"I would say that rider ship is surging," said Roger Morton, president for Oahu Transit Services, the company that operates TheBus.

For TheBus the surge has meant 10,000 more riders a day compared to a year ago. Many of them are passengers who've parked their cars to save on gas.

"They me the gas prices are so high they have no choice but to ride the bus now," said veteran driver Lori Takahashi.

Bus passes are selling at a brisk pace -- up seven percent over last year. But on a negative note, "pass-up's" are up too. That's when crowded busses by-pass stops because they're too full to squeeze in another body.

"On a monthly basis we're running somewhere between 600 to 800 pass up's per month," Morton said.

To accommodate customers TheBus is looking at adjusting schedules on busy routes during peak hours.

Oahu Transit Services has 525 busses and no immediate plans to add any more.

The balancing act is to keep old customers happy and new customers coming back, even with the increase in packed busses like Takahashi's.

"You would see a full standing load and you're lucky if you get on," she said.

"We're worried that they'll go out and try it but they won't stick with it because the service is too crowded," Morton said.

If the present trend stays the course, bus ridership will continue to rise as gas prices do. Right now, neither is slowing down.

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