Prior to 1976, public transport in the Hilo area was provided by "sampan" buses converted locally from conventional passenger automobiles and operated as taxi or jitney services.

[1][2][3] The first "sampan" was credited to Hilo taxi driver Fukumatsu Kusumoto, who converted a Ford in 1922 by expanding the passenger compartment and installing wooden benches.

[11] The Lyman House Memorial Museum offered tours of Hilo starting in 1988, aboard a restored vintage 1948 Plymouth 13-passenger sampan bus,[12][13] but it was sold to Hamakua Springs Country Farms proprietor Richard Ha in the early 2000s.

[14] In 1968, the County Economic Development Department began considering whether to subsidize or assume control of the aging sampan fleet, concluding it would cost an estimated $95–100,000/year to operate five routes.

[23]: 13  The County Council decided to solicit bids to operate the service as a performance-based contract, provided as a cost per bus-hour, in September 1975.

[25] The first bus ran on December 15, 1975 on a 36-mile (58 km) roundtrip route within Hilo, serving Keaukaha (Kalanaia - Kalanianaole - Kaumana).

At some of the tight intersections in the city, the bus was unable to negotiate some turns without having all other vehicles cleared, and that first trip took 2 hours and 40 minutes to complete.

[33] As a compromise, MTA proposed less-severe cuts in service and additional fare hikes, which was approved by the County Council.

[34] In 1986, the County Council voted to award the operating contract to PHT, Inc.[35] Fares for the Hele-On Bus were waived in 2009 in response to the 2008 economic downturn[36] and ridership rose to more than 1 million passenger trips in one year.

[37] In October 2010, Senator Daniel Inouye presented a check for $7.2 million to County Mayor Billy Kenoi and MTA Director Tom Brown, representing the award of two grants from the Federal Transit Administration.

[38] However, from 2014 to 2018, MTA failed to file any new federal grant applications, which would have provided funds to purchase buses at no cost to the county.

… You're hanging by a thread," adding that short-term substitute bus rentals were "wasting money every day" and could only be solved by purchasing buses.

Under the settlement terms, MTA will repair "chronically inoperable" wheelchair lifts on its vehicles, and implement new training for personnel regarding their ADA obligations when serving disabled customers.

[66] Kakoʻo is an on-demand ride serving Kona and Hilo, limited to riders who qualify through a separate application, and requires an appointment for each trip.

The Hele-On Kakoʻo paratransit is also fare free Buses are primarily white with colored horizontal stripes in green, blue, or gold.

[23]: 83  As an example, Bus #701, an Alexander Dennis Enviro500 was purchased in early 2010 at a cost of nearly US$900,000 and was intended to operate on the high-ridership cross-island line, but broke down after less than six months and 8,432 miles (13,570 km) and was not available for service again until late 2018.

[78] The same man apparently cut open the gate to the baseyard during the night of August 27–28, and after stealing another bus (#611),[79] was spotted by police in Hilo at 6:24 a.m., and taken into custody at 6:45 a.m. at the Kawamoto Swim Stadium.

[81][82] A battery electric bus was received by Hele-On in early 2018, but was parked and not used until summer 2019 due to insurance and license issues.

[96] The new baseyard opened in 2018,[23]: 85–86  replacing a site on East Lanikaula Street and Railroad Avenue shared with County Public Works.

A second base/maintenance facility is recommended to service routes on the north and west sides of the island, potentially near the police department on Hale Mākaʻi off Highway 19.