If you’ve ever jumped on a city bus, you can thank Frank Fasi for the ride.
Fasi formed plans for the city-operated bus operation in 1970, when drivers of the Honolulu Rapid Transit Co. went on strike.

He quickly got federal funding for the project and flew off to Dallas to purchase buses.
“When the first buses arrived from Dallas, they had the news helicopters out there watching the ship come in. They set it (the first bus) down on the pier, and Fasi got in ... and drove figure eights around the parking lot,” said Jim Loomis, Fasi’s director of information and complaint from 1971 to 1979.
Joe Magaldi, former head of the city Department of Transportation Services, said the bus system was probably one of Fasi’s greatest accomplishments.
“If it wasn’t for him, we probably wouldn’t have a bus system,” he said.