A Section meeting was held on May 21st at the Frank Fasi Municipal Building, 3rd Floor. President Claire Fukuoka welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked everyone to introduce themselves. Following the introductions, Claire asked the committee chairpersons to provide any new updates from the committees. Student Chapter Liaison Eric Imada shared that Abdul Alghamdi will serve as the student chapter president in the upcoming school year and will work with the Section to arrange a professional development workshop for the students. Legislative Committee Chairperson Wayne Yoshioka followed with a summary of the legislative measures that passed this recent session. These measures included the passage of the red light cameras (SB663 SD2 HD1) and changes to the traffic code regarding pedestrian crossings (SB98 HD1 CD1). The former establishes a red light running committee to develop policy recommendations for red light running pilot program and is comprised of state and county administrators while the latter is intended to clarify the requirement that a motorist yield to a pedestrian by specifying when a pedestrian is considered to be within an intersection or adjacent crosswalk. Wayne was followed by International Director Cathy Leong who provided new updates on the on-going OneITE initiative. She reminded everyone that the next District Meeting will be in Monterey, California from June 23-26.
After the announcements, Claire went on to introduce guest speaker Justine Espiritu, Grants and Program Manager from Bikeshare Hawaii. Todd Boulanger was previously scheduled to speak but was unable to attend due to a schedule conflict. Justine’s presentation highlighted the organization’s successes in the last year including an increase in ridership and a 30 percent expansion to the program’s bicycle fleet growing from 100 stations to 130 stations within the last year. Biki was also recently ranked top 6 bikeshare system in the nation by the National Association of City Transportation Officials. Biki users are comprised of a mix of visitors and local residents with residents making up 60-75% of Biki users. As such, Biki has been focused on targeting resident demand including areas like Makiki, Diamond Head, and Iwilei. When asked what initiatives Biki has been involved in to increase infrastructure improvements, Justine shared that Biki has been working closely with the Hawaii Bicycling League to put together workshops to educate riders safe cycling practices and the rules of the road and encourage their members to be involved in town meetings. In the future, the organization plans to explore potential sites for expansion including establishing satellite stations in Kapolei, Haleiwa, and Kailua.
After Justine’s presentation, Claire announced that the next meeting will be the Annual Section meeting and will be held on June 13th also at the Frank Fasi Municipal Building, 3rd floor.
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