortably, began its daily service last September. It is one of the city's attempts at alleviating Leeward traffic woes.
In the 1990s, the city had a similar service, Matsuura said. However, it was canceled because many riders were unable to get transportation from their homes to the ferry. However, Matsuura said that this time around there are three main bus routes on the Leeward side (Wai‘anae, Makakilo and Kapolei) that will offer direct rides to Kalaeloa.
Riders of TheBoat may park their vehicles in Kalaeloa or catch a connecting bus route to the harbor. While ocean conditions dictate the ferry's operational speed and time of travel, TheBoat's normal operating speed runs in the 35 to 38 mph range and the trip from Kalaeloa Harbor to the Aloha Tower Marketplace takes about an hour and a half on average. At the marketplace, riders may board express busses to campus or Waikīkī.
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