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Meet Jon Y. Nouchi!
Jon Y. Nouchi
Deputy Director, Planning and Environmental
Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART)
Member, Leadership APTA Class of 2012, Bus Operations Committee, Multimodal Operations Planning Subcommittee
How many people are employed at your agency? Please describe its scope.
 The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) currently employs 130 people. HART is leading the construction of Honolulu’s first rail line to serve the primary urban corridor of the 600-square-mile island of O‘ahu, which is home to approximately a million residents. Our 20-mile alignment with 21 stations is estimated to carry 119,600 weekday passengers by the year 2030 on 20 four-car train sets.
Our driverless, fully-automated trains will run between 4 a.m. and midnight daily, with five-minute service in the peak period and 11-minute headways during non-peak travel times.
Honolulu’s well-established bus system, TheBus, will be thoughtfully integrated with our rail alignment to allow efficient and seamless transfer connections. We expect to open the full alignment by 2019.
How long have you worked in the public transportation industry?
I’ve worked in public transportation for 16 years in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. I began my career in 1998 at O‘ahu Transit Services, Inc., contracted management and operators of TheBus for the city and county of Honolulu.
In 2014, I left my position as director of planning and service development and moved to my current agency, HART, to serve as the deputy director of planning and environmental. I’m very fortunate in my career to have had the opportunity to learn operations and planning both from a bus and rail perspective.
How long have you been an APTA member?
I’ve been an APTA member for my entire transportation career—16 years—and regularly participate in APTA Annual Meetings, the triennial EXPO, and the Multimodal Operations Planning Workshop.
What drew you to a career in public transportation?
I’ve always been fascinated by the assuring regularity of public transportation and how people rely on its schedules and dependability. My parents and grandparents were choice transit riders; they used TheBus whenever possible. I explored many of the unique neighborhoods of my island home riding TheBus all over O‘ahu. It is an iconic, well-utilized system in Hawai‘i that is an integral part of the O‘ahu’s culture and lifestyle.
I love to participate in school and college career fairs to show students how diverse and rewarding a career in public transportation can be, with positions in operations and maintenance, planning and scheduling, engineering and construction, public relations and marketing and finance and human resources. Our industry has a lot to offer that many are unaware of.
What have you found to be the most valuable APTA benefit or resource? Which one helps you do your job?
Leadership APTA was and continues to be the greatest APTA resource for me. The networking and partnerships developed during the intense year-long program are invaluable.
As I develop my skills as a transportation professional and embark on new projects, the easiest calls to make are to my APTA colleagues—we put our heads together to develop better solutions in our industry while avoiding reinventing the wheel. Leadership APTA definitely marked the start of a greater responsibility to my APTA colleagues and a promise to improve and promote transit by enabling others in our industry to be better in their jobs every day.
What do you like most about your job?
I love that the decisions we make today to shape public transportation in our communities are far-reaching; that big and small choices and decisions we make on any given day can influence the quality of lives for future generations a hundred years from now. It’s not a responsibility to take lightly.
What is unique about your agency? What would readers be surprised to learn?
Onboard the United States’ first driverless and fully-automated rail system, we will carry surfboards for unprecedented access to O‘ahu’s finest surf spots. Bicycles will also be welcome!
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