How easy is it to move around on O'ahu? (Honolulu: home, buy)
OahuIncludes Honolulu
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I was doing some research and found out that O'ahu is a measly 530 square miles - smaller than many of the sunbelt cities. I figure much of this land is mountainous, too.
How easy is it to get around from one place to another? i.e. from Honolulu to the more rural areas on the other side of the island, where the locals live?
I recently stayed in Waikiki and each day drove up to the N. Shore of Oahu. It took maybe 40-45 minutes, even at the tail end of rush hour...traffic was not bad at all compared to any mainland big city...seriously. I thought it was super easy to get around. You may have stop and go in the Honolulu and Waikiki areas, but even then, it's nothing as bad as the big cities on the mainland.
This is IMHO...coming from a first-time visitor. Maybe some locals will chime in...
If you catch the #57 bus at Ala Moana shopping center, it will circle the entire island and bring you back to the shopping center within one day. I'm not sure what the bus fares are these days, but you can get a bus pass which will let you hop on buses for free for a month at a time.
Oahu is very close together, walking from one area to another is quite feasible and bicycles work in some areas. You can also put your bicycle on the rack at the front of The Bus.
Yes, much of the island is very steep mountains so just about everyone lives around the edges or on the flatter portions such as the Ewa plains. There are the roads that go around the outer edges of the island and then three major roads that cross the island - the Pali (cliff) Highway, the Likelike Highway (that's pronounced leakyleaky as if it was a cheap roof) and we now have the H3 but I'm not sure if it has a real name or not. It would be odd to just have a number.
.....the Likelike Highway (that's pronounced leakyleaky as if it was a cheap roof)......
sorry. i agree with your posts 99.9% of the time, but the "E" in likelike is not prounced as a "long e" or in your example a "y". it's closer to a "long a" as in "name." leekayleekay.
I recently stayed in Waikiki and each day drove up to the N. Shore of Oahu. It took maybe 40-45 minutes, even at the tail end of rush hour...traffic was not bad at all compared to any mainland big city...seriously.
Wow...you must drive fast or was it a holiday. When I was still living in Wahiawa Heights, it took me at least 45 minutes to get home from Punchbowl St. & Beretania St...and this was more than 10 years ago.
Traffic is really the only reason I became a "townie".
If you catch the #57 bus at Ala Moana shopping center, it will circle the entire island and bring you back to the shopping center within one day. I'm not sure what the bus fares are these days, but you can get a bus pass which will let you hop on buses for free for a month at a time.
It's currently the #55 Bus that circles the island and it's $2 per person to get on. Visitors can buy a $20 pass good for 4 days of unlimited rides.
As for the OP, traffic during rush hour is a nightmare if you're out west of honolulu coming into town.
A lady at my work has to get up at 3:30 to make it to work across the island by 7:30
I travel to Oahu on business and feel like I've been living there for a long time. It's very easy to get from point A to point B. After dealing with big city traffic, I find the traffic on Oahu isn't as bad as it may seem to be to the locals.
sorry. i agree with your posts 99.9% of the time, but the "E" in likelike is not prounced as a "long e" or in your example a "y". it's closer to a "long a" as in "name." leekayleekay.
Thanks for noticing that, Kani-Lehua. That's probably a better way to pronounce it. One of our favorite newscasters, Joe Moore, pronounces it that way with the "leekayleekay". Although, I've also heard a lot of folks call it the "leakyleaky" too. Well, as long as it isn't the "like-like" it should be good? Perhaps the leekayleekay is the new proper way. I've noticed it has become "mah-noa" now for the university instead of "ma-noa", so language usage does change over time.
Hey, Isaackko, it is good to hear four day bus passes are available now! That's a good idea! I remember being upset when it went up to fifty cents to ride the bus, $2 seems like really expensive but it is a good bus system.
Local folks live all over Oahu although not too many of the folks who live in Hawaii live in Waikiki. Someone told me once that eighty percent of the folks who sleep in Waikiki change out every ten days.
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