Kula Sylva, a 52-year-old heavy equipment operator from Nanakuli, flies in and out of Daniel K. Inouye International Airport every week for jobs on the neighbor islands. He was thrilled that on Thursday morning, after stepping off his Hawaiian Airlines flight from Kona, he could ride the city’s new, extended Skyline rail line back to West Oahu. This new option saves his daughters the two-hour round trip they would otherwise take to pick him up.
“I love it,” Sylva said on the first day of public ridership across the rail system’s second leg, which extends the line 5.2 miles and adds four stops closer to town at the Makalapa/Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Airport, Lagoon Drive, and Middle Street stations. “It’s going to work for me. It’s really good.”
Several residents coincidentally booked outbound and inbound flights just as the airport station opened Thursday and were pleased they could save $27 a day in airport parking fees while reducing both their gas consumption and time stuck in traffic.
For Sylva, driving his own vehicle—a gas-guzzling 2023 Dodge Ram pickup—is impractical for airport trips. He uses the truck to haul work equipment, but it gets just 8 miles per gallon, costing him $115 to fill up the tank even when it’s only a quarter full.
“I need it for my work, but I can’t use it for daily life,” Sylva explained. Adding the price of airport parking, he said driving his Dodge to and from the airport “would be just too expensive.”
On Thursday morning, Skyline trains were running fuller than usual, with many Leeward residents expected to ride rail to major employment centers at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and the airport.
One such passenger was Joann Haae, 51, who works near the airport and also lives in Nanakuli.
“I’m trying to save money and save gas,” she said. “Being stuck in traffic on the West Side just kills me. It just takes one stalled car to back everybody up.”
However, despite the recent extension, which cost more than $10 billion to complete the third and final rail segment to Kakaako, Haae called Skyline “a money pit.”
“But it’s here and we might as well use it,” she added.
Stephen Allen, 61, a Makakilo resident heading to his job at Hawaii Pacific University downtown, was waiting for the A Line bus at the Lagoon Drive station.
“It’s good that they extended the system,” he said. “But I still have to take TheBus.”
Allen also noticed fuller Skyline trains on Thursday, estimating ridership was “probably double or triple.”
Meanwhile, Lawrence Deleon, 28, from Salt Lake, was heading to the University of Hawaii to study computer science. He called Skyline’s eastward rail extension “pretty cool,” but criticized the lack of seating at the Lagoon Drive Ahua Station while waiting for express bus service.
“There’s no seats for the station,” he said. “I feel like a lot of people would be using this spot, and there’s no seats here.”
UH business major Johnson Cao, 18, said he “just wanted to see the new options they have” for TheBus’ U Line.
“I guess the commutes are going to be faster,” Cao remarked.
Department of Transportation Services (DTS) Director Roger Morton rode aboard a 7:45 a.m. train Thursday where passengers nearly filled all 200 seats.
“We’re very happy with the first day,” Morton said.
Paid ridership continued on Friday, with free service planned for Saturday and Sunday. However, passengers riding for free still need a HOLO card to enter any station.
Ridership figures for the first four days of service won’t be released before Monday, Morton added.
DTS officials expect a weekend spike in passengers eager to try the service for free, similar to the surge seen when the first segment of the rail line opened in June 2023—from West Oahu to the Halawa station, located across from the abandoned and empty Aloha Stadium.
On Thursday, Morton noted there “were a lot of new riders because this is better. We can get people where they want to go, faster.”
DTS spokesperson Travis Ota acknowledged that rail and bus passengers will have to adjust to the new stations and bus routes.
“Everything is new,” he said. “With new bus routes, people have got to get used to them, so this is just part of it. It’s a learning curve. But once you learn it, you’ll get it.”
Ed Ignacio, a 69-year-old Pearl Harbor shipyard retiree from Waipahu, and his wife Lori, have differing opinions about the cost and effectiveness of rail—Ignacio is an enthusiast.
They have a trip planned to Las Vegas at the end of the month, and Ignacio wanted to take a test ride Thursday to make sure he knows how they’ll catch their Hawaiian Airlines flight after getting off Skyline.
It took Ignacio “five minutes to get to Terminal 1,” and he planned to visit each of the other new stations, including the current end of the line at Middle Street in Kalihi.
Lori agreed to take her first Skyline ride on Sunday to see for herself.
“She talks about the rail, but she’s never ridden it,” he said. “You’ve got to at least try it. She disagrees with the cost, but you have to start somewhere. You cannot stop progress.”
Pat Buckley, 63, and his wife Shelly Buckley, 61, live in Ewa Beach and are strong rail supporters. They rode both the original and second legs of the system Thursday and planned to eat lunch at their favorite restaurant in Kalihi, within walking distance of the Middle Street station, where parking can be difficult.
To rail critics who don’t experience the challenges of daily traffic congestion, Shelly said, “They don’t understand our pain coming from the West Side.”
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2025/10/17/hawaii-news/skyline-rolls-as-extended-line-opens/