The long-awaited opening of Honolulu’s rail will be June 30, and last week, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation delivered the first operating segment over to the city.
"It's going to be a new era for all of us on Oʻahu to really see this new system and it's going to be it's not just the transit system, it is 'Skyline,'" Department of Transportation Services Director Roger Morton said.
The first 10.7 miles of the Honolulu rail, known as the first segment, includes nine rail stations, running from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium in Halawa.
Deputy Transportation Services Director Jon Nouchi said the rail will work in tandem with TheBus schedule.
"We've designed TheBus system to actually interface with the rail and almost every single station, so a lot of that is retailoring some of our existing lines that still run parallel to and around all the rail stations," Nouchi said.
DTS has put in around $9 million in new services to connect the ridges and valleys around the stations to service older neighborhoods.
"A lot of these neighborhoods have not had a lot of transit services," Nouchi said, noting that many neighborhoods were built in the '50s through '80s. "Now, we're recognizing that these neighborhoods are mature, and people are taking trips at all times of the day and we have a lot of service playing up and down the hillsides into the valleys that connect people and bring them to the high capacity rail corridor for quick rides to us."
Opening weekend, beginning on June 30, will offer community engagement events. At 2 p.m., that day, residents and visitors will be allowed to ride the rail free of charge without a HOLO Card, which will be the primary tap-and-go fund system.
Festivities will continue through the July 4 holiday, when transit will be free for all. Another campaign push will occur when school returns in August.
"I urge everybody, I don't care where you come from, if you're in the rail area, if you're in Hawaiʻi Kai, if you're on the windward side: please come and try the system," Morton said.
The second segment of rail is anticipated to open in 2025, and the third segment to Kakaʻako in 2031.
The rail has faced significant setbacks throughout the decades, from funding to structural issues. Former lawmaker Colleen Hanabusa, who serves as chair of the HART board, said the team is still waiting on the amended full-funding grant agreement and has established a permitted interaction group to consider operations farther past Kakaʻako.
At the short proclamation signing, Morton was handed the ceremonial keys outfitted with a slipper keychain, though the real trains run with electronic keys.
"This is just the first step, you know, and we're anxiously looking forward to when we get the system to airport, that just brings on a whole new ridership dynamic that we can have," Morton said.
