Driven With Aloha For 70 Years

Roberts Hawaii’s Juanita Ducosin, Melissha Vasai and Sam Sivongxay. Photos courtesy Roberts Hawaii

By Percy Higashi
President and Chief Operating Officer, Roberts Hawaii

This year marks the 70th anniversary of Roberts Hawaii. What began in 1941 as a one-man taxi business in Hanapepe has grown over three generations to become one of Hawaii’s largest employee-owned companies, with approximately 1,400 employees and 900 vehicles on Kaua’i, Oahu, Maui and the Big Island.

Throughout its history, Roberts Hawaii has been a very progressive and entrepreneurial company, willing to evolve in order to be better. I’m excited to help continue this legacy as we transition to an even higher level of quality, service, safety and respect for our island roots.

One of our most significant initiatives of 2011 has been the rebranding of our company. This important endeavor started with a company-wide assessment of our mission and core values, with employees representing every part of Roberts Hawaii contributing to the process.

From that effort came our new company slogan, “Driven with Aloha,” as well as an all-new look and logo, which literally hit the pavement this summer on the exteriors of our new motor coaches. The green hues and Hawaiithemed graphics incorporating the hibiscus and ahupua’a will soon be wrapped on our entire fleet statewide.

We’ve also been busy over the past few months with several other exciting endeavors. We are continuing upgrades to our fleet, including 20 new Prevost motor coaches with enhanced features for passenger comfort and the most environmentally advanced engines in the industry, plus 25 new Champion minibuses. Our goal is to always have the most modern ground transportation fleet in Hawaii. We also are introducing the new Roberts Hawaii Express Shuttle, for reservations-based transportation between Honolulu International Airport and Waikiki. Our new mobile site at robertshawaiiexpress.com enables guests to secure their reservations via smartphones or iPads, and we also offer our Hawaii Movie Tours for film fans interested in visiting sites on Kaua’i, where numerous films and television shows have been staged. Service-wise, we are raising the bar of service excellence training for our employees. “Satisfactory” service is no longer acceptable. Instead, we’re energized and driven to deliver personalized service that exceeds our guests’ expectations.

There will be even more down the road. We’re currently developing new entertainment options with the help of Hawaii’s most veteran executive in the travel and entertainment industry, Roy Tokujo, and we’re looking to enhance and expand our tour and activity product line.

We’re proud to have moved our friends and neighbors for the past seven decades, and are looking forward to what lies ahead. We hope you’ll continue to join us for the ride.

Please visit Robertshawaii.com for more information.