Voters will have the final say, but the Honolulu Charter Commission has begun the debate over who should oversee the city’s transit operations — including the setting of fares for TheBus, Handi-Van and rail.

Under city ordinance, TheBus and Handi-Van operations fall under the city Department of Transportation Services, with major decisions such as fares approved by the City Council. Meanwhile, decision-making on all matters related to the $6.57 billion rail project is currently in the hands of the semiautonomous Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board, whose members are appointed by either the mayor or Council.

Putting all transportation operations under one roof to allow for better integrated planning and reduce duplication of services is one model under consideration by the Charter Commission as it discusses the best transit authority proposal to put before voters.

An intermodal operations system functions more efficiently, city Transportation Services Director Michael Formby told commission members at a meeting last week. “I don’t think a split system works at all,” Formby said Friday. “It’s impossible to keep rail under HART, and Handi-Van and bus under DTS.”

Keeping separate operations would make it more difficult to set fares, establish a “smart card” payment system, and plan routes and schedules.

Mayor Kirk Caldwell, in his State of the City address last week, threw his support behind putting all transportation operations under DTS.

“For me, my reputation is on the line with this (rail) project,” Caldwell said during his address, arguing that it should be the mayor and Council members making the decisions since they are directly accountable to Oahu residents via the ballot box.

Formby told commission members at their meeting Friday that to ensure “transportation equity,” he agrees with his boss. Decisions like the setting of fares impact heavily on those who rely on public transportation and how they live their lives, he said.

“It’s very important that when you make fare decisions, to me, that you be part of the political process,” Formby said. “At the end of the day, it comes down to math, but it does not start with math. It starts with the lives of the people that you represent and, to me, that is a political process.”

Collectively, TheBus and Handi-Van needed about $170 million in general fund subsidies to keep afloat last year, he said. “I have a very hard time understanding how you could hand that money over to an appointed board and allow them to decide how that money gets allocated.”

In three years as DTS director, Formby said, he’s heard buzz about undue political manipulation but never experienced it.

“No Council member, not the mayor, nobody has strong-armed me to do things that were not in the best interest of the system,” Formby said. “It’s all about serving the customer base. It’s a subsidized system. We’re not ever going to make a profit off rail, bus and Handi-Van.”

But former Councilman Gary Okino, a strong advocate for rail, told commission members that he disagrees.

“I have one concern and that is that this transit maintains its semiautonomous nature,” Okino said. “I have to tell you, efficiency and politics just don’t mix.”

He cited the raiding of special funds as an example.

“If something is under political influence, like the sewer fund … monies (can be) taken out of that special-purpose fund for uses other than that special purpose.”

Okino said he’s also seen elected officials attempt to raid $75 million from the semiautonomous Honolulu Board of Water Supply’s repair and maintenance fund. “If that was taken out to do the projects that helped people get re-elected, there wouldn’t be money today to do repair and maintenance,” Okino said. “Those things are critical.”

Okino noted that he was on the Council when it approved sending to voters the Charter question creating a semiautonomous HART. The question resonated with voters, who responded in the 2010 general election by supporting creation of HART by a 2-to-1 vote, he said.

Dan Grabauskas, HART CEO and executive director, told commission members that being semiautonomous means HART is also “definitely semiconnected.”

Not only are HART board members appointed politically, he meets regularly with Caldwell and Council members, he said.

While there’s disagreement about whether the Council now has the authority to change the HART budget, Grabauskas and HART Chairman Don Horner said, the agency has erred on the side of caution and followed “recommendations” made by Council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi and others.

In general, Grabauskas said, the board has made decisions that are “fairly politically free.”

Grabauskas said he’s seen different models for how transit operations should run. All can work, he said.