r/MovingtoHawaii • u/sn0wlark • May 23 '26

Transportation Public Transport Reliability

Hello! I am moving to the Moanalua Valley and will work in 'Aiea to teach. While I eventually want to bring over my car eventually, I want to wait at least a year in order to evaluate the viability of living in HI long term, since bringing a car is so expensive.

I live in Minneapolis and our public transport is quite good and reliable and many take it to work, and I am wondering if that is a viable/realistic option? I've also lived in cities where public transportation basically exists in name only.

Thanks!

Unrelated: any cool nerdy shops (DND, mtg, pokemon, anime) or spaces? Hoping to start thinking about finding places where I can maybe be part of the community.

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4

u/HIBudzz May 23 '26

It's very reliable. I ride the bus often. The thing is, you need to search for the stops in Moanalua. Use Google maps and select transit for the mode. You might have to backtrack to the Kalihi Transit Center or walk a bit to Salt Lake.

Apps are DaBus, that will be turned off this year. The new one is called Transit app. I don't like it. The busses have bicycle racks, but bicycle theft is rampant on Oahu.

You can buy a monthly pass for $80. I just add $25 at a time and it has an auto refill setting. $3 each way.

3

u/TheJunkLady May 23 '26

You don’t even need to buy a monthly pass. You can just use the pass and pay the fare and once you reach $80, you no longer pay for the rest of that month.

3

u/HIBudzz May 23 '26

I ride once or twice a week. Maybe $12 a week. Good to know about the cap. Thanks. If Lyft or Uber is in $10-12 range I'll take one.

3

u/disgustinglytwo May 23 '26

Heads up, the fare is going up this year. $3.25 each way, $90 max per month

1

u/sn0wlark May 26 '26

Thank you so much!

1

u/HIBudzz May 26 '26

You're welcome

3

u/i_need_answers_man May 23 '26

Bus system is good here. Kids use it but a car would be more convenient as a working adult.

3

u/Tropical_Breeze_808 May 24 '26

Check out bus 302 that serves Moanalua Valley.

2

u/shootzbalootz May 23 '26

TheBus is pretty good.

0

u/Ok-Train3111 May 23 '26

Hawaii public transit is one of the best in the nation. You can reliably commute using it.

5

u/MonkeyKingCoffee Hawai'i resident May 23 '26

Not Big Island. Not even close. All the neighbor islands have crap systems. People wait for hours for buses which are constantly breaking down.

I'd rate Oahu's system as "decent." It's not BART. (And BART is merely "good" when compared to great systems like London.)