Interested in riding the rail? Here’s what you need to know

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The first segment of the rail is set to open in July.

City officials said it should be treated like another bus line. If you’re on a bus, you can transfer from the bus to rail at no additional cost within a two 1/2-hour period and vice versa.

John Nouchi, deputy director of the city’s Department of Transportation Services, said a train will be running every 10 minutes and so will the buses.

“So, our scheduling department has timed out the amount of time it takes an average person to travel from the platform down,” said Nouchi. “But actually, they shouldn’t be worried about it because if they miss that connection, another one will come in 10 minutes, so very frequent.”

Commuters can also bring bicycles on the train.

All stations are ADA accessible and have elevators to get people to the tracks.

“There’s a priority area to sort of sit around and you don’t have to get strapped in and the reason you don’t have to get strapped in is because that train is going to leave at the same controlled rate every time,” said Roger Morton, director of the Department of Transportation Services.

“And it’s going to come into the station and decelerate at the same rate every time. That means there’s not going to be any crashes, there’s not going to be any slam on the brakes.”

Bus rules apply on the rail: No eating or drinking.

Service pets are allowed, but other pets must be in a cage.

For security, there will be roving ambassadors circulating throughout the train, a contracted security force patrolling stations, park-and-rides and the trains.

In addition, there’s over 1,600 video surveillance cameras.

“It’ll be looking for unusual events through AI and it’ll bring to the attention of the console operator, anytime that there’s something there,” said Morton. “For example, if you leave a backpack on a platform and walk away, the system will note that, and we’ll follow it.”

Rail fares will be the same as the bus? $3.50 per ride, $7.50 for the entire day or $80 a month.

Rail rides will be free from July 1-4, but you’ll still need a Holo Card. You can get one at 7-Eleven, Foodland or Times Supermarket. For the full list of locations, go to holocard.net.

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