Rebekah’s Studio

My friend Louise asked me if I had ridden the rail yet, and, if not, would I like to go with her sometime. She was talking about the Skyline, the name for the long-awaited Honolulu mass transit. She had the week off from teaching, so I said how about Thursday, meaning today. It was an adventure for us who live on the other side of Oʻahu. At first we couldn’t find the terminus at Hālawa near the Aloha Stadium, but a kind gentleman on a speaker at the entrance to the stadium (not where we wanted to go) pointed us in the right direction.

Louise drove to the correct parking lot (not the “Kiss and Ride” 10-minute spots for drivers just dropping somebody off). Never mind, there wasn’t anybody in the parking lot so we had our pick of free space on the asphalt. The train was, shall I say, “Empty.” But because there were no other passengers, we had unobstructed views from the Waianae Mountains to the Ewa plain and beyond. The view was from a higher viewpoint than the view from a car on the highway.

We rode from one terminus to the other and back again—a round trip. We could have gotten off at Pearlridge shopping center or in Waipahu, a town we hardly ever get to, but we just wanted to experience the ride.

The fare? You have to buy a Holo card which is a card on which you load money to pay for your fare, and it’s good for TheBus as well. Cash or credit, either way, and then like the trains and other subway systems in the country, just tap your card at the turnstile and you go. I hope the Skyline sees more riders. It does stop at Leeward Community College and near Pearlridge shopping center.

Here is my photo album:

Be well.

~Rebekah