Honolulu Rail: Worth the Wait? | KĀKOU: Hawaiʻi’s Town Hall

The city of Honolulu is set to open its controversial, delayed and over-budget rail project - or, at least the first 10-plus miles of it from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium. The project has been plagued with problems almost from the beginning and there are lingering questions about the project’s financing. PBS Hawaiʻi is bringing together stakeholders from city government, business leaders, and community members to discuss this next step.
Moderator:
Yunji de Nies
Panelists:
Anthony Aalto, HART Board of Directors
Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, Honolulu City Council Transportation Committee Chair
Patrick Preusser, Director of Rapid Transit for City and County of Honolulu
Kioni Dudley, Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board Vice Chair
Richard Oshiro, Waipahu Neighborhood Board Secretary
Mitchell Tynanes, ʻEwa Neighborhood Board Chair
Larry Veray, Pearl City Neighborhood Board Chair
Stephen Wood, ʻAiea Neighborhood Board Chair
Marcel Honore, Honolulu Civil Beat
Moses Barrios, Faith Action for Community Equity President
Original Airdate: June 29, 2023
This content is made possible by viewers like you. Support PBS Hawaiʻi: www.pbshawaii....
#hawaii #pbs #railway

[@anagonyaowusu3119]

Yep, I think people tend to look at the rail in a vacuum, problem is, irregardless of all the problems it has had, this rail is way better for the environment and transportation overall than another highway/congested roads (y’all would be surprised as to how much roads cost overtime, A LOT)

[@bobbypaluga4346]

What evidence do you have that HART will put even a dent in traffic? No study backs you up

[@anagonyaowusu3119]

@@bobbypaluga4346 It doesn’t…it doesn’t need to, that’s something indicative of public transport irregardless of any studies provided.
And something tells me that question didn’t come from the bottom of your heart, like, objectivity isn’t a real concern here for you but rather you just either being contrarian or just wanting the rail to fail for personal political reasons.
(Oh! And also p.s. using “you’ve no studies!” Isn’t much of an argument when you don’t provide any in response…

[@gsn794]

@@anagonyaowusu3119 According to the rail’s own final EIS, table 3-12, trips by private automobile in 2030:
No build alternative 2,815,800 trips
Rail project 2,767,600 trips
Difference 48,200, or 1.7%. Thought of another way, our $10 billion rail will remove 17 out of every 1000 cars from our roads, but note that the EIS was based on the full 20 miles to Ala Moana, not 18.9 miles to “civic center.” The last 1.2 miles will cost $1.3 billion according to their 6/30/2022 “recovery” plan for a total of $11.3 billion, or $565 million per mile.
Those traffic figures are after AFTER 10 years of full time operation of the full 20.1 mile alignment to Ala Moana, not “civic center,” because we were contractually obligated to the FTA to complete that by 1/31/2020. Now the target is “civic center” by 2031, but note that hart presented the 6/30/2022 “recovery” plan at P65, or 65% probability.
Oops, we’re going to be 11+ years late just to “civic center” if they can meet their budget and schedule as per their 6/30/2022 “recovery” plan.
“this rail is way better for the environment and transportation overall than another highway/congested roads”
Just fyi, a large majority of our power on Oahu still comes from fossil fuels, and the train requires 15 megawatts of electricity to run.

[@gsn794]

anthony alto’s comment about a recent contract coming in 3% under budget needs some context for you to get the real picture.
“The $496 million contract went to Nan Inc., according to city records. It will be the second try for the local construction firm. In 2018, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation under prior leadership awarded a separate contract to Nan that essentially put them on call for utility relocation past Middle Street for up to $400 million.
However, as HART failed to get the required city approvals and progress stalled, Nan wound up completing about 8% of that work. Still, the Kalihi firm was paid about $100 million before that original contract was canceled.” Civil Beat 8/18/2022
The three percent “under budget” is much less impressive when you realize the new contract is for the exact same work as the previous, cancelled contract, except the new one includes an additional $96 million for Nan.

[@jimmcdiarmid7308]

There are escalators UP and there are elevators. No restrooms on buses either

[@bobbypaluga4346]

No one wants to talk about the huge subsidies that will be required to keep this rail that doesn’t go anywhere, going

[@Mizt_Plays]

Traffic is so bad, let’s build rail to alleviate the bad traffic. Proceeds to build more houses.
Cost to live is so high, let’s alleviate that by reducing the need for a second vehicle. Proceeds to make other things more expensive.
All these ideas pitched as a way to improve things. Then they use that ounce of improvement to justify an additional pound of burden. Sickening.

[@Mizt_Plays]

Too many people, and they keep building houses. We’re gonna keep running into the problems of overpopulation until it no longer makes sense to live here (high crime, high poverty, high homelessness, high traffic and we already got three of those)

[@meijiishin5650]

We’re in a major housing shortage though. We don’t have enough homes for the current population.

[@thastayapongsak4422]

If you don't build house, people will end up on the streets. Overpopulation is relative. If there is enough resources, infrastructure and housing, there is no overpopulation. If there is not enough and homelessness become a major problem, there is overpopulation.

[@TheHawaiifan]

no restrooms? no escalators? do you really care about people?