I have seen the future of American public transit, and it looks a lot like Hawai’i.  Work sent me to O’ahu at the beginning of February, and I took the opportunity to ride the full length of the new Skyline – the newest and most technologically advanced rapid transit system in the US.

The fleet of 20 electric third rail powered, four-car Hitachi Rail Italy driverless ‘light metro’ trains, run on a completely grade-separated (and elevated) rail guideway. Each station has automated sliding glass doors, also called platform screen doors (PSD), for safety. The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) Skyline is first US ‘full-length’ urban rapid transit system fully automated with PSD, though not the only one in North America. The first segment of Montreal’s REM system opened in July 2023 (a month after Skyline) and uses very similar automated technology with PSD. In addition to Honolulu, the Hitachi Rail driverless metro trains (with PSD at all stations) are used on lines in the Italian cities of Brescia, Rome and Milan, along with Taipei, Copenhagen and Thessaloniki, Greece. Other manufacturers offer similar technology. While a relatively rare sight in North America, driverless rail mass transit lines with PSD are becoming increasingly common around the world, and are now the global ‘gold standard’ for brand new lines. Smaller automated ‘people mover’ train systems with PSD, have long served major US airports along with a handful of downtown areas and amusement parks. The Sepulveda corridor subway just approved by LA Metro will use similar automated technology from Bechtel (though technically ‘heavy’ and not ‘light’ metro), and is scheduled to open in the 2030s. [It should be noted Vancouver started running its first driverless mass-transit trains way back in 1985, and Mexico City in 2016, although these systems do not feature PSD at stations].

I got on at the line’s current eastern terminus, the Kahauiki (Middle Street) station, located at the Kalihi Transit Center, where connections are available to three bus-rapid transit lines and over a dozen regular bus routes. Due to the full automation, you can sit in the ‘drivers seat‘ on both ends of each train (like the Vancouver SkyTrain), which I did for the whole round trip. The automated announcements on the trains are both in English and Hawaiian. The trains were not too crowded, though it was the middle of a Sunday afternoon.

The line is elevated mostly at the third-story level, but some viaducts reach 70 feet above the ground. The elevated train affords amazing views for the whole length of the system, with the scenery including industrial and dense residential areas, the beautiful green mountains of the Wai’anae and Ko’olau ranges, the downtown Honolulu skyline,  Pearl Harbor, and through about two miles of sugar cane and pineapple fields near the western (‘leeward’) end of the line. The Honouliuli (Ho’Opili) station, which has a large park-and-ride lot, is completely surrounded by verdant agricultural fields.

The first, westernmost segment opened in mid-2023, and second phase eastward to the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (Lelepaua station), Ahua (Lagoon Drive) and Kahauiki/Middle Street (Kalihi Transit Center) opened in October 2025. The current operating system is just over 16 miles in length, serves 13 stations, and takes 34 minutes total time to travel end to end. The minimum 15 minutes frequency during is operating hours between 4 AM and 10 PM and 10-minute headways at rush hour peak times.  The existing 16-mile system had a cost just over $5 billion, with funding coming 83% from local sources and 17% federal. The third phase, a 3.3 mile extension (with six more stations) downtown Honolulu and Civic Center, is under construction and scheduled to open in 2031, although ongoing litigation between HART and Hitachi over delays and unresolved contract disputes could result in further delays. This next segment is the trickiest and most expensive part of the line to build due to the existing dense urban environment, but with very high potential ridership for the same reason. A fourth phase, an extension further east to Ala Moana near the famed Waikiki beach, is planned but its opening date is still to be determined.

Weekday average ridership on the Skyline has grown to 13,000. The total population of O’ahu is about 1 million, though roughly one-third of that are the areas directly served (less than two miles from a station) by the current length of the Skyline. The island’s very densely populated urban areas have long been ripe for public transit. Per-capita transit ridership in greater Honolulu has been among the highest of US metro areas for many years, an impressive feat considering that it was a bus-only transit system until 2023. TheBus system, operated across O’ahu by City and County of Honolulu Department of Transportation Services, had an average weekday ridership at 130,356 November 2025, a 1% increase from 2024, though overall ridership remains about 33% below pre-pandemic levels. 

It was a long struggle over the past few decades to get the Skyline built, with many delays, cost overruns and political battles like so many rail and transit projects, but the project’s proponents persevered, got it done, and made the dream real after so many said it would never get done.  We were honored at the December 2025 Rail Users Network annual meeting to hear this story first hand from HART CEO Lori Kahikina, who managed the project on the home stretch to completion. She acknowledged the difficulties that the project has had in the past, and challenges ahead, but said many project management lessons have been learned.

Whatever the challenges and difficulties encountered during its creation and ongoing expansion, while riding the Skyline I only thought about how good a system it is. It felt like being in the future, and it’s kupanaha (marvelous)!  

[all photos below by Brian Yanity]