Oahu is a beautiful island with plenty of attractions and activities to explore. To make it easier for visitors and locals alike to get around, the city of Honolulu has recently unveiled its newest addition to the multimodal transportation system: Skyline. This automated rail system is sure to revolutionize public transportation on Oahu, offering an efficient and cost-effective way to travel around the island. Skyline is a 30-kilometer-long corridor on the south coast of O'ahu, featuring 19 stations and automated, driverless trains. It is the first railway system in the United States to use mosquito doors on the train platform, a style more popular in Asia than the typical outdoor platforms used in American railway systems.
The project consists of an automated rail system with fixed guides between Kapolei Oriental Station and a temporary terminal at Civic Center Station. At a press conference on Thursday, Deputy Director of City Transportation Services Jon Nouchi promoted best practices for getting on and off trains. He encouraged passengers to consider which direction they are going to avoid traveling in the wrong direction and suggested the use of “elevators” for those new to rail systems. Most officials seem to have adopted an attitude of “if you build it, they will come” and have said that, in the end, the island will overcome the problems of railroad growth and that residents will begin to see the benefits of the system when it is fully operational. Passengers can use a single public transport smart card for the entire Skyline system to move seamlessly between TheBus and the rail system. With its automated, driverless trains and mosquito doors on the train platform, Skyline is sure to revolutionize public transportation on Oahu.
