The first section of the Honolulu rail system has been open to the public for four months. The city reports it is serving about 3,400 people daily on weekdays.
Officially called Skyline, the rail has a dedicated ridership that includes students from the University of Hawaiʻi. The city said daily ridership has grown by about 500 since the semester began.
Honolulu Deputy Transportation Director Jon Nouchi said there are other reasons to use the rail.
“There are a lot of retail opportunities along Skyline. In fact, if you look at most of the stations, they do have some very good connections to a lot of places to shop and dine," he said.
"What we've seen, too, is when we've extended hours of Skyline, we have seen a ridership bump, most notably when we did have a larger scale event at the stadium. We had the Megabon, we took on an extra thousand people on the system," he said.
Nouchi said extended hours may be implemented during the holiday season. Normal operation hours are 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends.
The first of three segments of Skyline opened on June 30. The 10.75-mile stretch goes from Hālawa Aloha Stadium to Kualakaʻi East Kapolei. It’s about a 22-minute one-way ride, or 45 minutes roundtrip.
"We really are building this for the next generation. It might be a good time to take a little field trip, take a little excursion, get out there, support our local economy," Nouchi added.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Nov. 15, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
