Last school year (‘24-’25), the requirements for Hawai’i public school students who want a free EXPRESS Holo Card changed. Students must live at least 1.5 miles away from school and attend the school in their original school district to be eligible. According to a survey done by Pinion staff last year, 70% of students were unable to get a free Holo Card that year or were unsure about the rules. Subsequently, a surcharge on TheBus cash fares has been proposed, which according to a survey this year, has upset students at McKinley, as the change in requirements have led some students to have to pay for bus fares on their own, and the potential surcharge will add onto that.
Prior to the ‘22-’23 school year, only students who met the Hawai’i Administrative Rule 8-27 were given free Holo Cards. The Expanding Ridership to Educate Students in Schools (EXPRESS) program was founded in the ‘22-’23 school year by the HIDOE to address the school bus driver shortage, providing all high school students with a free TheBus Holo Card to use as their mode of transportation to school during the ‘22-’23 and ‘23-’24 school year, which changed during the ‘24-’25 school year. As of July 2025, the City and County of Honolulu proposed a twenty-five cent surcharge for cash fares in order to encourage Holo Card usage in hopes of a more efficient fare collection and reducing costs for operating the cash collection process. If implemented, the price of a single cash fare will be $3.25 for adults and $1.75 for youth.
Daniil Shirinov (c/o ‘29) lives less than 1.5 miles away from school and uses TheBus almost every day to get to school as it is convenient, especially when it rains, and saves him time. Shirinov uses a Holo Card and feels that bus fares should be free or cheaper for students as he said even a small increase can add up over time…