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I do not live in Hawaii but I think high capacity rail projects are fantastic for a increasing mobility in urban areas. As the project nears completion, the blocks surrounding each station will be able to accommodate more housing without adding more vehicles to Honolulu's congested streets. It will hopefully create a corridor of dense neighborhoods oriented around transit.
It is only 20 miles long and has 21 stations. It takes 42 minutes to go from one end to the other. The main benefit of mass transit is that it goes where and when you want so that you can give up your car and its expense. If you are paying for a car to sit at a HART parking lot the benefit will not be there. The subsidizing of each fare will be a yoke on every taxpayer for years to come.
It is only 8 miles from Waikiki to the airport. Tourists are not going to drag their luggage to the station and then get dumped off at the Mall and still have to get from there to their hotel.
It is only 20 miles long and has 21 stations. It takes 42 minutes to go from one end to the other. The main benefit of mass transit is that it goes where and when you want so that you can give up your car and its expense. If you are paying for a car to sit at a HART parking lot the benefit will not be there. The subsidizing of each fare will be a yoke on every taxpayer for years to come.
It is only 8 miles from Waikiki to the airport. Tourists are not going to drag their luggage to the station and then get dumped off at the Mall and still have to get from there to their hotel.
I think some tourists will try it - once - and learn their lesson.
By now - I've driven by just about every single completed rail station several times. I think the small parking lots they've built will be choke points - as in - they'll get full and they themselves will be traffic nightmares. I don't see Waikiki workers taking rail to the mall and then a bus or expensive taxi to work. Uber/Lyft drivers will stay away unless it has a surge to avoid short trips.
I see many folks taking the rail from the airport to the mall and then figuring out things from there. While it may seem nonsensical to some for folks to quibble over a relative few bucks after spending significantly more on a tropical vacation, I and others certainly are guilty of trying to "get a deal" even in the aforementioned scenario. Flying into LGA in NYC isn't an exact comparison, but I note that more than a few tourists (and returning residents) take public transportation (the bus) a few miles to either catch the subway, another bus, or a cab all in the name of saving money. If faced with the choice of taking a cab all the way from the airport to my place in Makiki vs. a combination of the rail and other means, I'd certainly utilize the rail, though this would be one of the only times I'd see myself using it when it opens.
I've said it before and I'll "say" it again: I'm not convinced that this project will be financially self-sustaining. Politics and other things got in the way of this project starting in and operating throughout the more densely populated parts of the island; respectfully, I feel this was the only way for this project to not be an eternal burden on the taxpayer. That said, I hope I'm proven wrong.
I do not live in Hawaii but I think high capacity rail projects are fantastic for a increasing mobility in urban areas. As the project nears completion, the blocks surrounding each station will be able to accommodate more housing without adding more vehicles to Honolulu's congested streets. It will hopefully create a corridor of dense neighborhoods oriented around transit.
It won't do any of that. It's dubious that it'll ever even get completed.
For a single local it may be worth it to save a few bucks but for a couple or family an Uber/Lyft or Roberts/SpeediVan will probably be cheaper and much more convenient. Might be OK if you have someone to drop you off at the Mall but if I was doing that I would just say I'll go all the way to the airport.
Please report back 10-15+ years from now on how it went.
I’ve done similar for years in New York City; this isn’t some crazy concept for me. Although, as I mentioned, this would be about the only time that I would see myself realistically utilizing the rail.
Please report back 10-15+ years from now on how it went.
In 10-15 years the rail will be obsolete! A day late 10 Billion dollars short.
2) Road capacity utilization:
2a) Road space: Self-driving fleet cars used for urban driving will be smaller and thus use less road capacity. Self-driving cars will also systematically adhere to an optimal minimum distance to the car in front which significantly increases the number of vehicles that a given road segment can support during heavy traffic.
In 10-15 years the rail will be obsolete! A day late 10 Billion dollars short.
2) Road capacity utilization:
2a) Road space: Self-driving fleet cars used for urban driving will be smaller and thus use less road capacity. Self-driving cars will also systematically adhere to an optimal minimum distance to the car in front which significantly increases the number of vehicles that a given road segment can support during heavy traffic.
I will say that I don't see full self-driving vehicles being road legal as a general matter anytime soon. I hope I'm wrong, though, as I believe it would make traffic so much more bearable with fewer accidents and bottlenecks.
Even if driverless cars do become widespread and road-legal throughout the country, there will still be a significant percentage of people who can't afford them and who will have to rely on public transportation. With TheBus serving roughly 200k rides per day pre-pandemic, there is certainly demand for public transportation. Now, I see the rail as a complement rather than a replacement to TheBus, but we'll see.
Proponents of the rail can find a number of rail projects that support their contentions. And so can opponents. At quick glance, Honolulu should be a good candidate for a rail line; it’s a densely populated area that exists largely within a fairly narrow, well defined corridor. Will it turn an operating profit? No. None of them do. Will it create enough economic activity around the stations to justify the expense? Maybe. Its relative success will depend, in no small measure, on how convenient it will be to use. If tourists from the airport can get off at Ala Moana and find a fleet of shuttle buses waiting to whisk them to their hotels, they might use it, if only for the novelty. But if they get dropped off and then they’re on their own to figure out how to get the rest of the way, then no, they won’t ride.
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