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This particular rail project does seem kind of silly - although it is putting a lot of people to work.
The traffic is only going to get much worse - what do you propose to fix the traffic?
I think building up Kakaako is the best solution to getting cars off of the road. I think that is the only realistic option.
I have many friends buying up those condo units in Kakaako. All of them own cars and all of them plan to use those cars to commute like they have been their entire lives. They will ride the rail a few times... for novelty.
It's literally appalling that people think others are going to give up their cars because we build a single straight-line elevated rail system from an obscure location in Kapolei to Ala Moana. The people that will be riding the train are the exact same people that currently use our public transportation - bus riders. If you're not a bus rider now, you won't be taking the train. If you are a bus rider now there is a very good chance you will still never take the train.
Unless you live within a stone's throw of a station at the originating AND final destinations, rail in its current form is nothing but a massive inconvenience. It will not take anyone out of their comfortable cars.
Progress means less time commuting and more time doing other things. Rail translates into more time commuting and less time doing other things. We are literally going backwards in time for a cool $8 billion. This is by far the most spectacular public works disaster in the history of man kind. Nothing even comes close.
There are many, many alternatives to the straight-line elevated rail system that would have a greater impact on traffic. But all of them don't enrich our landowners, politicians and developers. That's why we are where we are.
You mean like being able to go out and not worrying about a DUI since you caught Rail? Not being stuck in traffic because of construction? Being able to go to the Airport without having to find parking? Catch a cab or the bus? Going to a UH event on rail? Getting better bus service because the Bus will be integrated with the rail?
All this said, I am in favor of the Honolulu rail system. The H-1 is maxed out, and I see no practical way to expand transportation capacity absent a fixed-guideway system.
Double decker freeway.
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Does anyone know what the land underneath the rail will be used for? It seems like such a waste of space and potential eyesore. If you add landscaping you drive up the costs and I can't see how it could be used for retail.
I don't know anyone who doesn't have errands to run before and after work, kids to shuttle to practices, thinks to pick-up etc. It's not like San Francisco where there are businesses interspersed with residential.
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So because "every large city in the world has a metro system" Honolulu should have one too regardless if it reduces traffic, has to be heavily subsidized forever, is wildly over budget and fails to meet ridership projections.
I've lived in a lot of cities, and never heard of a failed system. But if there are failed systems out there, I'm 100% sure it would be the United States that would build a failed one.
But, the characteristics of Honolulu/Oahu, are just about ideal for a line. All that heavy traffic from east to west, and one line needed right there. People can't spread out into the ocean, and land is limited.
Maintaining highways and forever widening them out takes money as well. It's just extreme short-sightedness to assume that the current highways are sufficient. If you ignore rail, than you'll just have to build more and more highways criss-crossing the land, more parking lots to contain all the cars. Pave over more of everything. Maybe double what is paved now, to contain a small island that will easily double in cars over the next decades, half century.
You have to think of what kind of society and city you want 30-40 and even 100 years from now? Do you want to pave over the entire island, and fill it up with just cars absolutely everywhere? Or do you want to have a single line that goes across that can whisk some of the people bypassing the intense gridlock that will 100% be the reality in 30-40, 100 years from now.
However, I would disagree with Tim's comment about few people being within walking distance of a train station. If the system is designed properly, many people will be in walking distance . . . and even more will be in the future, if Transit Oriented Design is incorporated to redevelop the areas immediately around the stations. And even if someone has to drive to a station, it's still less driving than if the train weren't there and they had to drive the entire way to their destination.
All this said, I am in favor of the Honolulu rail system. The H-1 is maxed out, and I see no practical way to expand transportation capacity absent a fixed-guideway system.
Are the same people who didn't ride the ferry, going to ride rail, and why?
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It's not going to Waikiki? With a huge, ready-made market of tourists and service-industry workers packed in to that densely populated little space? Why in blazes not?
That's a fail to me. Waikiki should be a stop. Even if just the very edge of it.
Are the same people who didn't ride the ferry, going to ride rail, and why?
The ferry was packed when I took it.
But, a different commuter. Ferry went island to island. Rail is just Oahu.
Ferry would've been a huge hit if not for the extremists on Kauai. But, they got what they wanted. No ferry and no way to easily get your car cheaply from one island to another.
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