Lee Cataluna is a columnist for Civil Beat. You can reach her by email at lcataluna@civilbeat.org
It鈥檚 a reality check to see how shabby, cramped and industrial parts of this island have become.
Me: Skyline is a stupid name. It sounds like Skyslide. Everyone over 50 is going to associate it with those huge plastic play structures from the ’70s.
Also me: Ooh! The train is so high up! You can see everything!
Though at times it seemed like it would never happen, the city鈥檚 massive, overbudget, often-delayed rapid transit project is actually up and running. Maybe some of us (pointing that finger at myself) need to be less smug in our doubting. It happened. It鈥檚 happening.
If you haven鈥檛 checked it out, you should. There鈥檚 something affirming in seeing a massive, unruly project like this one finally become something functional.
It鈥檚 a short run, just the first phase from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium, an 11-mile trip that takes a little over 20 minutes. In perfect conditions, it鈥檚 possible to drive that distance in less time, but perfect driving conditions are rare on Hawaii鈥檚 most urban island.
Skyline has been running its inaugural route for almost two months now, and so far, it鈥檚 been running smoothly. The trains leave every 10 minutes, the ride is comfortable, the train cars are clean.
People have been good citizens about the whole thing, keeping the train cars and the stations clean, figuring out this new facet of Oahu life. At this point, ridership is more about taking a joy ride to see what it鈥檚 all about, or going from Waipahu to Pearlridge for shopping rather than a daily commute.
As more of the rail line opens up, ridership will hopefully increase to provide the traffic relief for Westside commuters that was promised from the beginning.
Those Skyline views, though. Prepare yourself.
Me after about five minutes on the train when the novelty of the experience starts to wear off a bit: Yikes. From up here, this part of Oahu looks so dried-up and scruffy.
When you can see miles of Oahu in every direction, you get a sense of how people live and cope. It鈥檚 a reality check to see how shabby, cramped and industrial this island has become. You can get a glimpse of the status of agriculture on Oahu, and with recent events top of mind, a scary reminder of how dry the scrub brush is on Oahu鈥檚 plains and how quickly fire could spread.
What you see is not the stunning aerial shots of tourism promotional videos. There are no dark green mountains, no lush valleys, no sparkling waterfalls. This part of Hawaii is concrete and hollow tile and brown weeds.
The water features to behold include the military complex around Pearl Harbor, the families trying to stay cool in the Salvation Army Kroc Center’s splash zone, and some teen boys in Waipahu jumping shirtless into the thick green water of the Waikele stream. The looks so vulnerable surrounded by the concrete commercial buildings.
Another thing that becomes clear is that people who live in Hawaii have a lot of stuff. They have more things than fit into their living spaces.
There are three self-storage warehouses along this short rail line. There are garages filled to bursting with anything and everything except cars — sagging boxes, rusty exercise equipment, plastic storage bins so full the lid has to be taped down. People who live in apartments use their balconies or lanais as storage.
There are many apartments that will look out at the train all day, forever. There are schools in the shadow of the rail line, which is at best a mixed blessing. It makes getting to and from school easier, but paying attention and focusing on lessons is that much harder when there鈥檚 a train outside the window, even if it is a relatively quiet train.
Below the Skyline tracks are cars. So many cars. Cars on the road, cars lined up in vast parking lots, auto repair businesses, auto parts stores, car dealerships, used car sales. All the cars that Skyline was supposed to replace. That鈥檚 going to take a while.
On a recent Sunday ride, a kupuna who looked like she dressed up to ride the train with her friends announced to everyone in earshot, 鈥淭hey spent all this money building this and hardly anybody is using it. Terrible.鈥 She then walked to the front of the train and sat in the lone seat directly in the nose of the first car, as though she was the conductor.
We鈥檙e all so fast to pass judgment these days, to proclaim something a total waste and then climb into the front seat and pretend we鈥檙e driving whether we know how or not. Skyline is automated and doesn鈥檛 have a conductor. That, too, is a metaphor for how Oahu has been overdeveloped, and the only answer ever offered is more development.
It’s amazing that Honolulu finally has Skyline. It is so needed. But what you see from way up there is that Honolulu has grown, unplanned and out-of-control, to the point where a rapid transit system had to be built on a small island.
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Great imagery and tale of what Oahu has become in the last few decades. Broken down infrastructure with a struggling working class in a high cost state, run by a very status quo government body, interested only in protecting its longevity.
wailani1961·
1 year ago
The States next step is to up the tax on everything that has to do with cars so that they can force the public to utilize the rail !After your rail ride how many buses do you have to catch to reach your destination ?
CFood·
1 year ago
You can complain all you want but the fact remains: It is what it is. Man, has ruined Paradise into a concrete jungle and this mess. The answer: you got to live with it. Ha Ha Ha
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